A Comparative Study of James Redfield's Mystical Approach to The Celestine Prophecy with Major Persian Mystical Educational Works

Comparative literature is a suitable field for observing and understanding intercultural interactions and influences. Historical, cultural, and literary necessities; and the exploration and chronology of these transactions in the form of comparative studies, make the novel The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield a candidate for criticism and discussion from this perspective. This work promotes a type of spirituality and mysticism of the new age and has been widely welcomed throughout the world, including Iran, and readers evaluate it solely based on the apparent texture of the text of the work. In the present study, first the mystical and didactic aspects of this work are analyzed, then it is compared with Persian mystical-didactic literary works (Hafez, Rumi, and Saadi). The findings of the study indicate that the mystical and didactic themes in the novelThe Celestine Prophecy are presented in the form of nine intuitions, including topics such as self-knowledge, the love-centeredness of creation, love, purposefulness, and ... Although the appearance of the work is attractive to the audience and is very similar to Persian mystical and educational works, by analyzing the context of the cultural, social and political situation in which this work was formed, its distinctive feature with Persian mystical and educational works is determined. The genre of the work is of the type of self-help of the new era and is similar to a classic religious and mystical work. In this work, a popular spirituality is promoted that promotes solutions to personal problems and self-empowerment.