An Introduction to the Stylistics of Tārīkh-i Waṣṣāf: An Analysis of the Central Role of Performative Sentences in the Apex of Ornate Prose

Abstract

Persian ornate prose in the seventh and eighth centuries AH (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries CE) reached the height of artistic sophistication and stylistic complexity through an unprecedented use of phonetic and semantic rhetorical devices, literary embellishments, and intricate syntactic structures, to the extent that it frequently transcended the boundaries between prose and poetry and entered into direct competition with it. Tārīkh-i Waṣṣāf, the enduring work of Sharaf al-Dīn ʿAbd Allāh Shīrāzī (known as Waṣṣāf al-Ḥaḍra), is regarded as one of the most prominent and exemplary instances of this style, in which performative sentences not only fulfill their primary function of conveying meaning and establishing communication but also assume multiple and complex roles across rhetorical (persuasion and influence), aesthetic (creation of beauty and literary pleasure), and emotional (elicitation of affect and empathy in the audience) domains. The present study aims to analyze the structure, typology, and rhetorical functions of these sentences in the aforementioned work, employing a descriptive–analytical method and utilizing library-based data collection techniques. The statistical population consists of the complete five-volume text of Tārīkh-i Waṣṣāf, and the sample includes 150 performative sentences extracted from various sections of the work through purposive sampling. The findings indicate that performative sentences in Tārīkh-i Waṣṣāf, characterized by high frequency and remarkable functional diversity, serve three principal purposes: enhancing the aesthetic dimension of the text, exerting emotional influence on the audience, and demonstrating the author’s linguistic and rhetorical mastery. Furthermore, by classifying the types of performative sentences and analyzing their rhetorical features, this article examines their central role in the formation and consolidation of the maqāmah-style and highly ornate prose in Persian historiography.