Kherad-Guye, A Subgenre in Didactic Literature

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Marziye Esmailzade Mobarakeh
• Mohsen Mohammadi Fesharaki

Isfahan University

10.22067/jls.v0i0.81602

Abstract

Extended Abstract

Introduction

In literary texts, there is a kind of communication   in which a wise man, urged by an interlocutor, begins to teach but the latter remains a just listener and does not impress either what the former communicates or the conclusion of his teachings. On characteristics of this kind of communication, labeled kheradguye by the authors, there is no survey in the field of literary studies as well as other scientific ones; therefore its difference with other kinds of communication, including dialogue, address (Khetabeh), Pandnameh and Amaali remains obscure yet.  The term kheradguye is taken from Confucius to communicate the wisdom-seeker. Attempts will be made to deal with the structure as well as the content of this literary genre in some Persian literary texts and to make clear its difference with other types of didactic literary works.

Review of Literature

This research focuses on a critical and subject-oriented approach to the translation of the term Lunyu (Confucius's Kherad-Guye), known in English as “Analects”, and in Persian as “Mokalemat” (conversations), because these terms do not properly represent the structure and content of the book of Confucius. Therefore, based on Aristotle's philosophical-ethical theory in Nicomachean's treatise on ethics and Miskawayh's view on Tahzib Al-Akhlagh and the analysis of literary evidence, the authors have chosen a suitable equivalent for this literary subgenre in Persian. Using the Kherad Guye makes it impossible for dialogue, speech (Khetabeh), Pandnameh and Amaali and, therefore, adds a new subgenre to didactic literature.

Method

This is a descriptive-analytic study based on content analysis. Based on data collected from Persian literature and Confucius' works, the authors investigated the Kherad-Guye elements and their differences with other similar subgenres.

Results and Discussion

The Kherad-Guye are for a particular type of communication that Confucius first used to train rationalists. Confucius (479-551 BC) was the first philosopher to present systematic views on the values, goals, and methods of education.
The Analects is Confucius's collection of speeches that have been known as the main source of direct quotations for the past thousand years. Following his death in 479 BC, Confucius's followers compiled a text describing Confucius's thoughts (Rainey, 2010). In his Analects, Confucius teaches political and ethical virtues to wisdom-seekers and tells them what the good government and the ethically good are. Thus, in terms of content, his remarks are in the didactic literature and are the first example of the “Kherad-Guye”, but in translating the Chinese title of his remarks into “Lunyu”, it has not been meticulously accurate and has confused it with dialogue.
In fact, in the translation of Confucius's work into English, the Analects does not properly represent the concept of Lunyu in Chinese, but merely represent the selection and compilation of his words. In other words, because Confucius's words have been chosen by his followers over the years, they are called analects in English. Also, translating analects in Persian into “literary anthology” or “Mokalemat” (conversations), in Farsi does not indicate the meaning and structure of this kind of speech. The literary anthology has the general meaning of Confucius's words and can be applied to any literary work,and the conversation or dialogue are structurally incompatible with this kind as the dialogue is always between a speaker and an interlocutor while there is no interlocutor in Confucius' as well as in many works by other teachers of wisdom.
In Persian, the word “Kherad-Guye” is a compound word. “If two or more independent words that each have a specific meaning are mixed to form a new word which has a new and independent meaning, it will be called a compound word” (Khanlari, 1987). Guye means to say (Sokhan Dictionary, 2008), along with the word “Kherad”, which can also be understood as wisdom, represents wise speech and the teaching of wisdom and shows the unilateral structure of this kind of communication and its rational scope.

Conclusion

Some of the words in the didactic literature are quoted from unorthodox master. This kind of speech has certain components that a text, if any, does not fall into this category: 1. Being a wise speaker; 2. To quote wise words for moral education; 3. Non-promotion of a particular religion; 4. To go to the wise listener to know something; 5. Unorthodox education; 6. Communication lacking any rational dialogue.
Kherad-Guye is the author's suggested term for this kind of speech that can correctly represent the unilateral structure of this literary subgenre and its rational scope and is a good equivalent of the word “Lunyu”, the title of the book of Confucius and it is the first type of Kherad-Guye. Kherad-Guye differs from conversation and rhetoric in terms of the type of relationship, the position of the speaker and the listener, and the terms and conditions of the relationship that were examined in the article.

Keywords

• Didactic literary
• Pand Naame (advice text)
• Kherad Guye
• Confucius

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