Weekly Musings: Arabian Nights
0976005 Â -Â Illustrations of the Arabian Nights by Kay Neilson, c.1911
"The Book of One Thousand and One Nights is a medieval Middle-Eastern literary work. In English it is also known as The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night (an overliteral translation of the Arabic), One Thousand and One Nights, 1001 Arabian Nights, or Arabian Nights. It consists of a number of stories being told by Shahrazad (Shahrazade, or Shahrastini in Persian) to her husband."
I was first exposed to Arabian Nights through the famous animated movie, Aladdin. I grew up hearing songs from classic Disney movies whether it be Cinderella or The Little Mermaid. It reached a point where I begged my parents to buy me cassettes (nostalgic old technology) to sing along with. The song with "Arabian Niiiiiiights" being belted out while the camera flies over Agrabah in all its purple, gold and red glory was specifically memorable for me (I just sang that in my head while mentioning it so think what you must as I am not ashamed). This defines the first time I ever heard of "Arabian Nights" not knowing then that it was a collection of classic stories from the Middle East.
Reading Burton's translations of A Thousand and One Nights aka Arabian Nights alongside with Bonnie Irwin’s What’s in a Frame? has provided me with another perspective through which to analyze frame narrations and, more specifically, Arabian Nights. Rather than viewing the stories in Arabian Nights through my biased lens influenced by and submerged with memories of Aladdin, I can now evaluate Arabian Nights with the idea of plot and art of frame narration and storytelling.
As Bonnie Irwin mentions in his article What's in a Frame:
"Although the day breaks in at more or less regular intervals, it almost always takes us by surprise as we are engrossed in the tale that the narrator spins. As readers our experience of the tales is somewhat different from that of the listening audience portrayed in the text, yet the complexity of the narrative seduces us just as it does Shahrayar."
I found that the idea of frame narration and frame tales embody the aspect of seducing the reader deeper into the story within the main story so as to provide alternative themes, universes, plots, and characters to prevail which might now fit well into the overall story / plot as it would being a story one of the characters told to reveal something or contribute to the plot. In the case of Arabian Nights, Shahrazad uses these stories (form of frame tales) to delay her upcoming time of execution and death while simultaneously entertaining Shahrayar and the readers of the tales in Arabian Nights.
What I found somewhat disconcerting is the fact that Shahrazad does not plan on changing Shahrayar's biased and negative view of women though she does wish to stop the inhumane killings. Furthermore, as a romantic person who believes in soul mates, true love, roses and beautiful kisses (other such idealistic thoughts of love), I found very little mention of love and affection in the tales Shahrazad tells as well as the main story itself revolving around Shahrazad. The brother and the King may have loved their wives but what motivation and reasoning did these wives have to cheat on their husbands if the marriage and relationship was truly fulfilling. Surely, some fault, guilt and introspection can be mentioned for the male characters in the story. Therefore, from reading the Arabian Nights with the current mindset and expectations I have from reading more modern novels, I found many things difficult to understand (in terms of the characters true motivations and feelings) as not much emphasis was given to that aspect as it was to the plot, action of the characters and magical atmosphere of the stories.
However, the appeal of Arabian Nights lies more in the traditional aspect of storytelling, entertaining and appealing to the readers imagination and the art of unimaginable tales much like fairy tales. It is appealing to modern readers in the same aspect as fairy tales are rather than classic or modern novels.
"As a master storyteller, Shahrazad compels Shahrayar to forget the real world in which he plans to execute her and instead enter the world of the narrative. Similarly, the modern reader may leave behind the twentieth century literate world and become part of the listening audience, experiencing the oral tradition through the means of the frame tale that manages to bridge the gap between traditional and literary narrative." - Bonnie Irwin (What's in a Frame)
Furthermore, from some of the tales read in the collection provided by Arabian Nights, in my opinion, I specifically felt the need to criticize the story of Sinbad. The story discussed the journeys Sinbad had taken which all were similar in the overall story. He tells the story of his journey to a crowd emphasizing yet again frame narration and providing another layer deeper into the story. The journeys begin with Sinbad feeling the sudden and irresistible need to travel through the world...again..(even though he barely escaped death in all his previous journeys and you would think he's learned that but noooo...masochist in the making). And so he travels, gets abandoned (while usually anyone with him dies and he only survives), faces peril and monsters of all sorts, gets rescued or survives, meets a wealthy king, prince or person and is awarded (for what exactly I don't understand sometimes). The similar pattern continues, and I felt that it was becoming somewhat predictable which is an immediate hazard for me (if I was a storyteller or writer). I felt that the readers lose the appeal of the fantasy in Sinbad's journey (which I was looking forward to with all the cool unique monsters, people and places) as all his journeys follow a similar pattern with not enough differentiating factors or significant plot twists. Overall, it was one of the stories that I didn't feel really fond of.
This here is a picture of a live show during a festival regarding the tales of Arabian Nights.
There have been many adaptions of stories in the Arabian Nights. Characters have also been used such as Sinbad, Aladdin, Ali Baba, etc. showing the influence and great impact Arabian Nights has had on many modern works.Â
One adaption I found was the Arabian Nights Miniseries. It reminds me a lot of another series that I have been watching recently and have fallen in love with, Once Upon a Time, which is an American fantasy-drama based television show that airs on ABC. It has multiple universes that the story alternates between with the old fairy tale world (with characters like the evil witch, Snow White, Prince Charming, Cinderella, Rumplestiltskin) and the modern town of Storybrooke that is frozen in time. It resembles the universes in Harry Potter having like the muggle world and then the, more appealing, magical world (le Tom Felton).
With the Arabian Night Miniseries the similar aspect of frame stories is seen with stories of Aladdin, Ali Baba, the Genie, etc. Here is more on the series and adaption if interested:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181199/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_Nights_%28TV_miniseries%29
(Jim Carter from Downton Abbey is Jafar...MUST GO WATCH NOW)
