The origin of Mongolian version of Alexander Romance has long been a confused issue. Nicholas Poppe, Francis Cleaves, and T. Namjil wrote articles about this, and assumed the Mongolian version of Alexander Romance was...The origin of Mongolian version of Alexander Romance has long been a confused issue. Nicholas Poppe, Francis Cleaves, and T. Namjil wrote articles about this, and assumed the Mongolian version of Alexander Romance was translated from Central Asian countries, more likely, Persian or Arabic, did not come up with determinate conclusion, though. In this paper, the authors aim at： （1） comparing the Mongolian version of Alexander Romance with the folktales about Alexander the Great in Persian language, which two are supposed to be the nearest; （2） analyzing the story structure （quest for immortality-denying the desire; belief of living forever-the truth of one must die）; and （3） explaining the background of Mongolian version of Alexander Romance, and as a result, arguing that the Mongolian version of Alexander Romance might not be a translated work; instead, it was edited and recreated in Buddhist thinking using the prevailing motif of Alexander＇s quest for immortality.展开更多
基金The research is supported by Chinese Fund for the Humanities and Social Sciences （12CZW087）, and the research work is part of ＂The Cultural Context of Mongolian Sulqarnai-in Tuuji＂ Project （12CZW087） supported by National Social Science Foundation of China.
文摘The origin of Mongolian version of Alexander Romance has long been a confused issue. Nicholas Poppe, Francis Cleaves, and T. Namjil wrote articles about this, and assumed the Mongolian version of Alexander Romance was translated from Central Asian countries, more likely, Persian or Arabic, did not come up with determinate conclusion, though. In this paper, the authors aim at： （1） comparing the Mongolian version of Alexander Romance with the folktales about Alexander the Great in Persian language, which two are supposed to be the nearest; （2） analyzing the story structure （quest for immortality-denying the desire; belief of living forever-the truth of one must die）; and （3） explaining the background of Mongolian version of Alexander Romance, and as a result, arguing that the Mongolian version of Alexander Romance might not be a translated work; instead, it was edited and recreated in Buddhist thinking using the prevailing motif of Alexander＇s quest for immortality.
