Technical Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences Available online at www.tjeas.com ©2013 TJEAS Journal-2013-3-12/1057-1061 ISSN 2051-0853 ©2013 TJEAS

Minimalist and Its Aspects in Persian Literature Fatemeh Jafari Kaleibar1* and Saeedollah Qarebaglu2 1. Department of Literature and Foreign Languages, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch,Tabriz, Iran 2. Assistance professor in, Department of Literature, State Univesity, Eastern Azarbayjanian University of Shahid Madani, Iran

Corresponding author: Fatemeh Jafari Kaleibar ABSTRACT: Minimalism is a newly emerged trend in world literature which prospers with remarkable acceleration, gains many fans and has an objective appearance in various fields of art. This new literary genre with special features enjoys general popularity; due to the significance of this trend the present research tries to investigate the main characteristics and reasons behind the emergence of minimalism. The aim of this research is to mention the most common aspects of minimalism in Persian literature and to give some evidences for each of these aspects to emphasis on the significance of brevity in Persian ancient literature and manifests its function in promoting ethical and social principles that are remained in compact size in the form of Aphorisms, proverbs, wisdom, jokes, short moral stories, etc. Key words: Brevity and compactness, Minimalism, Persian ancient literature, short forms of prose INTRODUCTION Western countries always were innovating and creating artistic and literary styles, the emergence of each of these styles has created a giant development in the area of art and literature at global level. In the last half century short story has been a suitable place for the new forms of narrative fiction a genre which shortens gradually. The social factors and conditions governing the society can affect the scientific and artistic life of nations. In recent years, metamorphosis of literary genres in mutant form along with rapid and fundamental changes is evident. Literary theories evolution coupled with the transition of form and content is the indication of literature dynamism and vitality which originates from people’s sentiments in the form of new literary trends and manifests in different fields of art. The dominant literary genre of our era is fiction which at first was a means of entertaining and enriching human feeling and emotion but today is a means of expressing intentions and concerns. Since ancient times, this global art has been the most popular literary genre and it has also been a place to hide the nations’ thought, culture and cultural commonalities. Story and its various forms are a large part of literature which anecdotes and short stories are among the most fascinating influential works that their infinite brevity and few words carry ethical and social principles. since the early Middle Ages Summarizing was one of the most common ways of expressing purpose in its shortest form in Persian literature which was considered among the features of sound mind and rhetorical devices. Advice in the form of concise statements and aphorism is a kind of wisdom, obtained through experience and thought which in ancient Iran more attention were paid on, in a way that mostly advices were written on the rings, the margin of table clothes ,curtains , palace porches and grave stones (Sabziyan Pour,2009). In our century minimalism literary trend is one of the literary genres that according to the social and environmental conditions, has a wide range in various areas of art. Scandalous dynamism of this movement is evident in all areas and various aspects of minimalism with its own attractions demonstrate that the tendency of modern human is oriented toward the simplicity and less talking which are mostly objectified in the area of prose and prose fiction, brevity and rationalism are the outstanding features of minimalist style and have their own followers. Artistic people look at world from a different perspective and besides using animate terms, try to draw its elegance with their own artistic abilities, thus give literary forms to their coherent and systematic ideas within the framework of words and sentences in enduring literary works. The expansion of post-industrial and computer era along with the tendencies of people toward brevity and simplicity has created development in various aspects of human life and society, thus new comprehensive theories

