Storytelling Style in Kashf al-Mahjūb’s Short Tales

Abstract

This article is an attempt to improve acquaintance with the Persian tales that were principally reflected in mystical prose and enjoyed brevity and simplicity of expression. It expounds the narrative structure of the short tales in Hojvīrī’s Kashf al-Mahjūb by studying the elements of the minimalist stories in a hundred and sixty selected tales. Moreover, Hojvīrī’s style in characterization, formation of plot, point of view, dialogue, tone and theme is analyzed. The results of this inquiry indicate that some features of the minimalist style such as selection of an instant and its scant narration, simple plot, brevity, the use of a limited number of characters and events, avoidance of phraseology and the use of simple expressions are present in a great number of Kashf al-Mahjūb’s short tales.

Keywords

• keywords: hojvīrī
• mystical tales
• story elements
• narrative
• characterization