Abstract:
Allegory is one of the rhetorical devices that has attracted a great deal of attention from critics for its semantic functions. Among different types of allegory، fictional allegory which has a narrative structure has had a wide application in classical and contemporary Persian literature. Like poetry، contemporary story has benefited from semantic functions of allegory in many cases. Studying the fictional allegories used in modern short stories، illustrates that some authors have used this device not just for its semantic function، but also it in the structural part of the story. Aiming at studying this function، in this research three Persian short stories (“Mehdi”، “Amphibians”، “Fiction and Grief”) are analyzed based on the ideas of Brian Richardson about the structural effect of rhetorical devices in modern stories to show that in addition to its semantic function، fictional allegory has a role in the plot structure of modern short stories .
Machine summary:
Examining the narrative allegories used in modern short stories shows that some writers have employed this device in a function different from its semantic type and have also utilized it in the structural part of the story.
To investigate this function, the present research, based on the views of "Brian Richardson" regarding the structural impact of rhetorical tools in the modern story, analyzes three Persian short stories ("Mehdi", "The Two Taxidermists", and "Story and Sorrow") and has shown that narrative allegory can, in addition to its content function, be effective in the plot structure of the modern short story.
Based on this brief introduction, the hypothesis that this article will seek to prove is that narrative allegory, in the position of a narrative text when placed within another story's text, can be effective in the plot structure of that story in addition to its semantic and aesthetic functions.
The present article, for the first time, addresses and investigates the structural function of narrative allegory in the Persian short story.
As previously mentioned, in the present research, we aim to seek a new function of narrative allegory in the modern short story; a function that, beyond meaning and concept, relates to the plot structure of the short story.
Following the discussion raised by Richardson, and by examining examples of modern Persian stories, evidence was found showing that narrative allegory is a powerful rhetorical tool that can, alongside its other traditional functions, penetrate the plot structure of a story and manifest a new function.
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