The 1001 nights is possibly one of the most famous collection of short stories to have ever existed. It’s history of it veers back as far as the start of the Islamic golden age in the 8th century, and to this day it is still well known among the general population. However, despite its familiarity with people, a surprisingly large majority of people have not actually read many of the tales, shrugging them off as children’s stories or only watching or consuming the western media influenced by it, such as Disney’s Aladdin. So, in this article I want to go a bit more in-depth about a story within the 1001 nights as well as analyse some media influenced by the 1001 nights and provide some of my opinions.
The Fisherman and the Jinni -
This story tells the tale of a poor fisherman who performs his daily ritual of casting his net 4 times a day. He gets increasingly unfortunate in his catch until he uncaps a genie from a jug. The genie, mistaking the fisherman for his captor Solomon rewards the fisherman by allowing him to choose his method of death. The fisherman naturally thinks this is absurd, and asks why. Then using his wit, the fisherman asks the jinni to prove he can fit in the jar, before capping it, trapping the genie. Then what follows are a few stories about betraying those who help you, and the genie promises to give him a wish. it then transitions to the second part of the story about a king who finds the origin of the colourful fish found by the fisherman.
I will leave the summary at that, as the story delves into quite a few inside stories. The first thing I found interesting about this, and about many of the stories in general, is how the stories are shifted from stories that were meant to be told, to stories that are read. This is clear in the sheer amount of second layer stories within each main story. You can see the impact of going from told to written stories in the fisherman and the Jinni. After imprisoning the jinni, the fisherman breaks into another story. Now this is clearly not something you would see in a novel, so I think it is quite interesting Additionally the second part of the story within the fisherman and the Jinni is almost nothing like the first part, making the first part of the story seem like a vehicle to start the second part of the story. I think seeing how this differs from short story collections that were originally written instead of told like the stories in the 1001 nights would be quite interesting. The way the stories intertwine into each other almost adds an extra layer of depth towards the main story, and I think it reveals a lot about how important storytelling was towards Islamic culture at the time.
Another thing I found quite interesting about this story, is how similar it is to the frame story. The fisherman is very similar to Scheherazade in the way that both, are forced into unfair life and death situations where they have to use their wit and storytelling to save themselves. Additionally compared to a lot of the other stories in the 1001 nights, this story is almost an exact opposite. In many of the stories, the characters come upon some sort of good fortune, and have to be careful as to not lose it, however in this story the fisherman is dealt a bad hand and has to bluff his way out of it.
2 pieces of media influenced by 1001 nights —
Scheherazade — Maurice Ravel
Scheherazade is the name of 2 musical compositions made by the famous French composer Maurice Ravel. The first composition was one of his first overtures, and was not well received, fading into obscurity. The second, was a much more successful song cycle, and is regularly played.
The piece is influenced heavily by the Scheherazade suite composed by Rimski-Korsakov in 1888. The piece was composed after Maurice Ravel met with the poet Tristan Klingskor. The poet showed him a few poems he had written, inspired by Rimski-Korsakov’s piece, and Maurice Ravel was captivated and wanted to write a piece for 3 of the poems.
The 3 poems are split into 3 different pieces. The first and longest, at 9 minutes is called Asie, which is French for Asia. I personally think this is the most captivating piece, and will be going a bit more in depth
The second piece/poem is called La flûte enchantée. The poem’s subject is a young slave girl who is tending to her sleeping master, she hears beautiful flute playing and describes it like a kiss on her cheek.
The third and final poem is called L’indifférent. The poem describes a protagonist of unkown gender who tries to sway an attractive young person, and tried to invite them into their house to drink wine. However, in the end they ultimately fail.
The most interesting of the three, I think is the first. The poem describes an oriental fantasy version of Asia, and Arab nations —
I find this poem extremely interesting in the way that Asia and Arab nations are displayed, and how the 1001 nights has influenced peoples visions of Arabic nations. It seems the 1001 nights has created an almost fantastical magical view of the Arabic world. For example —
“Asia Asia Asia! Olden and wondrous land of tales dreamt by nursemaids, Where sleeping fantasy lies like an empress fair in her forest o’erflowing with mystery.
This is particularly the case in European and western countries, and I think a lot of this has to do with how the tales were translated. Many of the stories in the Arabian nights were translated in a way that omitted most of the dark parts, and instead putting heavy emphasis on the more fantastical elements, such as the jinni's, magic carpets, and other fantasy elements. This can also be seen in Aladdin.
It is widely known that Aladdin, the Disney film was inspired heavily by the 1001 nights, but if you look at the story, you will find that there is almost no resemblance. This is not an attack on Disney for not being accurate, as there would probably be a lot of angry parents if it was accurate to the original stories. In western media influenced by the 1001 nights, a lot of the more darker parts of stories are often cut out, with heavy emphasis on the fantasy elements. For example, in Aladdin, you have the genie granting 3 wishes, the rags to riches hero, and the magic carpet. If you take a look at the painting above, first you will find that the original Aladdin was actually Chinese, and second that the fantastical elements are much more horrifying. The genie in the picture is almost monster like in appearance, and the 2 characters appear to be cowering in fear.
I think a lot of the reason for this is the original translation of Arabian nights. The first translation was a French translation written by Antoine Galland. The wikipedia article says -
Galland based his translation on what is now known as the Galland Manuscript, a three-volume (or perhaps once four-volume) manuscript from the fourteenth or fifteenth century now kept in the National Library of France.[5] Galland’s translation altered the style, tone and content of the Arabic text. Designed to appeal, it omitted sophisticated or dark elements while enhancing exotic and magical elements and became the basis of most children’s versions of One Thousand and One Nights.[6]
Despite the fact that many of the new translations of the 1001 nights have been much more true to the original stories, Galland’s translations have stuck overtime. Borges’s text, translators of the 1001 nights says -
Two hundred years and ten better translations have passed, but the man in Europe or the Americas who thinks of The one thousand and one nights, thinks invariably of the first translation…Galland’s version is the most poorly written of them all, the least faithful, and the weakset, but it was the most widely read… its orientalism which seems frugal to us now was bedazzling to men who took snuff and composed tragedies in 5 acts.
In conclusion, the 1001 nights are some of the oldest most richest literature, which has influenced Musicians, writers, poets and painters alike. A lot of the media influenced by the 1001 nights is not completely accurate, instead only taking only the more fantastical elements from the stories. However, that does not change the widespread impact, the 1001 nights has had on literature.
Sources:
Sites.google.com. 2020. Ravel / Klingsor: Shéhérazade (French Text Plus English Translation) — Edward Lein, Composer. [online] Available at: <https://sites.google.com/site/edwardlein/Home/translations/ravel-klingsor-sheherazade-english-translation-> [Accessed 29 November 2020].
Pookpress.co.uk. 2020. The Fisherman And The Genie — An Arabian Nights Tale. [online] Available at: <https://www.pookpress.co.uk/the-fisherman-genie-arabian-nights/> [Accessed 29 November 2020].
LA Phil. 2020. Shéhérazade (Maurice Ravel). [online] Available at: <https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/3287/sheherazade> [Accessed 29 November 2020].
Kent.ac.uk. 2020. The Arabian Nights In European Literature — An Anthology — University Of Kent. [online] Available at: <https://www.kent.ac.uk/ewto/projects/anthology/index.html> [Accessed 29 November 2020].
