Intertextuality in Didactic Literature (Qābus-Nāma and the Instructions of Ptah-Hotep; the Oldest Book-for-Offspring in the World)
Subject Areas : شاهنامه
Saba Jalili jashn abadi
1
,
sayed mahdi Rahimi
2
1 - Assistant Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Payame-noor University, Iran (corresponding author)
2 - Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Birjand University
Keywords: intertextuality, Instruction of Ptah-Hotep, Book for Offspring, Qābus-Nāma,
Abstract :
One of the topics in text criticism is intertextuality Which refers to the various relationships of texts in terms of form and meaning. It considers the text as a loop in an intertextual chain that is related to the texts before and its contemporaries and the texts after. In other words, each text has a hidden and explicit connection with its genre, both formally and semantically. Advice to offspring is a sub-Genre of didactic literature that has an ancient history in human civilization. This tradition of advising that relies on the three principles of antiquity, universality, continuity, and repetition, requires intertextual and comparative analysis. According to historical documents, the instructions of Ptah-Hotep is the oldest book-for-offspring in world literature. These instructions date back to 2880 BC in Egypt. in Persian language and literature, Qābus-Nāma is a famous and successful example that shortly after writing, until the end of the Qajar period, was considered and imitated by the authors of texts in Iran. The very ancient place of Instruction of Ptah in the tradition of advice to the son, and the fame of Qābus-Nāma is the main reason for selecting these works. In this research, with an analytical-comparative approach, the extra-textual, hypertext, and intra-textual characteristics of these works were investigated. That have similarities in the type of audience (authors' sons), social status of the authors (Isesis court minister and Prince Ale-Ziār), pride in lineage, having an emotional introduction and an emphatic ending, recommendation to apply the teachings, expressing behavioral advice in the community and family. This achievement shows that there was a common tradition in writing advice for the offspring, which of course varies slightly depending on the type.
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