The Arabian Nights in Europe

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Arabian Nights

The Arabian Nights or the "Thousand and One Nights", the English version of the original Arabic Alf Layla wa Layla enjoys the distinction of having achieved immense popularity in Europe since its first appearance there in the eighteenth century. This popularity is all the more bewildering on the following counts. First of all, it is a work without an author. No single person is to be credited with its composition. Moreover, this work defies the conventional boundaries of time and place. Thematically, it is too widely varied and diverse, comprising tales of pure morality on the one hand, and of depraved sensuality on the other. Included in it are stories of crimes and rogues as well as of piety and holy figures. Love and romance alternate with magic and fantasy. More surprisingly, this work has enchanted far more readers in alien lands than at home. Rather, it has been dismissed by the Arab literary critics as a work of little literary merit. Furthermore, despite the lack of a plot, this collection of stories has been a favorite with millions of Europeans in the last three hundred years, since its first appearance until today.

Arabian Nights

What is on record about Alf Layla is that it took a definite shape in the ninth century (Christian Era) and owes its origin, only in part, to the Persian work, Hazar Afsana (Thousand Tales). On the genesis of the Arabian Nights, the great Arab bibliographer, Ibn al-Nadim remarks in his massive bibliographical compendium al-Fihrist that ancient Persians, and Parthian and Sassanian Kings were patrons of animal fables. Arabs translated and vastly improved on these and the same corpus came to be known as Alf Layla. It is worth clarifying, however, that the "Thousand and One Nights" is a misnomer. For this collection, though known so, actually comprises only one hundred and eighty stories. These may, however, be narrated up to one thousand or more nights. For many of these stories contain episodes upon episodes, branching out in a labyrinth of stories within stories. Instances in point are "Story of Sindbad the Sailor," "Story of King Jaliad Khan and his son Wird Khan” and "Story of the Nocturnal Adventures of the Caliph.”

As already hinted, the canvas of its stories is breath - takingly expansive -ancient Persian stories, some with a definite Indian content; stories with the genuine setting of tenth to twelfth century Baghdad, and Egyptian stories of eleventh to fourteenth centuries. Reading it one therefore comes across a vast spectacle, spanning bewilderingly different cultures, beliefs, times and places and encompassing the history of, at least, five hundred years.

Interspersed in it are full length, elaborate stories, selections from longer ones, anecdotes and shorter, crisp tales. This mixed bag helps evoke the interest of all types of readers, coming as they do form a range of socio-cultural backgrounds and literary tastes.

The following titles in the Arabian Nights, nonetheless, occupy the pride of place in that these are the main stories which have enjoyed fame down the ages: The Merchant and the Demon, The Fisherman and the Demon, The Three Ladies, The Three Apples, the Hunchback, the love stories of the Baghdadian Nur al-Din Ali and Ghanim, the tale of the chivalrous Omar Ibn al-Numan the Egyptian, the Persian fairy tale of Qamar al-Zaman, Aladdin and his magical lamp, Ali Baba and Peri Banu. Then there are Abbasid Caliph Harun stories, supplemented by Barmaki family ones. These stand in a sharp contrast to the Egyptian love story of Ali Shar and Zamarrud. The Serpent Queen is basically a fairy tale, describing a purely imaginative voyage and quest, involving adventure, bravery and heroism. The travel stories are exemplified best by Sindbad the Sailor and the City of Brass stories. The Egyptian fairy tale, Jaudar and the Persian of the Seven viziers, the Egyptian rogue story of the crafty Dalila and Ali Zaibak and the Cairene story of Baibars have enthralled generations of readers in Europe.

The above synoptic account gives a fair idea of the contents of these stories. To be precise, however, it must be at once added that the Arabian Nights contains also pious tales of the Israelite, Islamic and Sufi stock. Also, there are jest and theft stories which are highly entertaining. Moral stories too, figure in the volume. Its love stories cover a wide ground, ranging from the Hellenistic love legend of Uns al-Wujud to the sentimental, romantic and grossly sensual ones. The palace scenes reeking with intrigue and killings are juxtaposed with the frugal and simple life style of the nomadic bedouins. The theme of the constant flux of time, as man passes from youth to old age is to the fore in many stories. These and other instructive stories give a touch of didactism and seriousness to the work. These, once again, provide a stark contrast to the gorgeousness of its palace stories and the wonders of its fairy tales.

