Investigation and Comparison of Ironic Aspects in Saadi's Gulistan andUbayd Zakani’s Akhlaq al-ashraf

• Published in: Funūn-i adabī Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 1 - 18
• Main Authors: Sedighe Taghavi asl, Abdollah Vasegh Abbasi, Mohammadamir Mashhadi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Persian
• Published: University of Isfahan 01-09-2022
• Subjects: akhlaq al-ashraf; gulistan; humor; irony; saadi; ubayd zakani; undermining
• ISSN: 2008-8027; 2322-3448
• DOI: 10.22108/liar.2022.132604.2122

Irony or double speaking is one of the artistic-literary techniques that, in literature, is equivalent to terms such as sarcasm, praise, contradiction, etc. In the present study, an attempt is made to examine and compare the different aspects of this literary industry in Saadi's Gulistan and Ubayd Zakani’s Akhlaq al-ashraf. In this study, firstly, a descriptive-analytical method is used to look at the political-social situation of the era of both authors; then, the analysis and comparison of ironic types in both books are discussed along with examples. According to the findings of this research, the most types of irony used in Golestan, considering the prevailing conditions of the society as well as the political and social suffocation of that time, which created the shade of humor and veiling of words in the context of the text of the book, are structural, situational, fateful, and verbal. Also, in Akhlaq al-ashraf, the most frequently-used type is rhetorical irony, and there is no special case of structural, radical, fateful, dramatic, and romantic types. IntroductionEvery writer uses special methods to make her/his speech effective in the audience so that she/he can better find a way to influence the speech. One of these artistic-literary techniques is irony. Irony is one of the terms used in rhetoric and literary criticism. Contemporaries have tried to define it as “taunting, undermining, ignoring the ignorant, inverting, concealing, etc.” (Bahremand, 2009, p. 10), but each of these words defines only a part of irony to the audience. In fact, it can be said that irony is a kind of poetic norm avoidance against the anomalies of the time that the author tries to turn the confused images of her/his mind into objective experiences by using the existing dual attitudes and contradictions. “Irony has different uses, but in most of these uses and the basic commonality of all of them is concealment, hypocrisy, and the contrast between the appearance and the essence of the matter” (Anousheh, 2002, p. 16). Some scholars of the rhetoric in translating irony to satire have intended its literal meaning, i.e., mockery, and believe that irony means the same thing as sarcasm and mockery, and this is only one of the uses of irony. There are more diverse uses of the term irony that the word humor cannot express it. The word humor can be a good equivalent for the literary genre of humor, and irony can be one of the methods of humor (Cuddon, 1979, p. 350).Since humor is one of the purposes of irony and in irony we talk about contrast, inversion, and contradiction, the present study aims to compare this double speaking in Saadi's Gulistan and Ubayd Zakani’s Akhlaq al-ashraf, so that they can better understand the underlying layers. Understand the intellectual level of these two great poets and writers. First, we define different types of irony, and then analyze the evidence of both works. In this study, we seek answers to the following research questions:What factors caused irony in the Gulistan and Akhlaq al-ashraf?In which of these two works is more double meaning used?To what extent have the authors of these works been successful in using irony in their words, and which type of irony seems more effective in their words? Materials and Methods In this study, the researchers used the library research approach to collect the data. First of all, the books and dissertations compiled in the field of irony and rhetoric have been studied and the data have been analyzed with a descriptive-analytical method. Then, the results have been presented in an analytical form. Results and Conclusion The results show that the social and political conditions have caused tension between the mind and the language of the writers and caused some inconsistency in the structure of their words. In other words, the results show that the society of the Ubayd era is more worried about the Mongols and other series of attacks than the Saadi era. In addition, Ubayd is a satirical writer, and in using this verbal art, he uses sharp and frank language. This frankness of speech has made the ironic side of his speech more obvious, so the best kind of irony that can serve this frankness is as if it is of a rhetorical type.The diversity of irony, however, is more visible in Gulistan because Saadi has an instructive language. In other words, he has an opinion on different spectrums of the society in his book and still hopes to reform the society in this way. This way of giving advice has made his humor more subtle. Perhaps one of the causes of this problem is the easy-but-difficult approach in his expression and for this reason, among the different types of irony, the structural type that has more complex contradictions is seen more in his stories.