Abstract

The two essays gathered here, devoted to the characters of Turandot/Būrān-dukht and Farhād respectively, represent two parallel upshots of a stream of research focusing on the transformation of historical or semi-historical figures into literary characters. The research moves from literary characters and their possible historical or legendary origins, to un understanding of their literary function in Persian literature.

Highlights

  • This study aims to investigate the origins of the character of Farhād, starting from a brief review of the sources referring to him and the hypotheses put forward concerning the birth of the character and his name

  • Unlike other more or less historical characters of the Persian narrative tradition, Farhād is unknown to the Byzantine, Armenian, and Syriac sources, as well as to the Shāhnāma and the earliest Arabic texts

  • In the romantic narrative tradition, in the poems by Niẓāmī, ʿĀrif Ardabiīlī and Hātifī, Farhād is the carver of one or more channels, and in particular the carver of a channel, commissioned by Shīrīn, to bring the milk from the high mountainous pastures to her castle, the famous Qaṣr-i Shīrīn – Amīr Khusraw, places Farhād’s channel in the area of Mount Bīsutūn. ʿĀrif does speak of the famous channel for milk, and of a number of channels for carrying wine, that Farhād constructed for Shīrīn

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Summary

Farhād the Master

– 2 The Backdrop of the Character and His Name. – 4.1 Ṭāq-i Bustān and the Master in the Romantic Tradition. – 4.2 Ṭāq-i Bustān and the Master in the Historical and Geographical Tradition. – 5 Farhād as a Constructor of Channels. – 7 Farhād as Enamoured of Shīrīn. – 8 Farhād as a Foreigner: His Social Status and Fatherland.

Introduction
The Backdrop of the Character and His Name
Farhād in the Sources
Farhād and Ṭāq-i Bustān
Ṭāq-i Bustān and the Master in the Romantic Tradition
Ṭāq-i Bustān and the Master in the Historical and Geographical Tradition
Farhād as a Constructor of Channels
Farhād and Mount Bīsutūn
Farhād as Enamoured of Shīrīn
Farhād as a Foreigner
Conclusions
General ‘Farhād’
Towards a Second Farhād
The Hypotheses on the Origins of the Character of Farhād
Farrahān Shahr-barāz
Farrahān Between History and Legend
Introduction: the Misogamist Woman and Her Riddles
The Eastern Prose Turandot Tales
Niẓāmī’s Tuesday Tale
Shīrīn and Other Figures of the Misogamist Woman in Persian Literature
Shīrīn’s Aunt Mihīn Bānū
Shīrīn and the Misogamist Handmaiden
Shīrīn and the Interdiction Against Sexual Intercourse Due to a Prediction
Shīrīn and Būrān
Būrān’s Historical Figure
Non-Verbal Riddles Though Objects
NiẓāmīArūżī’s Anecdote on Mamūn and Būrān in the Čahār Maqāla
Mamūn and Būrān inAwfī’s Collection of Anecdotes
The Name ‘Turandot’
From Būrān-dukht to Tūrān-dukht
Conclusions: the Anecdote of Mamūn and Būrān and the Turandot Tale

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