Tech J Engin & App Sci., 3 (12): 1057-1061, 2013 of the twentieth century affected all human affairs and therefore art and literature along with these movements stepped toward a literary revolution which the outcome of that coordination and impression was the emergence of new literary type in literature named minimalism which its aim was synchronization with the speed and acceleration of life in modern era. This new phenomenon is the newly emerged one in West, but it has very successful and sumptuous examples in Iranian literature. The present paper tries to introduce minimalist style and its various aspects in Persian language briefly, especially those which had become brief in recent years especially in the arena of world literature. As said before, minimalism in literature is an artistic approach based on the extreme compactness and briefness of the content of work and minimalist movement appeared in connection with artistic modernism, which according to the founders of this trend it was a fusion of aesthetics and short-writing in modern life and a logical response to special conditions of contemporary human. Minimalism Minimalism or short-writing is a narrative style with minimum essential elements in short forms which jokes, monologues, flash fictions, allegories, anecdotes are some aspects of it. The essence of minimalism is based on less is more motto (Mir Sadeghi, 2009). Tendency to shorten talk and reduced additions are prominent features of minimalism and the followers of this style believe that no matter how beautiful is the sentence or how deep is the thought if not needed should be eliminated. The term has been borrowed from modern sculpture and painting, and raised in fiction and flash fiction then included all artistic fields such as music, art, design, architecture, art and philosophy, literature, etc. Their work is based on simplicity and avoid of any complexity, any work which follows this style is considered as minimalist one. The base of minimalist writing is on less talking (Jazini, 1999). O. Henry likened minimal story to the core of lettuce, a story which throws redundancies away and what remains is just the core that can be a pure story. The causes of minimalism in world literature Turning to this type of literary was due to the social and economic conditions of that time and on the other hand was a reaction against Maximalism and its redundant difficulties in speech which was welcomed by young generation and developed more quickly. Raymond Carver, Ann Beattie, Jayne Anne Phillips are among famous minimalist writers (Mir Sadeghi, 1999).The minimalists do not deny the importance of applying maximalist methods but try to show that current situation is in need of simplicity and brevity in various areas of life. In ancient Persian literature short stories, anecdotes, jokes, aphorisms, wisdom and proverbs are successful examples of succinct expression and in contemporary literature the works such as carmina figurate, Cari-kalamator, selected quotes and flash fictions are various aspects of minimalism. Features of minimal storie Simple design, attractive theme, limited area and surface characterization with limited characters (Jazini, 1999) in the age of acceleration and technology, people have an especial tend toward speed in their ordinary works, short writings and minimalism which its various forms are: Sketch Sketch is neither a story nor a tale; it has its own special characteristic, speaks about conditions and situations, emphasis on the circumstance of place and person and shows a unique situation or character but in Iran less attention is paid on it. The purpose behind defining sketch was; not to misunderstand it with minimal stories and it is also a kind of carmina figurate in Persian which is similar to Haiku in Japanese literature (Mir Sadeghi, 1987) Motto is a sentence or phrase which shows the desires or aspirations of a group of people or a social institution and its most striking features are brevity and compactness; usually is used in political and social campaigns and in literature a motto is an effective, brief work which is extraordinarily idealistic. Cari-kalamator it was first coined based on the word order of caricature (cari+kalamat+or) by Shamloo in khoshe magazine, Cari-kalamator is the combination of two words caricature and kalamat, it means a caricature which is recorded through words and Shamloo used this term to refer to the writings of Parviz Shapour. The Cari-kalamators of Shapour are the representations of brief and satirical prose which explains thought-provoking and sometimes

