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What does The Arabian Nights have to say about contemporary politics?

Trump supporters

434—436 The pilgrim and the old woman

Last week, I briefly mentioned the tale of ‘The Pilgrim and the Old Woman’ (Night 434) and her preference for liberty over a tyrannical ruler:

What is your country like?’ she asked. ‘We have spacious and roomy houses,’ he told her … ‘I have heard of all that,’ the old woman said, but tell me, are you subject to a sultan who rules you unjustly and if any one of you is guilty of some fault, the sultan seizes his wealth and ruins him, while if he wants he can drive you from you house and uproot you?’ ‘That may well be,’ the man replied, and the old woman said: ‘Then by God, that delicious food, that pleasant lifestyle and those pleasures, when combined with injustice and oppression, are deadly poison, while our food, eaten with safety, is a theriac.’[1]

I had to look up the word ‘theriac’ – it means an antidote to venom. So in summary, the woman is saying that one should free oneself from tyrannical laws… even if it causes a huge drop in the standard of living. Continue reading “What does The Arabian Nights have to say about contemporary politics?”

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Jorge Luis Borges and the Arabian Nights

Borges in his study

351—352 The rich man who lost and then regained his money

From an earlier recap, where I tried to stick a pin in a certain structural style shared by many of the stories in The Arabian Nights:

Almost all of them include some kind of surprise: A twist in the tale, a moment of irony, or some clever thinking … [an] out-of-the-box moment

I might also have quoted Adam Roberts, who, in comparing the structure of science fiction to that of a joke, writes that

The structure of a joke is a knight’s move: it leads you along a particular narrative trajectory only to finish with a conjurer’s flourish of the unexpected.

Before reading The Arabian Nights I would also have used the word ‘Borgesian.’ The short stories of the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) often exhibit precisely the quirky quality I am trying to describe. But of course these tales I am reading pre-date Borges by hundreds of years, so it is certainly more accurate to say that one can perceive the blueprints for his stories in The Arabian Nights. Continue reading “Jorge Luis Borges and the Arabian Nights”

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A Mental Note Note About The Hero’s Journey

Illustration by Rene Bull
Illustration by Rene Bull

In my recap of the story of Nur al-Din, I used the phrase ‘Belly-of-The-Whale’ to refer to a moment of imprisonment and separation suffered by the protagonist. It is a term that comes from the biblical story of Jonah, and is one of the stages of the ‘Hero’s Journey’ story structure that Joseph Campbell describes in his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces.

I’ve just listened to a wonderful episode of Eric Molinsky’s podcast Imaginary Worlds which considers ‘The Hero’s Journey’ and it’s impact on contemporary film and theatre. Has the formula outstayed it’s welcome?

While listening to the episode, I made a mental note to remind myself not to judge the tales I’m reading in The Arabian Nights against the Hero’s Journey formula. As Molinsky and his interviewees point out during the podcast episode, other story structures can be just as successful. I don’t think I’ve fallen into that trap so far, but there is no harm in being mindful. Indeed, part of the point of this project is to learning about the art and possibilities of storytelling, and spotting where one of Shahrazad’s tales fits Campbell’s pattern and where they diverge is a fun and useful exercise.

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Translating problematic attitudes

Illustration from the Bulaq text (Volume 1)

Dhat al-Dawahi is described on Night 93 as a ‘passionate lesbian.’ I know this is a modern translation, but I think that phrase in this context is an anachronism—it no longer carries the negative connotations that would have originally accrued, and which the original authors would have intended. What is now an entirely neutral sentence seems slightly out of place when set alongside negative phrases of treachery and foul breath.

Burton translates the passage as “for she was given to tribadism,” which he footnotes with a long, disparaging aside about homosexual women. 

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not complaining about Malcolm Lyons’ translation here. Nor am I saying it is right that the word ‘lesbian’ should be imbued with negativity. Of course not.

I just make the note because it highlights an interesting translation conundrum: does one choose the obvious translation; or something that may be more circuitous, that nevertheless is closer to the tone and attitude of the original? What does the translator owe the author in terms of fidelity to meaning? And what are they to do when textual accuracy and tonal accuracy are not the same? 

Should the translator preserve the artist’s prejudices? Or should they act as a sort of advocate for the author, translating passages in such a way that brings the new audience on-side?

Continue reading “Translating problematic attitudes”

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The Arabian Nights and Free Speech

I have never held a dispute with anyone except for the purpose of revealing the truth and I don't care whether God reveals it by my tongue or by that of my opponent.

Digressions are baked into the structure of The Arabian Nights. The book trusts its readers, as Shahrazad trusts King Shahriyar, to follow the narrative, despite stories-within-stories or extended theological lectures delivered by one of the characters.

That said, during my most recent recap, I didn’t want to derail the discussion with a diversion into free speech theory. As such, I did not include this quote from Night 79. It is part of a speech spoken by one of Dhat al-Dawahi’s erudite slave girls, to King ‘Umar ibn al-Nu’man, which is in turn (keep up!) retold to Dau’ al-Malkan by the vizier Dandan:

Know that your enemy is an opponent with whom you can argue, whom you can convince with proofs and against whom you can guard yourself, while between you and your friend the only judge who can adjudicate is good character. Test your friend before choosing him. If he is one of those who lives for the next world, let him follow faithfully the externals of the law, while knowing its secret meaning, as far as this is possible. If he is an adherent of this world, he should be liberal and truthful, and neither ignorant nor wicked. His own parents should flee from the ignorant man, while the liar cannot be a friend, as the word “friend” derives from “truth”. This comes from the depth of the heart, so how can it apply to one Whose tongue speaks falsehood?

(In Arabic the word for ‘friend’ is sadiq and the word for ‘truth’ is sidq.) Continue reading “The Arabian Nights and Free Speech”

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A note on the title of the book

The Arabian Nights, translated by Malcolm Lyons (Volume 1)
The Arabian Nights, translated by Malcolm Lyons (Volume 1)

I’m going to post my first recap tomorrow.

Throughout this project, I will refer to the book I am reading as The Arabian Nights. Yes, I know that is only one of its possible names. It might also be called The Arabian Nights Entertainments, The Thousand and One Nights, or The Book of A Thousand Nights and a Night.

In any case, the book’s ‘real’ name is ‘Alf layla wa-layla.

أَلْف لَيْلَة وَلَيْلَة‎

I also know that to describe the stories as ‘Arabian’ is a something of a misnomer when the collection apparently includes stories set in China, India, the Levant, North Africa, Persia, and Turkey, and therefore features plenty characters who do not speak Arabic.

However, set against all this is the fact that the version I will be reading – the three-volume Penguin Classics edition published in 2010 – is a translation from Arabic, and is formally published as The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights. I’d rather not keep typing all that, so for simplicity’s sake, I will just refer to it as The Arabian Nights in my recaps, for now at least. If anyone feels strongly that I should not do that, then please let me know.

Frontispiece from 'The Arabian Nights Entertainments' illustrated by Louis Rhead
Frontispiece from ‘The Arabian Nights Entertainments’ illustrated by Louis Rhead