| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The Persian wine production myth centers on the relationship between a male vintner and his female vine and her daughters, the grapes. This myth, the earliest extant examples of which are found in qas?das by the Samanid poets R?dak? and Bashsh?r Marghaz? and which was much developed by Man?chihr? and his contemporary Farrukh?, contains images of femininity, the mother-child bond, separation, violence, execution, and ultimate redemption. The grape harvest comes in the late summer and culminates in the Mihrag?n festival, a celebration focused on the grape and grape wine, at which poems containing versions of the wine production myth were recited. The present study maps the evolution of this myth over the span of a century through a close reading of eleven poems with specific reference to variations in narrative structure.
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