A History of Style and a Style of History: The Hermeneutic ofTarzin Persian Literary Criticism
In: Iranian studies, Volume 55, Issue 2, p. 501-519
ISSN: 1475-4819
AbstractThis article considers style in Persian literary history and its critical rhetorical and hermeneutical roles for poets and critics in the medieval and Safavid-Mughal eras. It explores howtarz(manner) emerged as a hermeneutical term in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and achieved a central position insukhansanjī(evaluating speech) in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This account oftarz—grounded in its historicity and multivalent implications—offers new insights into language for early modern Persian literary history, which is often periodized assabk-i hindī(Indian style) ortāza-gūyī(fresh-speaking). Through a close reading of Safavid-Mughaltazkiras (literary compendiums), this contribution examinestarzas an operating concept deployed by a number of prominenttazkirawriters. Finally, the article concludes by discussing this legacy's impact on twentieth-century scholarship.