Being essentially folk narrative it would be naive to look for historical authenticity in these stories. As already indicated, the Arabian Nights stands out in the main, as a fine blend of Hellenistic, Indian, Persian and Egyptian fiction, travel literature, biography, anecdotes, romance, folklore and popular literature.

Notwithstanding its not - so- impressive credentials about its author, origin, date and locale, the Arabian Nights was warmly received in Europe. By nineteenth century it was available in translation in all the major European languages. Antoine Galland took the lead in this venture with his first French translation between 1703 - 1713 in twelve volumes. Although its English version took some time to arrive in England, once it was available, it caught the fancy of readers and has been one of the best sellers even up to this day. Jonathan Scott presented the first English translation in 1811 in six volumes. Zinserling happens to be its first German translator as his three volume version came out in 1823. Hammer Trebutien produced the second major French translation in 1828 in three volumes. The Danish translation was accomplished by Rasmussen in 1824 in four volumes. In 1825 another German version appeared, rendered by M. Habicht. Between 1839-41. Edward W. Lane came up with the second noteworthy English translation, with copious notes. It was revised by his nephew E. Stanley Poole in 1859 and was reprinted several times. Weil holds the distinction of translating it into German again between 1837-1841. John Payne is credited with another complete, scholarly and largely accurate English translation, published between 1882-1884. This venture was, however, soon eclipsed by Richard Burton's English translation which came out in 1885. Apart from being unexpurgated and extensively annotated, Burton's version gained phenomenal success, partly owing to his impeccable credentials as an expert on and frequent traveller to the Orient. Burton, it is worth mentioning, had earned fame earlier for his travelogue on Makkah and Madina, visiting the holy lands disguised as a Muslim. Towards the end of nineteenth century Henning and Madrus produced other new translations in German and French respectively, followed by Litmann's yet another German rendering between 1921-28. Litmann's highly scholarly edition saw many reprints. Oestrup and Sailor rendered it into Danish and Russian respectively in 1930s and Gabrielli in Italian in 1949.¹

Leaving aside the vogue for the Arabian Nights in Europe which went on unabated until present times, let us briefly introduce its two important English translations by Lane and Burton. The former's is actually a selection, containing only fifty - five stories. Furthermore, this edition is permeated with Victorian morality. For it stands free of all obscenity and vulgarity. Even words smacking of immorality have been dropped. Not unsurprisingly, this edition flourished as a family reading. The notes appended to this version succeed largely in explicating Arab customs, manners, ceremonies and beliefs for the benefit of non-Arab readers. Lane was eminently qualified for this job. For he had stayed in Egypt for years. His commentary helped his English readers appreciate better the Arab/Muslim way of life portrayed in the Arabian Nights. Needless to add, this contributed much to intercultural relations.

Richard F. Burton took only two years (1884-1886) to produce his translation in ten massive volumes, followed by six supplementary volumes between 1886-1888. Unlike Lane's, Burton's version is not marred by any expurgation. His is a mostly faithful translation. Its other valuable element is its extensive commentary on a wide range of things Arabic - religion, sexual mores, history, geography, topography and anthropology. This wealth of information in his work may be ascribed to his frequent travels in and his first - hand knowledge of Arabia. He was essentially an adventurer with a sharp faculty of observation and inquisitiveness about foreign life and culture. This edition enabled many of his countrymen to gain some acquaintance with Arabs/Muslims and form a relatively positive image about them.

