Description and its Types based on the Theory of Descriptology Case Study: Zidari Nasavi’s Nafthat al-Masdur

Descriptology examines the nature of description, studies literature from the perspective of description, tries to identify different types of description in literary texts and, by providing a structured framework, offers a system for the criticism of texts. The main aim of the present study is to apply the theory of descriptology to Shahab al-Din Zidari’s Nafthat al-Masdur in order to redefine description and examine its types. As a model or paradigm, typology encompasses a conceptual and theoretical framework, while being a critical tool, it has exploratory use and allows for the literary analysis of a text. In this regard, Nafthat al-Masudar has the potential to serve as a basis for the completion of this theory, as it displays a remarkable variety and offers a special view of description and its application in the text. The paper argues that many of the beauties and characteristics of the literary text are made possible through the examination of the techniques, methods, and details of the description used. However, this paper is not a descriptological analytic study of the text; it is merely an introduction to it and offers an apparatus that can be used for descriptological research.
 
Extended Abstract
 
1. Introduction
Descriptology examines the nature of description, studies literature from the perspective of description, tries to identify different types of description in literary texts and, by providing a structured framework, offers a system for the criticism of texts. The present study aims to apply the theory of descriptology to excerpts from Shahab al-Din Zidari’s Nafthat al-Masdur so that description is redefined and its types are examined. Zidari’s work enjoys a rich diversity in types of description as it has made great use of description and its types in the text. Rather than being a descriptological analysis, the present paper is an introduction to it and an attempt to introduce a system that is to lay the ground for descriptological studies.
 
2. Theoretical Framework
The present study is composed of six main parts. In the first part while different viewpoints about description are examined, attempt is made to offer a more precise definition of this term. In the second section some studies in Persian on description are examined. In sections three and four first descriptology is studied as a new way of analyzing and understanding texts and then Nafthat al-Masdur is studied closely. In part five different types of description are explained and in the last part the findings of the study are presented.
 
3. Methodology
The present paper has drawn on structuralist methodology to study Nafthat al-Masdur. After criticizing and analyzing the ideas of former theorists, the study develops a new classification of different types of description, which it has called the ‘typology of description’.
 
4. Findings
In this study, a new definition of description has been offered. In literature description can be defined as the representation of objective and subjective examples through language provided that this representation occurs in the context of a literary discourse. In this study descriptions have been classified based on either content or form. Many of the description types have been introduced in the present study for the first time, such as hidden, cognitive and extensive description. In this study, a fairly comprehensive system has been developed through which texts can be studied from the perspective of descriptology. Also, the types of description used by Shahab al-Din Mohammad in his Nafthat al-Masdur have been identified and explained in this paper.
 
5. Conclusion
As the present paper aimed to understand the nature and types of description, the results of the study have been summarized in Table 1. A descriptological study of the examples extracted from Nafthat al-Masdur indicates that the writer has skillfully used description in his work, transforming mere narration into a literary text. Such studies can provide the ground and develop a system for descriptological analyses of different texts. Comparative studies of two or more texts can, thus, be made possible. Different approaches, such as descriptology and stylistics, descriptology and narratology, descriptology and hermeneutics and descriptology and intertextuality can be combined to study different literary works.
 
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