The Arabian Nights

The Abbasid Era• Muslim world became

intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine, and education

• Translation of world’s knowledge into Arabic

• “Cauldron” of cultures• Synthesized and collected

knowledge from ancient Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, North African, Greek, and Byzantine civilizations

Value of Knowledge“The ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of

a martyr“

• Knowledge and scholarly thought from all conquered empires brought to Islamic state

• Decimal system traveled from India to Arabia• First form of algebra used• First university founded• First mental institution founded• Government positions awarded on merit and skill

Background of 1001 Nights

• Stories recited orally, much like The Epic of Gilgamesh

• Collection of West and South Asian stories

• Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian folklore

• Recorded and translated, first published in 1706o Loss of musicality

What is a Frame Story?

• Story within a story• Initial story begins –

stories are told within o Example: Inception (dreams

within dreams)

• Frame story of ruler Shahryar (King) and his wife Scheherazade

Active Listening• Listen to the following BBC

broadcast as they discuss the initial “frame story” for 1001 Arabian Nights

• Write a brief summary after listening

• Be ready to discuss the story with the class

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0081kdb

The Frame Story• Two kings discover that their wives

are sleeping with servants• Go on a journey to see if anyone has

been more betrayed than they• A genie emerges from the sea with a

casket containing a woman• Woman summons the two kings and

wants to sleep with them

• They sleep together and she takes their rings, added to 98 other rings

• Kings realize that the Genie is more betrayed than they

• King kills his wife and decides he will only sleep with virgins and the next day all virgins will be killed

• Scheherazade insists her and her sister will sleep with the king next

• Scheherazade begins telling story but does not finish telling it – continues every night without ever finishing

• What makes a good translation?• Which translation do you prefer?• How does the use of a different but similar

word affect the meaning and tone of a text?• What are the implications (meaning) of

suppressing material, such as explicit language and content, in a translation?

• Haddawy’s translation is the closest to the Arabic text, while both Lane and Burton have taken some serious liberties with their source material. What have Lane and Burton added? What have they omitted? What reasons can you suggest for this?

• How is the character of Shahzaman affected by the different translations?