The Arabian Nights
The Arabian Nights and Arab Culture
Arabian nights which known as “ Alf Layla Wa Laylah” have a huge impact and relation to Arab culture. Arabian nights are a collection of old stories include pre-Islamic culture, historical tales, love, crimes, poetries, music and literature. These stories were derived from the west and south Asia where a lot of translators and scholars collected the work over many centuries. The tales themselves are affected back to the ancient Arabic, Persian, and Indian traditions and cultures. The frame story was originally narrated by Shahrazâd who was the wife of the Persian king Shahriyâr. She used the stories to save her life from death. The king at that time used to kill the women he married after one day of their marriage, this because his brother’s wife and his wife were unfaithful. The minister, vizier, couldn’t provide him any virgins at that time so his daughter Shahrazâd offered herself as to be the king’s wife. On their marriage night, Shahrazâd started to narrate a story to her husband which had no conclusion. This made the king curious to know the end of the story, because of leaving each tale unfinished until the next night. Each time she ended a story she started a new one which made the king postponed her execution to the next day to hear the ending. This situation last for one thousand and one nights. Shahrazâd earned a reputation because of her narration and her imagination that helped her to escape from the execution. According to Ulrich and Richard, Shahrazâd was as a quintessential storyteller, the human embodiment of narrative and the symbol of creative power and imagination. However, the story of the king Shahriyâr and his brother was the general collection of the frame story to other scholars. The story of the king and his brother serves an introduction of what circumstances the storytelling began and who was involving. this story create the imagination of 1001 stories. Many scholars after knowing the original
Arabian nights which known as “ Alf Layla Wa Laylah” have a huge impact and relation to Arab culture. Arabian nights are a collection of old stories include pre-Islamic culture, historical tales, love, crimes, poetries, music and literature. These stories were derived from the west and south Asia where a lot of translators and scholars collected the work over many centuries. The tales themselves are affected back to the ancient Arabic, Persian, and Indian traditions and cultures. The frame story was originally narrated by Shahrazâd who was the wife of the Persian king Shahriyâr. She used the stories to save her life from death. The king at that time used to kill the women he married after one day of their marriage, this because his brother’s wife and his wife were unfaithful. The minister, vizier, couldn’t provide him any virgins at that time so his daughter Shahrazâd offered herself as to be the king’s wife. On their marriage night, Shahrazâd started to narrate a story to her husband which had no conclusion. This made the king curious to know the end of the story, because of leaving each tale unfinished until the next night. Each time she ended a story she started a new one which made the king postponed her execution to the next day to hear the ending. This situation last for one thousand and one nights. Shahrazâd earned a reputation because of her narration and her imagination that helped her to escape from the execution. According to Ulrich and Richard, Shahrazâd was as a quintessential storyteller, the human embodiment of narrative and the symbol of creative power and imagination. However, the story of the king Shahriyâr and his brother was the general collection of the frame story to other scholars. The story of the king and his brother serves an introduction of what circumstances the storytelling began and who was involving. this story create the imagination of 1001 stories. Many scholars after knowing the original
References: * Allen and Richared .Arabic Literature in the Post-Classical Period(Roger,2006) * David Pinault Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights (Brill Publishers, 1992) * Robert Irwin The Arabian Nights: A Companion (Tauris Parke, 2005) * Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, ,The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia Volume 2 (2004) * Ulrich Marzolph (ed.) The Arabian Nights Reader (Wayne State University Press, 2006) -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. The Arabian Nights Encylopedia Volume 2,California, Ulrich Marzolph and Richar van Leeuwen , 2004,554 [ 2 ] [ 3 ]. The Arabian Nights Encylopedia Volume 2,California, Ulrich Marzolph and Richar van Leeuwen , 2004,640 [ 4 ] [ 5 ]. Story-telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights , US, David Pinault, 1994,18 [ 6 ] [ 7 ]. The Arabian Nights: Companion, Tauirs Parke, Robert Irwin, 2003, 200. [ 8 ]. The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia Volume 2,California, Ulrich Marzolph and Richar van Leeuwen , 2004,632 [ 9 ]