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Tech J Engin & App Sci., 3 (12): 1057-1061, 2013 critical points with much soberness in extreme brevity and takes the reader to a world of beauty, ambiguity and harsh reality. 1 Har derakhte pir mitavanad sandali javani beshavad . 2 Nanva ham joshe shirin mizand bichareh Farhad tion Selected Quotes Selected quotes are type of brevity prose which became famous by Lichtenberg German writer in Europe and what kept his name alive was his honesty and subtlety in narrating phenomena, since he had power to see the weaknesses of human and attract people’s attention with short effective sentences. I've set myself a rule that until I'm alive and healthy I should get up early and I do not do not disobey this rule because it does not inconvenience me (Lichtenberg). Confucius (551–479 BCE), the Chinese wise heart sage in his book Analects (selected sayings) has valuable trainings, he is an honorable moral leader, one who has attempted for the welfare of human beings, thoughts of this old scientist are invaluable selected quotes and advices which in successive centuries have contributed to the consolidation and expansion of happiness and health in Chinese families (Shahbaz, 2006). Selected quotes in Persian literature are aphorisms and short wise sayings that are kept in exquisite literary books. Satan can’t deal with devoted ones and sultan can’t deal with indigents (Saadi, 2010). Anyone who quarrel with elders, just shed his own blood.(ibid,172) Confucius said, "There are three friendships which are advantageous, and three which are injurious. Friendship with the up light; friendship with the sincere; and friendship with the man of much observation are advantageous. Friendship with the man of specious airs; friendship with the insinuatingly soft; and friendship with the glib-tongued are injurious." (shahbaz, 2006) Telegraphic prose Like telegraph, in this type of prose message is not written completely and audience understand the massage through concise text, this type of prose is a hasty and slurred one. Its prominent feature is brevity and no repeat or imitation is allowed. The prose of Al-e-Ahmad with a brief and specific expression is known as Telegraphic prose, a term which clearly interprets his style. A sample of Telegraphic prose in which son calls for help, and father replies: 3 bandeh kazem, pol lazem vagar na azem./man torab,vaz kharab 4 roos vared, amval gharat, jade ha masdod,abavi mafood ,valede rehlat,bagiyeh salamt Abstract it means summarizing and expressing the gist of subject-matter in its shortest form by bringing essential points and not to compromise the gist, goal and massage. The aim of abstract is to accelerate reading and studying. Minimal Stories Minimal fiction writing is a narrative style, with shortest essential elements in concise way presented in the form of jokes, monologues, flash fiction, allegorical tales or moral anecdotes is presented (Rastgar Fasaei, 2001:302-307). Minimal story pays attention to pure experiences and portrays a short scene of life to stimulate the reader's powers of inference and speculation. Metaphor, metonymy and simile are not used in the context of the story and it is expressed through dialogue element and without certain narrator in a clear and simple language in its shortest possible form. Minimal movement gained much attention at the beginning of its development but art and literature critics criticized this type of trend and minimalist works, gave them the titles such as “Supermarket literature” and “Pepsi Cola Minimalist”. Frederic Barthelemy who is considered as one of the minimalist writers, criticizes minimalists and describes this style as below: Elimination of great philosophical ideas Simple and ordinary description Uniformityofstyle lack of political deployment Ignorance of ethical aspects 1

Each old tree can be a young chair. Even baker thinks of Shirin poor Farhad 3 I kazem, need money, if not come back/ I Torab, situation is bad 4 Russians entered/ looted property/ blocked roads/ father missed/ mother died/ every one safe. 2

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Tech J Engin & App Sci., 3 (12): 1057-1061, 2013 Not mentioning great historical concepts Characters lack enough depth And continues that it is very wonderful that a story do not have all the above but still sounds this much beautiful, thus what these criticizes are for? (Jazini, 2011) minimal story writing is very much depended on dialogue element and its prominent feature is that it enjoys brevity and compactness art. Tale: tale is the work in which emphasis is more on extraordinary events than evaluation and development of people and the characters, it includes legend, anecdote, stories and myths (Mir Sadeghi, 1987) Fable: fable is a real or fake short story common among people, written in short to express advice and wisdom; its excellent examples can be found in works such as Kalīlah wa Dimnah, Gulistan of Sa'di, Maqalat-i Shams, Rozat-al Oghol and Asrar al-Tawhid. “Dar zamane omar shakhsi bood sakht pir shode ke farzandash o ra shir midad va chon teflan miparvard.omar be an dokhtar farmod dar in zaman manannde to ke bar pedar hag dard hich farzandi nabashad. javab dad ama miyan man va pedar farghi ast agarche man dar khedmat taghsir nemikonam.chon pedar mara miparvard va bar man milarzid ke mabada be man afati resad va man pedar ra khedmat mikonam va shab o rooz 5 doa mikonam va mordane o az khoda mikhaham ”(Frozenfar,1999). Anecdote Anecdote is a fun and short story about a person or incident; unlike short story it does not have an artistic order (Mir Sadeghi, 1987). It is a pithy, delicate, charming and effective speech which is expressed in beauty and elegance. These kinds of works are full of pithy and wise anecdotes which fact–finding and aesthetic author writes them. Allegory Allegorical stories are those in which animals are narrating the story; Kalila wa Dimna, Mantiqu’t-Tayr (speech of the birds), Marzban-Nameh, Masnavi-I Ma'navi, etc include aesthetic allegorical stories. Allegory has capacity for moral, social and religious concepts and is the best means of transferring the fascinating messages and concepts in Persian literature, it should be mentioned that in west literature this story type has its own special naming. “avardeand ke robahi dar bisheyi raft anja table did pahloye derakhti afgandeh,hargah ke bad bejasti shakh derakht bar tabl residi avazi sahmnak be goshe robah amadi chon robah zekhamate joseh bedid va mahabate avaz beshnid tama dar bast ke gosht o post ,farakhore avaz bashad. Koshid o an ra bedarid algag charbovi bish nayaft .markab ziyan dar jolan keshid o goft bedanestam ke har koja joseh zakhm tar va avaze an hayel tar 6 manfaate an kamtar ” (Minavi, 1956:70). Parable Parables are those types of short anecdotes which involve moral points and their heroes and characters are human being. This kind of literary type is equivalent to allegory in Persian. 7 “arabi ra didam ke pesar ra hami goft to ra khahand porsid ke amalat chist nagoyand ke pedarat kist? (Sa’di, 2010)” Fable Fable is another type of allegory which narrates extra- ordinary events in short poetic or prose anecdote and aims to transfer a moral point or massage.

