Motaleat-e-zaban-e-farsi

Motaleat-e-zaban-e-farsi

Intertextuality in the Letters of Jalal Al-e Ahmad and Simin Daneshvar and the Fictional Works of These Two Writers

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Hamide Setayesh Ardakani 1
Bahador Bagheri 2
Hosein Bayat 3
1 PhD candidate in Persian Language and Literature, Department of Literature and Humanities, Khawrazmi University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran (corresponding author).
3 Associate Professor of Persian language and Literature Associate Professor, Department of Persian language and literature, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/jmzf.2026.549701.1253
Abstract

1. Introduction
Intertextuality should be regarded as one of the constituent elements of a text; for it pertains to the horizontal relationships among texts and the presence of one text within another. In the perspective of contemporary theories, intertextuality does not consider the text as an independent phenomenon; rather, it views it as being in a continuous connection with other texts. Every literary work takes shape within a network of meaning, belief, and experience, and bears traces of prior and contemporaneous texts. Intertextuality highlights how a text draws upon the capacities of other texts and re-creates them in the construction of new meaning.
Given that literature and society are inseparably intertwined, literary works become the products of the thoughts of individuals who are situated within the context of social events and who articulate social issues from their own perspectives. Jalal Al-e Ahmad and Simin Daneshvar are also among those writer couples who turned periods of separation into opportunities for letter writing. The thoughts and concerns of this couple, as expressed in their letters, have been reflected in their fictional works in the form of characters and narrative events. With this crucial point in mind, analyzing the intertextual relationships between the letters and the literary works of Jalal and Simin is a research necessity and can offer a clearer picture of the process through which their literary world took shape. Accordingly, the main question of the present study can be formulated as follows: how have the themes, attitudes, and experiences expressed in the letters of Jalal Al-e Ahmad and Simin Daneshvar been reflected in their literary works, and what role have they played in shaping the narrative elements and their literary worldview?

2. Methodology
The present research has been conducted with an intertextual analytic approach and through a comparative study of the source text (the letters) and the target text (the selected literary works). Its aim is to demonstrate that many of the themes articulated in their letters have been re-created, in various forms and configurations, as core narrative elements of the stories — including, among others, plot events, scene construction, character creation and their dialogues, narratorial commentary, and so forth
3. Discussion
The literary texts of Simin Daneshvar and Jalal Al-e Ahmad have taken shape within a context in which the cultural and social issues of contemporary Iran have a prominent presence and constitute a significant part of their fictional world. The letters of these two writers likewise reflect these sensitivities at a more immediate and personal level and make it possible to directly observe their social concerns. The comparison of these two domains reflects the claim that many of the cultural and social elements presented in the letters have been re‑created in a more structured and artistic form within their fictional works. On this basis, examining these components can shed clearer light on the mechanisms through which the social perspective of these two writers has been formed. Therefore, an intertextual study of the analyzed components—such as the status of Iranian women, gender equality, criticism of child marriage, encouragement and movement toward perfection, and others—makes it possible to achieve a more precise understanding of how experience is transformed into narrative and how an individual perspective is transformed into a literary worldview.

4. Conclusion
In light of the results obtained from the present study, it was determined that the topics and discussions present in the letters have been represented in various ways in the fictional works, examined through the lenses of cultural, social, political, and personal life reflections. Numerous instances of economic, social, cultural, political, and historical concepts present in the fictional works—along with the temporal and spatial settings of the stories, dialogues, scene constructions, characters, and even the titles of certain works and stories—demonstrate the mutual and intertextual correlation between the letters and the works of both writers, and attest to the existence of intertextual and transtextual relationships between them.
Keywords
Keywords: intertextuality
Simin Daneshvar
Jalal Al-Ahmad
letters of Jalal Al-Ahmad and Simin Daneshvar
letter
کتاب­شناسی
الف: کتاب­ها
1)      آل‌احمد، جلال (1326)،  از رنجی که می‌بریم، چاپ اول، تهران: جنگل.
2)      ..................... (1341)، غربزدگی، چاپ اول، تهران: فردوس.
3)      ..................... (1343)، یک چاه و دو چاله و مثلاً شرح احوالات، چاپ اول، تهران: رواق.
4)      ..................... (1344الف)، غربزدگی، چاپ دوم با تجدید نظر، تهران: رواق.
5)      ..................... (1344ب)، نون والقلم، چاپ دوم، تهران: رواق.
6)      ..................... (1356)، زن زیادی، چاپ چهارم، تهران: رواق.
7)      .................. (1360الف)، پنج داستان، چاپ سوم، تهران: رواق.
8)      ..................... (1360ب)، سنگی بر گوری، چاپ اول، تهران: رواق.
9)      ..................... (1390)، نفرین زمین، چاپ سوم، تهران: مجید.
10)  ..................... (1343)، سه‌تار، تهران: جاویدان، بی‌تا.
11)  اربابی، عیسی(1378)، چهار سرو افسانه (پژوهشی در آثار و زندگی جمالزاده، هدایت، دانشور و افغانی)، چاپ نخست، تهران: اوحدی.
12)  جعفری جزی، مسعود (1398)، نامه‌های سیمین دانشور و جلال آل‌احمد، کتاب اول، چاپ سوم، تهران: نیلوفر.
13)  ............................. (1384الف)، نامه‌های سیمین دانشور و جلال آل‌احمد، کتاب دوم(بخش اول)، چاپ اول، تهران: نیلوفر.
14)  .............................(1384ب)،  نامه‌های سیمین دانشور و جلال آل‌احمد، کتاب دوم( بخش دوم)، چاپ اول، تهران: نیلوفر.
15)  .............................(1385)، نامه‌های سیمین دانشور و جلال آل‌احمد، کتاب سوم، چاپ اول، تهران: نیلوفر.
16)  دانشور، سیمین (1359). به کی سلام کنم، چاپ اول، تهران: خوارزمی.
17)  ....................(1354)، شهری چون بهشت، چاپ دوم، تهران: کتاب موج.
18)  ....................(1360)، سووشون، چاپ دهم،تهران: خوارزمی.
19)  ....................( 1380الف)، جزیرۀ سرگردانی، چاپ سوم، تهران: خوارزمی.
20)  ....................(1380ب)، ساربان سرگردان، چاپ اول، تهران: خوارزمی.
21)  گلشیری، هوشنگ (1376)، جدال نقش با نقاش در آثار سیمین دانشور، چاپ اول، تهران: نیلوفر.
22)  میرسپاسی، علی(1394)،  تأملی در مدرنیتۀ ایرانی، چاپ دوم، تهران: نشرثالث.
23)  میرصادقی، جمال(1386)،  ادبیات داستانی، چاپ پنجم، تهران: سخن.
ب: مقاله ­ها
1)      نامور مطلق، بهمن(1386)، «ترامتنیت مطالعۀ روابط یک متن با دیگر متن‌ها»، در پژوهش‌‌نامۀ علوم انسانی دانشگاه شهید بهشتی. شمارۀ 56، صص 98-83.
2)      واحدی، وحیده سادات و سیدرضایی، زری سادات(1395)، «تحلیل گفتمان انتقادی داستان‌های جلال آل‌احمد و سیمین دانشور»، مجلۀ پژوهش‌های نقد ادبی و سبک‌شناسی، شمارۀ 3، صص 223-203.
منبع لاتین
- Kristeva, Julia. (1980). desire in language. “A semiotic approach to literature and Art”. Columbia university press.
 

  • Receive Date 06 July 2025
  • Accept Date 30 September 2025