A Study and Critique of the Reception and Application of de Saussure’s Theories in Persian Literary Criticism

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Faculty of Literature and Humanities, shiraz university, shiraz, iran

10.22124/naqd.2025.31561.2742

Abstract

Ferdinand de Saussure’s foundational ideas have exerted a significant influence on Persian literary criticism. This study aims to trace, evaluate, and critically examine the introduction, reception, and application of Saussure’s theories within Persian critical discourse. To this end, all major books and articles published since the 1960s that present his concepts were systematically identified and reviewed. Approximately thirty representative studies that explicitly applied his framework were then analyzed to assess their approaches, strengths, and limitations. The findings indicate that Saussure’s ideas first appeared in Persian scholarship in the 1960s through both original writings and translations. From the 2000s onward, with a broader understanding of his theoretical foundations, researchers increasingly engaged with his ideas across various fields, most notably through the concept of binary opposition. While these studies have advanced structuralist approaches in Persian criticism, they also exhibit recurring limitations, including the citation of theoretical discussions unrelated to the research topic, neglect of prior scholarship, inconsistency between theory and text, excessive focus on the origins of oppositions rather than their functional dynamics, translation deficiencies, theoretical imposition, and identity reduction. Each of these issues is analyzed and discussed in detail within the article.

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Main Subjects

Literary Theory and Criticism

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 24 November 2025

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