Although the first complete English translation of the Arabian Nights, as already stated, could come out only in 1811, parts of it had started appearing in English in 1710s, immediately after this delightful work had been introduced in Europe by Galland's French translation in 1706. The book catalogues of this period bear out the veracity of the above point in that numerous selections, abridgments, adaptations and revisions were issued which were received with much avidity by a massive reading public. Oriental tales written in the mould of the Arabian Nights gained general currency and found their way into the leading literary periodicals of the day, as for example, Steele and Addison's magazines, Spectator, Tatler and Rambler. Other popular magazines opted for the serialization of the stories of the Arabian Nights. Some instances in point are as follows: London News started serializing it in January 1723 and this went on for more than three years. Soon other magazines which followed the suit were The Churchman's Last Shift, General Magazine, Lady's Magazine and Monthly Extracts. The following eighteenth and nineteenth century literary magazines of England and America published stories from the Arabian Nights: Academy; American Review; Athenaeum; Atlantic Monthly; Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine; Century Magazine; New Monthly Magazine; Saturday Review and Quarterly Review.² The magicians, genies, fairies, charms, enchanted rings, lamps and talismans of all sorts caught the public fancy. Staged first in 1789 the play "Aladdin or the Wonderful Lamp", selected from the Arabian Nights, was performed for years with a packed house at Theatre Royal, London.

Not only in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, even today in the face of stiff competition from all types of entertainments, the Arabian Nights is still one of the bestsellers in English. In 1950s the renowned Orientalist A.J. Arberry, Professor of Arabic at the University of London, and N.J. Dawood, an Iraqi Jew who is also the translator of the Qur'an into English, brought out their respective translations of the Arabian Nights which gained world wide circulation in that these were issued by the influential Western publisher, Penguin.

Here is a year –wise account of the appearance of the English translations of the Arabian Nights during the last decade (1994-2004), including its availability in the latest digital forms, pointing to its abiding popularity:

1994

- Arabian Nights by Neil Philip.

- Sindbad the sailor and other tales by N.J. Dawood.

- The Arabian Nights (Children’s Classics).

- The Arabian Nights. Stories Retold by A. Williams-Ellis.

1995

- Arabian Nights’s Entertainments by R.L. Mack.

- Arabian Nights: Three Tales by Deborah N. Lattimore

- Arabian Nights by Hussain Haddawy.

1996

- Aladdin and other Tales of the Arabian Nights by Kate Douglas.

- The Thousand and One Arabian Nights by G.Mc Caughreen.

1997

- Alladin and Other Tales (Puffin Classics).

- Sindbad the Sailor and other Tales from the Arabian Nights by N.J. Dawood.

- Arabian Nights (Penguin).

- Arabian Nights: A Selection by Jack Zipes.

- Princess Nada and the City of Ice (New Tales of the Arabian Nights) by Robert J. Resetar.

- Tales from the Arabian Nights (Classic Fables and Legends).

1998

- Aladdin by Philip Smith.

- Arabian Nights Entertainments by Antoine Galland (Oxford World’s Classics).

- The Arabian Nights: Sindbad and other popular stories by Husain Hadawy (Everyman’s Library).

1999

- One Thousand and One Arabian Nights by Geraldine Mc Caughrean (Oxford Story Collections).

- Arabian Nights by Dominic Cooke.

- Arabian Nights Travel Adventure by Eli Luria.

- The Brave Sister: A Story from the Arabian Nights by Fiona Waters. (Bloomsbury Children’s Classic).

- Arabian Nights by Marc Chagall.

- Tales from Arabian Nights (Nursery Classics).

2000

- Arabian Nights by Kathryn Wesley (Hallmark Entertainment Books).

- 1001 Arabian Nights by Geraldine Mc Caughrean.

- The Brave Sisters: A Story from the Arabian Nights by Fiona Waters.

- Arabian Nights Entertainments (Early Best Sellers).

- Tales from Arabian Nights by Anne Collins.

2001

- Aladdin and other Stories from the Arabian Nights by John Escott.

- The Arabian Nights by A.S. Byatt (Modern Library Classics).

2002

- My Sister Shaharzad: Tales from the Arabian Nights by Robert Leeson.

- Favourite Tales from the Arabian Nights Entertainment (Dover Thrift Edition).

2003

- Arabian Nights by Roland Schimmelpfnring.

- Golden Tales from the Arabian Nights by Margaret K. Soifer.

- The Arabian Nights: Tales from 1001 Nights by Fiona Waters.

- Tenggren’s Golden Tales from the Arabian Nights by Gustof Tenggren.

- The Arabian Nights Entertainments by Anon.

- Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights by E.Dixon.

2004

- The Arabian Nights by Fiona Waters.

- A Tale from the Arabian Nights: The Angel with One Hundred Wings by Daniel Horch.

