While in many cases a story is cut off with the hero in danger of losing his life or another kind of deep trouble, in some parts, Scheherazade stops her narration in the middle of an exposition of abstract philosophical principles or complex points of Islamic philosophy, and in one case during a detailed description of human anatomy according to Galen. The narrator’s standards for what constitutes a cliff-hanger seem broader than in modern literature.
Numerous stories depict ghouls, apes, sorcerers, magicians, and legendary places, which are often intermingled with real people and geography. They include historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, burlesques, and various forms of erotica. It is one of the earliest examples of ’embedded narratives’ – which can be traced back to earlier Persian and Indian storytelling traditions, most notably the Panchatantra (an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in verse and prose).Īcross the collection, the tales vary extremely widely. The One Thousand and One Nights and various tales within it make use of many innovative literary techniques, which the storytellers of the tales rely on for increased drama and suspense. In some, Scheherazade asks for a pardon, in some, the King sees their children and decides not to execute his wife, in others, things happen that make the King distracted – but they all end with the king giving his wife a pardon and sparing her life. The different versions have different, individually detailed endings. The next night, as soon as she finishes the tale, she begins (and only begins) a new one, and the King, eager to hear the conclusion, postpones her execution once again. The King, curious about how the story ends, is thus forced to postpone her execution in order to hear the conclusion. On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell the King a tale but does not end it. Scheherazade, the vizier’s daughter, offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees. Eventually, the vizier, whose duty it is to provide them, cannot find any more virgins. Shahryār begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning before she has a chance to dishonour him. But in his bitterness and grief, he decides that all women are the same. One day, King Shahryār discovers that his wife has been unfaithful. The tales are many and varied, but common throughout all the narratives is the initial frame story of the ruler Shahryār, and his wife Scheherazade…. The work itself was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, South Asia and North Africa.
The title Arabian Nights came from the first English language edition (1706), which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment. This period lasted from the eighth century to the thirteenth century, when much of the Arabic-speaking world experienced a scientific, economic, and cultural flourishing – One Thousand and One Nights epitomising the rich and multifaceted literary output. Origins of Fairy Tales from Around the WorldĪrabian Nights, more properly known as One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales, compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age.
0 kommentar(er)
