The Tale of Sheikh Sanan: the Temporary Return of the Oppressed Matter and the Consolidation of the Normative Matter

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Literary Studies Department, Institute for Research and Development in the Humanities. Tehran, Iran.

2 Master's degree in Persian language and literature from Urmia University. Urmia. Iran.

Abstract

In the first section of the present paper, the tale of Sheikh Sanan is explored according to some concepts of the Freudian psychoanalytic criticism. The results of this section reveal that the skeleton of the tale is the poetic presentation of the conflict among three areas of psych: Sheikh Sanan, “ego,” is under the pressure of two opposite and demanding forces, “id” and “superego,” which are artistically materialized as two personas, the pagan girl and the magnanimous disciple. In the beginning of the tale, the ignited spontaneity of “id” is about to dominate from all sides. Then, however, “superego,” through normative and religious enforcement, reappears and triumphs. In the second section of the paper, a more significant and fundamental issue regarding this intra-textual analysis is revealed. In the end and with respect to the social context of awareness, what purpose does the rereading and rethinking of a mystical text from the psychoanalytic perspective serve? In response to this question, we considered Attar as mystical discoursal subject and The Tale of Sheikh Sanan as the figurative representation of the awareness of a social group and arrived at the following conclusion: in this tale, “the totality of the symbolic system” has played the role of “subject and the text is presented as an artistic representation of social forces.

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Classical Persian Literature
Volume 15, Issue 1 - Serial Number 38
Spring & Summer
August 2024

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