The Circular Structure of Savāneh al-Oshāq by Ahmad Qazzāli

Abstract

Savāneh al-Oshāq written by Ahmad Qazzāli is the first Persian book allocated to love. It is a collection of the author’s own theories about love, the lover and the beloved, and their relationship. It influenced many works written after. One of the most important aspects of this text is its structure that to the best of our knowledge has not been studied so far. Therefore, this inquiry focuses on its structure. Structuralism, by finding a logical relation between smaller parts in a text and their relation to the whole body of the text, indicates the solidarity or irregularity of a literary work. In this paper, the application of lexis and concepts in the whole structure of the text are analysed. The results show that it has a circular structure and therefore the beginning and the end of the text share similar features. Moreover, we came upon the effect of metaphysical forces and divine concepts on the circular structure of Savāneh al-Oshāq.

Keywords

• keywords: circular structure
• savāneh al-oshāq
• ahmad qazzāli