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Persian literature
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Described as one of the great literatures of mankind,[1] Persian literature has its roots in surviving works of Middle Persian and Old Persian, the latter of which date back as far as 522 BCE (the date of the earliest surviving Achaemenid inscription, the Behistun Inscription). The bulk of the surviving Persian literature, however, comes from the times following the Islamic conquest of Persia circa 650 CE. After the Abbasids came to power (750 CE), the Persians became the scribes and bureaucrats of the Islamic empire and, increasingly, also its writers and poets. The New Persian literature arose and flourished in Khorasan and Transoxiana because of political reasons – the early Iranian dynasties such as Tahirids and Samanids were based in Khorasan.[2]
Persians wrote both in Persian and Arabic; Persian predominated in later literary circles. Persian poets such as Ferdowsi , Sa’di, Hafiz, Rumi[3] and Omar Khayyam are also known in the West and have influenced the literature of many countries.
[edit] Classical Persian literature
[edit] Pre-Islamic Persian literature
See also: Pahlavi literature
Very few literary works of Achaemenid Persia have survived, due partly to the destruction of the library at Persepolis.[4] Most of what remains consists of the royal inscriptions of Achaemenid kings, particularly Darius I (522–486 BC) and his son Xerxes. Many Zoroastrian writings were destroyed in the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century. The Parsis who fled to India, however, took with them some of the books of the Zoroastrian canon, including some of the Avesta and ancient commentaries (Zend) thereof. Some works of Sassanid geography and travel also survived, albeit in Arabic translations.
No single text devoted to literary criticism has survived from pre-Islamic Persia. However, some essays in Pahlavi, such as “Ayin-e name nebeshtan” (Principles of Writing Book) and “Bab-e edteda’I-ye” (Kalileh o Demneh), have been considered as literary criticism (Zarrinkoub, 1959).[5]
Some researchers have quoted the Sho’ubiyye as asserting that the pre-Islamic Persians had books on eloquence, such as ‘Karvand’. No trace remains of such books. There are some indications that some among the Persian elite were familiar with Greek rhetoric and literary criticism (Zarrinkoub, 1947).
[edit] Persian literature of the medieval and pre-modern periods
While initially overshadowed by Arabic during the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates, New Persian soon became a literary language again of the Central Asian lands. The rebirth of the language in its new form is often accredited to Ferdowsi, Unsuri, Daqiqi, Rudaki, Taleb Amoli and their generation, as they used pre-Islamic nationalism as a conduit to revive the language and customs of ancient Persia.In particular, says Ferdowsi himself in his Shahnama:
بسی رنج بردم در این سال سی
عجم زنده کردم بدین پارسی
“For thirty years, I endured much pain and strife,
I awaken the Ajam with their true identity, Parsi.”
[edit] Poetry
So strong is the Persian aptitude for versifying everyday expressions that one can encounter poetry in almost every classical work, whether from Persian literature, science, or metaphysics. In short, the ability to write in verse form was a pre-requisite for any scholar. For example, almost half of Avicenna‘s medical writings are in verse.Works of the early era of Persian poetry are characterized by strong court patronage, an extravagance of panegyrics, and what is known as سبک فاخر “exalted in style”. The tradition of royal patronage began perhaps under the Sassanid era and carried over through the Abbasid and Samanid courts into every major Persian dynasty. The Qasida was perhaps the most famous form of panegyric used, though quatrains such as those in Omar Khayyam‘s Ruba’iyyat are also widely popular.
Khorasani style, whose followers mostly were associated with Greater Khorasan, is characterized by its supercilious diction, dignified tone, and relatively literate language. The chief representatives of this lyricism are Asjadi, Farrukhi Sistani, Unsuri, and Manuchehri. Panegyric masters such as Rudaki were known for their love of nature, their verse abounding with evocative descriptions.
Through these courts and system of patronage emerged the epic style of poetry, with Ferdowsi‘s Shahnama at the apex. By glorifying the Iranian historical past in heroic and elevated verses, he and other notables such as Daqiqi and Asadi Tusi presented the “Ajam” with a source of pride and inspiration that has helped preserve a sense of identity for the Iranian peoples over the ages. Ferdowsi set a model to be followed by a host of other poets later on.
