The Thousand and One Nights

Origins

Culture: Arab, from a collection of pre-Islamic Middle Persian tales around the14th century

Names to know: Schehazerade, Shahrayar (“king”)

Shahrayar very displeased with first wife (and those who follow)

1001 Nights

Oral and written versions existed side by side. The tales are rooted in daily life, but are made

magical by their settings, fantastic adventures, and the intervention of sorcerers and demons (djinn).

The Prologue sets forth the themes of: Lust, madness, violence, justice, retribution,

heroism.

The Narrator Shahrayar cannot find a suitable wife stating,

“There is not a single chaste woman anywhere on the entire face of the earth” Beheads those not suitable

Schehazerade volunteers to spend the night with king

He orders her to be beheaded the next day but she begins telling him stories of kings/empires/events of the past After 1001 nights he falls in love with her and

makes her his queen This is where we get the story of Sinbad and

Aladdin

Global Connections?

The Greeks invented the novel in the Hellenistic period (3rd-1st centuries BCE) but these were adventure/romance tales only.

Novel form is developing in medieval Japan, as well.

This is also where idea of the Cyclops stems from

Two-part Narrative Structure

Baghdad part: the characters and action focus on Baghdad in the time of Haroun al-Rashid.

Egyptian part: characters and settings are Egyptian, jinn are manipulated through talismans rather than directly.

Tales reflect the influence of all the Islamic world (& the Quran) as well as ancient Babylonian & Mesopotamian narratives and historical events/figures such as those surrounding Alexander the Great.

Male vs. Female P.O.V. Men are comfortable when

in control Men react violently when

they realize they do not have control

Women dislike the bonds put upon and actively seek escape

Women can be powerful as even Djinn (genies) cannot control them

Disney Version

Real Version

Aim of the Tales

Schehazerade’s tales may be chosen to teach Shahrayar that not all women are like his first wife. In many of the tales a good woman undoes the

harm done by a bad woman. The wicked characters are punished according to

their crimes, but are never put to death (unlike all of Shahrayar’s other innocent wives!).