Telling a Different Story

Redeployment of the Narrative Alexander Tradition in a Medieval Persian Dāstān

Bibliographic Data

ID9978749
AuthorsJulia Rubanovich (0000-0001-9266-3239, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume55
Issue4
Pages837-856
Publication date2022-05-06
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIranian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-0862 • E-ISSN: 1475-4819
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/irn.2022.2
OpenAlexW4229033540
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

This article explores the remaniement of three episodes current in the Perso-Arabic Alexander tradition—i.e., Eskandar's confrontation with the Indian king Fur; Eskandar's visit to Queen Qeydāfeh; and Eskandar's encounter with the Gymnosophists—in the anonymous Persian Eskandarnāmeh , a medieval epic narrative in prose ( dāstān ; ca . 12 th –14 th c.). Through extensive comparative evidence from other genres, primarily narrative poetry (Ferdowsi's Shāhnāmeh , Nezāmi's Sharafnāmeh and Eqbālnāmeh ), mirabilia ( ʿajāyeb ), and exegetical works ( qesas al-anbeyāʾ and tafsir ), this study engages with how the modalities of the dāstān genre, with its strong leaning towards traditional oral storytelling, affect the narrative choices Eskandarnāmeh 's author makes in treating these themes. In so doing, this article attempts to develop a more informed assessment of the strategies and devices which, activated both on the production and reception planes, generate competing interpretations of well-known plots recast in different narrative modes

Arabic · Art · EPIC · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Narrative structure · Persian · Poetry · Storytelling · Theology · Families in Therapy and Culture · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Islamic Studies and History · Philosophy

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Open DOIOpen Access