Different Meanings of Humor in Contemporary Persian Literature and Their Illustrative Relevance

• Published in: Funūn-i adabī Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 57 - 78
• Main Authors: Mohammad Hosein Ravanbakhsh, Mahmoud Mehravaran
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Persian
• Published: University of Isfahan 01-09-2022
• Subjects: contemporary literature; humor; irony; joke; literary humor; ridicule
• ISSN: 2008-8027; 2322-3448
• DOI: 10.22108/liar.2023.135284.2189

AbstractThe word ‘humor’ in Persian literature has different meanings. In the contemporary period, it is used as a ‘literary term’ with a difference in definition compared to the joke. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the meanings of humor in specialized sources, cultures, and related books in contemporary literature in order to find a rather comprehensive definition. The two research questions posed in the study are: what meaning or meanings are meant by the term humor? Is it possible to consider a clear and unique definition of humor in contemporary Persian literature and what text is an example of humor? The findings of this research show that the different meanings found by ‘humor’ are related and overlapping making it very difficult to find a clear definition for the term ‘humor’ or a single use for it.  Introduction The meaning of ‘humor’ is considered self-evident in the general studies related to this field. This is despite the fact that the word ‘humor’ like many words of the language has been used throughout history to convey different meanings, and the idea of ​​a single meaning for it in various historical texts is a false assumption. Based on this, it is necessary to determine first what is meant by ‘humor’ in any research and which of the different meanings of humor is intended. Accuracy in the different meanings of humor, describing the semantic changes of this word, or in other words, the development of the meaning that ‘humor’ has found in the Persian language and literature, and providing a model to express the relationship and ratio of the different meanings of ‘humor’, are the most important topics that the present study has addressed. Materials and MethodsThis research has been done in two parts using the descriptive-analytical method. In the first part, an attempt is made to understand ‘what is humor’ through the accuracy of its lexical meaning. Finding the roots of the word humor and accuracy in the meaning of this word in various historical texts and based on the chronological order of these texts could indicate the change or development of the meaning of this word over time. In the next section, it is pointed out that the word ‘humor’ has been used as a ‘literary term’ in the contemporary period, and on this basis, it is necessary to ‘define’ this term precisely.  Research FindingsHumor is used in Persian literature with different meanings:4-1. Humor in the Literal Sense: RidiculeThe Persian literary works of the 5th to 8th centuries AH show that the primary meaning of humor in the Persian language corresponds to the meaning of this word in the Arabic language or a meaning close to it. The use of humor to instill this meaning has continued in the works of some writers and poets of the early years of the 14th century.4-2. Semantic Development of Humor: Jokes‘Laughter’ is not only the consequence of the semantic spectrum surrounding the word mocking, but more than that, it is the consequence of another semantic spectrum, which today can be considered as the central word ‘joke’. In different eras, words and terms such as Mataiba, Fakahe, Hazel, Elegance, Joke, Latifah, and Khusmezgi have been included in this spectrum. The first semantic evolution of the word ‘humor’ in the Persian language caused the meaning of this word to develop and include this range of meanings in addition to the previous meanings.4-3. Semantic Transformation: Humor as a Literary TermWhat became the basis for the evolution of the meaning of the word ‘humor’ as a literary term was the acquaintance of Iranians during the Qajar period with European literature, especially comedy shows and literary satire works. Paying attention to examples of the literary term humor and finding its importance in literature was one of the details of this change of literary discourse. The change in the literary discourse caused works such as ‘Cherand and Parand’ by Dehkhoda, which was published in Sourasrafil newspaper, the poems of ‘Ashrafuddin Qazvini’ in Nasim Shamal newspaper, and the play Jafar Khan from Farang, written by Hasan Moghaddam, which were considered among the distinguished works of that time. However, with the previous literary standards, these works were not worth much.  Discussion of Results and Conclusions‘Humor’ is used today as a word that means joke, mockery, and the words close to these two. In contemporary literary texts, humor and mockery are still used with synonymous meanings. Humor is also used to mean jokes and humor. Besides these, humor is used as a kind of literary expression. The literary term humor has the cultural and literary coordinates of the Persian language and is not a translation of any foreign term. There is no uniformity in the translation of Western terms into Farsi, and in different books, the term humor is equivalent to different words.In the contemporary period, none of the different meanings of humor have been lost and humor is still used in its various meanings. Despite the efforts that have been made in recent decades, this literary term does not have a precise and agreed-upon definition, and its characteristics are mostly described. According to the presented meanings, examples of three different meanings of humor are sometimes indistinguishable. It is possible to show the texts that both the literary terms of humor apply to them, they are related to jokes and humor, and they are examples of sarcasm and mockery. But the ratio of these texts is not the same with each of these three concepts. Examples of the literary term humor can be shown as a set within a triangle, one vertex of which is humor, the second vertex is a joke, and the third vertex is mockery. The distance that each item has from each of the three vertices of the triangle indicates its relationship with the literary term humor, mockery, and joke.