A Comparative Study of Two Romances: The English Morte d'Arthur and the Persian Samak-e-Ayyar

Abstract. The present study endeavors to investigate the English romance Morte d'Arthur (1485) written by Sir Thomas Malory and Samak-e-Ayyar (12th c.) a Persian romance compiled by Faramarz ibn Khodadad and extract the most common elements of romance as manifested in these works. The elements studied in this paper include oral tradition, magic and witchcraft, nobleness and gentility, chivalric magnanimity and brotherly ethos, and masculinity.

___

  • Archibald, E., Putter A. (2009).The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend
  • Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Armstrong, D. (2003). Gender and the Chivalric Community in Malory’s Morte d’Arthur,
  • Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Azizifar. A. (2013). An Investigation of Talisman and Breaking the Talisman in three
  • Persian Folk Tales (Samak 'Ayyar, Husein Kurd and Amir Arsalan Namdar). Researches on Persian Langage and Literature. Vol. 49, No. 1 (17), 83-100. Baraheni, Reza. (1989). The Writing of Fiction. Tehran: Alborz.
  • Cichon, M. S., Purdie, R. (2011). Medieval Romance, Medieval Contexts. Martlesham: DS Brewer.
  • Clark, D., McClune, K. (2011). Blood, Sex, Malory: Essays on the Morte Darthur.
  • Martlesham: Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2011 Encylopædia http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/samak-e-ayyar
  • Fattahi, H. (2000). Samak-e-Ayyar in 2 Volumes. Tehran: Qadyani. Retrived from
  • Green, T. (2009). Arthuriana: Early Arthurian Tradition and the Origins of the Legend. Lulu Press Inc.
  • Hughes, D. (2007). The British Chronicles, Volume 1. Berwyn Heights: Heritage Books Inc.
  • Kim, H. (2000). The Knight Without the Sword: A Social Landscape of Malorian Chivalry.
  • Martlesham: Boydell & Brewer. Kooban, S. (2001). Traces of Anciant Egyptian Culture & Civilization. Tavoos Art Quarterly, No. 10, 1-19.
  • Levack. B. P. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Loomis, R. S. (2000). The Development of Arthurian Romance. N. Chelmsford: Courier Corporation.
  • Malory, T. (1936). Le Morte d'Arthur. New York: E. P. Dutton & Sons Limited.
  • Meghdadi, B. (1999), Literal Critic Encyclopedia, Tehran: Fekr Rooz Publication.
  • Moein, M. (1996). Persian Lexicon. Tehran: Amirkabir Press
  • Nowrouzi, Kh. (2008). Analysis of the literary type of Samak-e Ayyar. Journal of Persian
  • Language and Literature, 9, 135-159. Pourshariati, P. (2013). The Ethics and Praxis of Mehr and Mithrasand the Social
  • Institution of the ʿayyārs in the Epic Romance of Samak-e' ayyar. Journal of Persianate Studies, 15-38. Renard, J. (1999). Islam and the Heroic Image: Themes in Literature and the Visual Arts.
  • Macon: Mercer University Press. Saunders, C. J. (2010). Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance.
  • Martlesham: Boydell & Brewer. Staff. J. O., O'Conner, J. (1999). Dicing with Death. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.
  • Whetter, K. S. (2008). Understanding Genre and Medieval Romance. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
  • Yamamoto, K. (2003). The Oral Background of Persian Epics: Storytelling and Poetry. Leiden: BRILL.