A story about the Daughter of Ka‘b from the Masnavi Ilahi-nameh by Farid ad-Din ‘Attar: the romance narrative within the mystical context

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of author’s interpretation of conventional patterns of the romance “genre” in the Tale about daughter of Ka‘b from the Ilahinameh by Farid ad-Din ‘Attar. In particular, it deals with the so-called “standard situations” (e.g. falling in love without seeing the partner, exchange of love letters or poems, etc.) as well as key components of structure (dialogues, monologues, descriptive portraits of main heroes). The analysis is based on the comparison of canonic elements of romance narrative in the Tale about daughter of Ka‘b with their analogies in the texts of the same “genre” of the earlier periods, including the “standard” romances by Nizami. This research reveals the influence of the ‘Uzri lyrical and narrative tradition with regard to the structure of plot of the “romance” and the ways of building up and composition of the features of the chief personage. On this background were analyzed the literary functions of the “inferior” personages, e.g. the nurse (or wet-nurse). The article is based on the translation and commentary of the Story about daughter of Ka‘b by Layla G. Lahuty.