The Question of “Death” in Three Stories: A Comparative Study

Abstract

ries representing two different cultures and two different historical periods. The first one is a story from Persia, dating back to the seventh Century AH (13th Century AD), by the well- known Iranian writer Sa’di Al-Shirazi. The other two were written by the two Arab writers; Yosuf Idrees and Abdu Salaam Al ‘Ojaily. The presence of “Death” as a theme in these three stories constitutes a distinctive and common feature that cuts across these three stories despite the differences among them in terms of setting, time, details and characters. This, in turn, vividly demonstrates that human beings have a common concern irrespective of differences. This, consequently, proves the prominent role played by comparative literature in enhancing, and cementing common understanding among human beings and, therefore, making it firmly rooted in them. The study also aims to focus on this theme at two levels; the implicit and the explicit. The main objective is to make the reader become fully acquainted with how these two concerted levels lead to a common artistic vision in the three stories in spite of their differences in terms of content and details (i.e. setting, time, character, etc.).