- The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete by Anon.

- The Arabian Nights Entertainments by Richard Burton.

2005

- The Arabian Nights: A Selection by Jack Zipes (Penguin Popular Classics).

Audio-cassettes/CD./Digital Library/Microsoft Readers.

(1) The Arabian Nights by K. Gielgud D. Jarwis. 1998

(2) Listen and Read Aladdin and other Favourite Arabian Nights by Phillip Smith. Audio Classics. 1998

(3) Arabian Nights by James Weiss. Audio CD. 1999

(4) The Arabian Nights. By Wiggin Smith. Audio CD. 2001

(5) Richard Burton’s Arabian Nights. CD-ROM. 2002

(6) The Arabian Nights by Richard Burton. Microsoft Reader 2004

(7) Scheherryzade and the Arabian Nights by Constance Allen. Audio Cassette.

(8) Aladin’s Lamp. Audible. Com

(9) Alladin’s Lamp by Diamond Phillips. Audio Cassette

(10) The Arabian Nights the Story of Scheherazade by A.W. Ellis. Audio Cassette.

The tremendous influence exercised by the Arabian Nights on English men of letters is yet another proof of its impact. Among such renowned figures are the essayist Joseph Addison, novelist William Beckford, Victorian novelist Charlotte Bronte, prose writer and statesman Thomas Carlyle, Romantic poet Samuel T. Coleridge, prose stylist Thomas De Quincey, novelists Charles Dickens, George Eliot and Henry Fielding, historian Edward Gibbon, prose writers Leigh Hunt, Samuel Johnson, and Sir William Jones, Romantic poets John Keats, P.B. Shelly, Lord Byron, Robert Southey, Leigh Hunt, and William Wordsworth, Victorian writers John Ruskin, George Meredith, and Lord Tennyson, and twentieth century English/Irish poet W.B. Yeats.

Many of them praised the Arabian Nights for its nourishment of one’s imaginative faculty and for its sharpening of one’s sensibilities. William Wordsworth recommended it for being “useful in calling forth intellectual power.”³ John Ruskin speaks glowingly of the “glorious Arabian Nights”, for it provided him with a wealth of images and allusions which were to enrich his own literary composition. For him, like many other Victorians, it was one of the favourite books for the family fireside reading.⁴ Thomas Moore’s Lalla Rookh, Lord Byron’s “Turkish Tales” John Keats’s “St. Agnes” “Endymion” and “The Cap and Bells” and S.T. Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” reflect a marked influence of the Arabian Nights in their setting, dramatis personae, symbols, images, descriptions, machinery and exotic details. This fascinating aspect of intercultural borrowing is addressed in several studies by literary critics.⁵

To sum up, it was not the sheer exoticism of the Arabian Nights which evoked such an overwhelming response from readers in Europe. For many of its stories offer sombre reflections on the meaning of life, moral values and the vanity of human wishes which left an instructive, ennobling imprint on the mind of readers. As a literary critic aptly remarks that it appealed strongly to the readers with its "wide range of opportunities, delicacies of style, elaboracies of construction, adventure, moralism sensibility, fantasy, philosophy and irony." Its literary features, which were not recognized at home, captivated readers in the far-off land of Europe. No wonder the Arabian Nights is full of such charms which defy logic and which have sustained such a keen interest in it down the millenia.

Notes and References

1. On this translation activity see Mia I. Gerhardt. The Art of Story Telling: A Literary Study of the Thousand and One Nights. Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1963. pp.65-114

2. For details about the reception of the Arabian Nights in English periodicals see the extensive “Bibliography” in Muhsin Jassim Ali, Scheherazade in England: A Study of Nineteenth Century English Criticism of the Arabian Nights. Washington, D.C., Three Continents Press, 1981. pp.147-175

3. Letter of 16 December 1845 to S. Tremenhere in Letters, the Later Years, ed. E. De Selincourt. Oxford, Clarendon, 1939. III, 1269.