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At the time of Omar there was a girl who was looking after his old father like a child, Omar told her, no one in this world do this

to her father, she said I just try to treat my father kindly as he did to me when I was a child but although I look after him like he did to me but every day I ask God to takes him away! 6

It is written that one day a fox was passing a grove, when he suddenly saw a drum near a tree, a terrible wind was blowing

which made tree branches to beat on the drum and make a horrible sound, when fox heard that sound thought with himself that maybe inside the drum is full of meat and fat, thus tore the drum but found nothing then while was trying to hide his ashamed said I knew that big and huge staffs always are less beneficial. 7

Arab said to his son that after death they would ask you that what are your good deeds and not who was your dad?

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Tech J Engin & App Sci., 3 (12): 1057-1061, 2013 CONCLUSION Minimalism as a newly emerged trend is much more compatible with modern life style and has gained much more attention due to its simplicity and brevity. Minimalism movement can response to the taste of young generation and with its succinct and concise approach is appropriate for environmental and social conditions. This new literary genre, has a long history in ancient Persian literature, the erudite literates of Iran were the pioneers of minimalist literature in the forms of anecdote, wisdom, aphorisms, probers, etc. In ancient Iran, aphorisms and wise sentences were written on belts, the margin of curtains, table clothes and porch of palaces, also some advices in their shortest forms hanging down in front of the eyes of people. Reviewing anecdotes and their brevity aspects in ancient Persian literature will make a background for the valuable researches and will encourage young people toward enrich Iranian literature, thus noticing the structure and context of these works will reveal their privilege, literary and durability reasons. REFERENCES Atar F.2003. Tazkirat-ul-Auliya, Tehran: Markazi publication. Dad S.1999. Dictionary of literary terms, Tehran: Morvarid publication. Forozanfar B.1999. Fihe Ma Fih, Tehran: Amir Kabir publication. Jazini Mj.2011. Morphology of minimalism stories, Hezareh Gognus publication. Maynavi M.1956. Kalila wa Dimna, Tehran University publication. Mirsadegi J.1987. Fiction, Tehran: Shafa publication .2009. elements of a story, Tehran: Sokhan publication. Mirsadegi M.2009. Art of Fiction writing Glossary, Mahan’s book. Molana JM.1999. Fihe Ma Fih, corrected by Forozanfar, Tehran: Amir Kabir publication. Parsa SA.2006. Minimalism and Persian literature, Journal of literature and human science faculty, Kerman university of Shahid Bahonar, No. 20. Parsi Nejad K.2002. Short word on minimalism, fiction, No.61. Rastgar Fasaei M.2001. Types of Persian prose, Tehran: samt publication. Rezaei A.2003. Descriptive vocabularies of literature, Tehran: Farhange Moaser. Sa’di M.2010. Golestan, Golshiri, Tehran: Gognus publication. Sabzianpour V.2009. Effect of Anoushirvan & Bozorghmehr advices in Golestan, Journal of Tarbiat Moalem. Shahbaz H.2006. Journey into the world's greatest books.Tehran: Amir Kabir publication. Tabrizi ShM.2006. Maqalat-e Shams-e Tabrizi, corrected by Movahed , M.A., Tehran : Kharazmi publication.2009. Literary Criticism .Tehran: Mitra publication. Yunes E.2009. Art of Fiction writing, Tehran: Negah publication.

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