The 13th century marks the ascendancy of lyric poetry with the consequent development of the ghazal into a major verse form, as well as the rise of mystical and Sufi poetry. This style is often called “Araqi style”, (western provinces of Iran were known as Araq-e-Ajam or Persian Iraq) and is known by its emotional lyric qualities, rich meters, and the relative simplicity of its language. Emotional romantic poetry was not something new however, as works such as Vis o Ramin by Asad Gorgani, and Yusof o Zoleikha by Am’aq Bokharai exemplify. Poets such as Sana’i and Attar (who ostensibly have inspired Rumi), Khaqani Shirvani, Anvari, and Nizami, were highly respected ghazal writers. However, the elite of this school are Rumi, Sadi, and Hafiz Shirazi.
Regarding the tradition of Persian love poetry during the Safavid era, Persian historian Ehsan Yarshater notes, “As a rule, the beloved is not a woman, but a young man. In the early centuries of Islam, the raids into Central Asia produced many young slaves. Slaves were also bought or received as gifts. They were made to serve as pages at court or in the households of the affluent, or as soldiers and bodyguards. Young men, slaves or not, also, served wine at banquets and receptions, and the more gifted among them could play music and maintain a cultivated conversation. It was love toward young pages, soldiers, or novices in trades and professions which was the subject of lyrical introductions to panegyrics from the beginning of Persian poetry, and of the ghazal.”[6]
In the didactic genre one can mention Sanai‘s Hadiqat-ul-Haqiqah (Garden of Truth) as well as Nizami‘s Makhzan-ul-Asrār (Treasury of Secrets). Some of Attar‘s works also belong to this genre as do the major works of Rumi, although some tend to classify these in the lyrical type due to their mystical and emotional qualities. In addition, some tend to group Naser Khosrow‘s works in this style as well; however true gems of this genre are two books by Sadi, a heavyweight of Persian literature, the Bustan and the Gulistan.
After the 15th century, the Indian style of Persian poetry (sometimes also called Isfahani or Safavi styles) took over. This style has its roots in the Timurid era and produced the likes of Amir Khosrow Dehlavi, and Bhai Nand Lal Goya.[7]
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Illustration from Jami‘s Rose Garden of the Pious, 1553. The image blends Persian poetry and Persian miniature into one, as is the norm for many works of Persian literature.
[edit] Essays
The most significant essays of this era are Nizami Arudhi Samarqandi‘s “Chahār Maqāleh” as well as Zahiriddin Nasr Muhammad Aufi‘s anecdote compendium Jawami ul-Hikayat. Shams al-Mo’ali Abol-hasan Ghaboos ibn Wushmgir‘s famous work, the Qabus nama (A Mirror for Princes), is a highly esteemed Belles-lettres work of Persian literature. Also highly regarded is Siyasatnama, by Nizam al-Mulk, a famous Persian vizier. Kelileh va Demneh, translated from Indian folk tales, can also be mentioned in this category. It is seen as a collection of adages in Persian literary studies and thus does not convey folkloric notions.[edit] Biographies, hagiographies, and historical works
Among the major historical and biographical works in classical Persian, one can mention Abolfazl Beyhaghi‘s famous Tarikh-i Beyhaqi, Lubab ul-Albab of Zahiriddin Nasr Muhammad Aufi (which has been regarded as a reliable chronological source by many experts), as well as Ata al-Mulk Juvayni‘s famous Tarikh-i Jahangushay-i Juvaini (which spans the Mongolid and Ilkhanid era of Iran). Attar‘s Tadkhirat al-Awliya (“Biographies of the Saints”) is also a detailed account of Sufi mystics, which is referenced by many subsequent authors and considered a significant work in mystical hagiography.[edit] Literary criticism
See also: Literary criticism in Iran
The oldest surviving work of Persian literary criticism after the Islamic conquest of Persia is Muqaddame-ye Shahname-ye Abu Mansuri, which was written during the Samanid period.[8] The work deals with the myths and legends of Shahname and is considered the oldest surviving example of Persian prose. It also shows an attempt by the authors to evaluate literary works critically.[edit] Persian storytelling
One Thousand and One Nights (Persian: هزار و یک شب) is a medieval folk tale collection which tells the story of Scheherazade (Persian: شهرزاد Šahrzād), a Sassanid queen who must relate a series of stories to her malevolent husband, King Shahryar (Persian: شهریار Šahryār), to delay her execution. The stories are told over a period of one thousand and one nights, and every night she ends the story with a suspenseful situation, forcing the King to keep her alive for another day. The individual stories were created over several centuries, by many people from a number of different lands.The nucleus of the collection is formed by a Pahlavi Sassanid Persian book called Hazār Afsānah[9] (Persian: هزار افسانه, Thousand Myths), a collection of ancient Indian and Persian folk tales.