4. Works of John Ruskin ed. E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn. London, George Allen, 1903 -1912. XII, 378-79

5. The following critical studies deserve mention:

(1) Abdul Razzak, Fakhir, “The Arabian Nights in England”, al-Mustansiriya Literary Review. 8 (1984), Pp.15-52

(2)Beaumount, Deniel Slave of Desire: Sex, Love and Death in the 1001 Nights. 2002

(3)Becka, J., “Arabian Nights in Czech and Slovak Literature and research”, Archiv Orientalni. 62:1 (1994), Pp. 32-44

(4)Caracciolo, Peter L. The Arabian Nights in English Literature, 1988

(5) Caracciolo, P.L. “The Arabian Nights in modern Anglo-American culture,” British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Bulletin. 1988. Pp.61-70

(6) Dami, Muhammad A. “Some aspects of the Arabian Nights Impact on nineteenth – century American Culture”, al-Mathurat al-Sha’biyyah. 31 (1993), Pp.7-16

(7)Ellis, Sarah, “What I learned in Araby: Interpreting A Thousand and One Arabian Nights” The Horn Book Magazine, September, 2001

(8)Ghazoul, Ferial Jabouri, The Arabian Nights: A Structural Analysis, 1997

(9)Ghazoul, Ferial J. Nocturnal Poetics: The Arabian Nights in Comparative Context. 1996

(10) Gissing, J. “Lawrence and the Arabian Nights”, T.E. Lawrence Society Newsletter. 31 (1994) Pp.5-6

(11) Grossman, W. “Rilke and the Arabian Nights”, Harvard Library Bulletin. 14 (1960), Pp.461-486.

(12)Grotzfeld, Heinz “Creativity… Observations on compilation and transmission of the Arabian Nights “(Critical Essay). Digital. October 2004.

(13)Grunebaum, G.E. Von “Greek Form Elements in the Arabian Nights,” The American Oriental Society. 72 (1942), Pp.277-292.

(14) Haddaway, Husain, “Arabian Nights,” Mediterraneans. 6 (1994), Pp.283-303.

(15)Hameen-Anttila,J. “Oral vs. Written: some notes on the Arabian Nighs”, Acta Orientalia. 56 (1995), Pp.184-192.

(16) Horovitz, J. “The Origin of the Arabian Nights,” Islamic Culture 1 (1927), Pp.36-57.

(17)Hovannisian, Richard The Thousand and One Nights in Arabian Literature and Society 1997.

(18)Kirby. W.F. Contributions to the Bibliography of the Thousand and One Nights. 1924.

(19)Irwin, Robert Arabian Nights: A Companion (Penguin Literary Criticism)London, Penguin, 1995.

(20)Macdonald, D.B. A Bibliographical and Literary Study of the First Appearance of the Arabian Nights in Europe. 1940.

(21)Macdonald, D.B. “The Earlier History of the Arabian Nights” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. (1924), Pp.353-397.

(22) Madani, Yusur al “Navigation as exploration: The fantastic education of Sindbad the Sailor of the Arabian Nights and Twain’s Huckleberry Finn”, Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism. 23:4 (1996), Pp.901-912

(23)Marzolph, Ulrich The Arabian Nights: An Encyclopedia 2004

(24) Mumaiz, I.A. “A Critique of Tennyson’s ‘Recollections of the Arabian Nights”, al-Mustansiriya Literary Review. 4 (1978-79), Pp.22-35.

(25)Naddaf, Sandra Arabesque: Narrative Structure and the Aesthetics of Repetition in the 1001 Nights

(26)Naithani, Sadhana, “The teacher and the taught: structures and meaning in the Arabian Nights” Digital (HTML), October 2004

(27)Pinault, David Story Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights Leiden, Brill, 1992

(28) Trapnell, W.H. “Destiny in Voltaire’s Zadig and the Arabian Nights”, International Journal of Islamic and Arabic Studies 4:1 (1987), Pp.1-25.

(29) Vernay, D. “Les Mille et Une Nuits” Literature Orale Arabo-Berbere 16-17 (1985-86), Pp.157-178 and 302-303

(30) Wazzan, Adnan M. “The Arabian Nights in Western Literature: a discourse analysis”, Islamic Studies. 32:1 (1993), Pp.61-71.

(31) Tallis, Frank Arabian Nights as a culture…, New Statesman. 1996

(32)Yamanaka, Yuriko (Ed.) Arabian Nights and Orientalists: Perspectives from East and West.