Reassessing Khāqāni’s Position in Light of Zarrinkoub’s Concept of “Literary Ideology”

Abstract

The present study aims to examine the position of Afzal al-Din Khāqāni Shirvani in the history of Persian literature on the basis of Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub’s theory of “literary ideology.” As one of the most complex poets associated with the technical style, Khāqāni has consistently occupied an intermediary position between technical admiration and structural criticism. The central problem of this study concerns the manner in which Khāqāni’s internal contradictions—particularly the opposition between the court and the Sufi lodge—may be reinterpreted and transformed into an aesthetic system within Zarrinkoub’s critical framework. Employing a descriptive-analytical method and drawing on library-based sources, the study examines such components as the “architecture of language” and the “symbolism of suffering” in Khāqāni’s poetry. The findings indicate that Zarrinkoub regards Khāqāni not merely as an excessively ornate poet, but as the founder of a form of “aggressive individuality” in Persian poetry. Through scholarly obscurity and literary self-aggrandizement, Khāqāni sought to acquire authority and establish distinction in opposition to the political institutions of his time. The final results suggest that, from Zarrinkoub’s perspective, Khāqāni’s true position in literary history lies in his transition from an “ideology of erudition” to an “ideology of admonition,” particularly in his prison poems and the qaṣida The Arch of Ctesiphon. It is at this point that he is transformed from a craftsman of words into a sincere narrator of the existential suffering of humankind.