Structural Analysis of the Story "Executing Hasanak” Based on Labov’s Diamond Model

Abstract

Narratology, as a branch of structuralism, aims to discover a general model of narration. William Labov is one of the theorists in this domain who, together with Joshua Waletzky, proposed a model for narrative structure based on oral narration of speakers of English. This model, also famous as diamond, consists of six parts: abstract, orientation, complicating action, evaluation, resolution, and coda. Tarikh-e Beyhaqi is a historical narrative in which oral narrative has a conspicuous presence. Based on Labov’s model, this article seeks to analyze the story "executing Hasanak”, in which oral narrative plays a crucial part. Results of the research show that the macro structure of Hasanak story is consistent with Labov’s model, but elements such as subject matter and writing techniques cause differing of the work from the model in some parts and make it unique. Moreover, the most important individuating aspect of this work is manifested in evaluation part where Beyhaqi’s writing style is made emphatic and his claim regarding his being unbiased in historiography is rejected.

Keywords

• evaluation
• Busahl-e-Zuzani
• Beyhaqi
• Hasanak
• Oral Narration
• Labov