Love Gone Wrong, Then Right Again: Male/Female Dynamics in the Bahrm Gr-Slave Girl Story

摘要

This article examines male/female dynamics in three versions of the classical story of the Sassanian prince Bahrm Gr and his lyre-playing slave girl: that of the Shhnma of Firdawsī, the Haft Paykar of Nizmī Ganjavī, and the Hasht Bihisht of Amīr Khusraw. It argues that each version provides progressively more positive depictions of intergender dynamics, ones that are contingent upon more egalitarian understandings of the male/female dichotomy. The later authors destabilize the categories of “male” and “female,” equalizing and even uniting the dichotomous pairs, so that men and women draw nearer to each other in qualities rather than remaining in their usual polarized positions. In the Hasht Bihisht, moreover, we witness a reversal of hierarchies in which traditionally feminine qualities receive preference over masculine virtues—an act that suggests fresh possibilities for harmonious interactions between the sexes.