روایت‌شناسی قصّه و افسانه‌های عامۀ مردم اصفهان براساس نظریۀ کنشی گریماس

One of the successful areas of structuralism is narratology, which studies the nature, form, and functions of narratives. Greimas, a prominent structuralist narratologist, proposed a theory to establish an overall structure of narratives and was able to derive the grammatical structure of narratives by analyzing the meaning of sentence construction. Thus, his action model is applicable to the structure of all narratives. This research aims to conduct a descriptive-analytical study using library resources and narrative analysis methods to explore the narratology of stories and folk tales from the people of Isfahan, based on Greimas's action model. The results indicate the presence of agent actors, object actors, or inhibitors in all narratives; the existence of recipient, sender, and helper actors in most narratives; the similarity of agent and recipient factors in most tales; and highlight the importance of agents and objects as the two primary fundamental actors in the narratives. Therefore, this scholarly endeavor demonstrates that the tales and folk narratives of the people of Isfahan, in addition to having structure and narrative coherence, possess the scientific validity and applicability necessary for analysis using Greimas's actantial model.
Introduction:
One important topic in the field of structural criticism of literature and fictional texts is narratology, also known as narrative theory. This relatively new science aims to determine the narrative structure of a work or to discover a comprehensive narrative pattern that encompasses all possible methods of storytelling. Its roots trace back to the linguistic theories of Saussure and Chomsky, as well as to structuralist and formalist literary theories. Narratology, or literary structuralism, flourished in the 1960s, drawing influence from Plato and Aristotle. By applying the methods and insights of Ferdinand de Saussure, the founder of modern structural linguistics, to literature, the field began to focus on how narratives are expressed within literary criticism. One of the most influential figures in this area was Vladimir Propp, whose study of fairy tales significantly impacted narrative studies.
Algirdas Julien Grimas (1917-1992), the inventor of structural semantics, is known for his reflection on the principles and his refinement of them, as well as for being influenced by the ideas of Saussure and Jakobson. Innovations such as the introduction of the actantial model have significantly contributed to the analysis and understanding of narratives. In his book "Semantic Structures", Greimas provided a more scientific interpretation of Propp's framework, summarizing his work through the concept of the actor. By examining the semantics of sentence construction, he aimed to develop a universal grammar for narration. According to him, the six actors play the roles of characters in each narrative. Sometimes all six groups appear in a story, while other times only a few are mentioned. Among these actors, the subject and object actors are more fundamental than the others, whereas the inhibitory and auxiliary actors may not be present in every narrative. Therefore, the Grimace action model, in addition to being well-suited for folktales and fairy tales, can also be effectively applied to a wide range of texts.
Considering the importance and analysis of Iranian stories, choosing the narratological method for analyzing fictional texts is one of the most prominent methods that has received much attention in the contemporary period by literary critics as a method for structuralist analysis of stories, legends, or folklore narratives .Isfahan province, as one of the ancient cultural centers of Iran, has many folk narratives, and no research has been conducted on them so far; therefore, this research aims to examine the narrative structure of folk tales and legends of the people of Isfahan based on the Grimas action model, in order to, in addition to recognizing and introducing Grimas theory, examine similar patterns obtained from six semantic units And also analyze the extent of adaptation and how Grimas's action theory is structured.
Methodology:
Fictional texts are analyzed by writers or literary critics in various ways in the fields of literary criticism. This field of criticism, which is considered one of the newest fields in the contemporary period, includes the analysis of narrative structure. To analyze the narratology of the folk tales and legends of the people of Isfahan, ten stories from library sources were selected and summarized on the basis of the criteria of the authenticity of the sources, their completeness, and their lack of manipulation. Then, they were evaluated and examined in a descriptive-analytical manner and using the narrative analysis method based on Grimas's action theory in order to recognize and introduce Grimas's action theory and address this theory with the aim of examining similar patterns of this theory in these legends. This research is written around the six narrative actors of Grimas: the subject or hero, the object (target), the sender, the receiver, the helper, and the hinderer. It is hoped that researchers, students, and those interested in the field of narratology will benefit from it.
Results and Discussion:
Narratology is a relatively new discipline within the field of literature that examines various aspects of narrative. Greimas, one of the key theorists in narratology, introduced the term actor or six participants, drawing from the linguistic term "narrative". One of Greimas's significant contributions to structuralism and literary studies can be considered his action model, which has a great deal of correspondence with fictional narratives and can be analyzed and evaluated in a scientific and valuable way.
The research findings indicate that the subject, object, and inhibitory agents are present in all narratives. However, the significance of the two agents—the subject and the object (target)—is greater than that of the other agents, and their presence is essential in every narrative. Since all six agents may not be present in a narrative, this does not diminish the value of the research, because Greimas himself was aware of the existence of such a feature and the absence of one or more agents and their integration into each other. According to Greimas's view, the subject sometimes has a role as a receiver and sometimes not. This meant, if one person is responsible for two actions, such as in the fable of the "Fish" or two hindering and helping actors, they do not necessarily have to be human, but can be anything that hinders or helps the subject in achieving his goal. In this research, there are also narratives such as "The Parrot and the Merchant" based on this theory. Therefore, the presence of Greimas' narrative elements in most of the stories or legends in the study indicates its adaptability to this theory and can be generalized to other narratives as well.
Conclusion:
Greimas' theory has a special place in modern literature and literary criticism, and his action model is adaptable and effective in folk tales, fairy tales, etc. By analyzing the ten stories and legends of the research based on Greimas's theory, we can gain some insights about the action or characters in relation to their similar patterns and the presence or absence of Greimas's six actors. The subject, object, and inhibitory agents exist in all narratives, and even in two fables called "The Fox in Dog's Clothing" and "A Man from Isfahan with Two Heads!” We have encountered two subjects, in each of which, one of the subjects overcomes the other who had won in the first situation of the story. Also, the recipient, sender, and helper agents can be observed in most narratives. And the two agents, subject and recipient, are the same in most fables.
In general, with the structural analysis of the stories and legends of the people of Isfahan based on Greimas' theory of action, the ability and application of this theory to investigate all narratives has been revealed and the importance of two actors, the subject and the object, has been shown as the two main and fundamental actors of the narratives. Therefore, this scientific research shows that the stories and legends of the people of Isfahan, in addition to having a narrative structure and coherence, have the ability and application of investigation with the action theory of Greimas.