During the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the 8th century, Baghdad had become an important cosmopolitan city. Merchants from Persia, China, India, Africa, and Europe were all found in Baghdad. During this time, many of the stories that were originally folk stories are thought to have been collected orally over many years and later compiled into a single book. The compiler and ninth-century translator into Arabic is reputedly the storyteller Abu Abd-Allah Muhammad el-Gahshigar. The frame story of Shahrzad seems to have been added in the 14th century.
[edit] Dictionaries
Dehkhoda names 200 Persian lexicographical works in his monumental Dehkhoda Dictionary, the earliest, Farhang-i Avim (فرهنگ اویم) and Farhang-i Menakhtay (فرهنگ مناختای), from the late Sassanid era.The most widely used Persian lexicons in the Middle Ages were those of Abu Hafs Soghdi (فرهنگ ابو حفص سغدی) and Asadi Tusi (فرهنگ لغت فرس), written in 1092.
Also highly regarded in the contemporary Persian literature lexical corpus are the works of Dr. Mohammad Moin. The first volume of Moin Dictionary was published in 1963.
In 1645, Christian Ravius completed a Persian-Latin dictionary, printed at Leiden. This was followed by J. Richardson‘s two-volume Oxford edition (1777) and Gladwin-Malda’s (1770) Persian-English Dictionaries, Scharif and S. Peters’ Persian-Russian Dictionary (1869), and 30 other Persian lexicographical translations through the 1950s.
In 2002, Professor Hassan Anvari published his Persian-to-Persian dictionary, Farhang-e Bozorg-e Sokhan, in eight volumes by Sokhan Publications.
Currently English-Persian dictionaries of Manouchehr Aryanpour and Soleiman Haim are widely used in Iran.
[edit] Persian phrases
| PERSIAN PHRASES | |
| * Thousands of friends are far too few, one enemy is too much. * | |
| هزاران دوست كم اند، يك دشمن زياد استHezārān dust kam and, yek doshman ziād ast. | |
| * The wise enemy is better than the ignorant friend. * | |
| دشمن دانا بهتر از دوست نادان استDoshman-e dānā behtar az dust-e nādān ast. | |
| * The wise enemy lifts you up, the ignorant friend casts you down. * | |
| دشمن دانا بلندت ميكند. بر زمينت ميزند نادان ِ دوستDoshman-e dānā bolandat mikonad. Bar zaminat mizanad nādān-e dust. | |
[edit] The influence of Persian literature on World literature
[show] Part of a series on Islamic culture |
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[edit] Sufi literature
William Shakespeare referred to Iran as the “land of the Sophy”.[10] Some of Persia’s best-beloved medieval poets were Sufis, and their poetry was, and is, widely read by Sufis from Morocco to Indonesia. Rumi (Maulānā) in particular is renowned both as a poet and as the founder of a widespread Sufi order. The themes and styles of this devotional poetry have been widely imitated by many Sufi poets. See also the article on Sufi poetry.Many notable texts in Persian mystic literature are not poems, yet highly read and regarded. Among those are Kimiya-yi sa’ādat and Asrar al-Tawhid.
[edit] Areas once under Ghaznavid or Mughal rule
[edit] Indian subcontinent
With the emergence of the Ghaznavids and their successors such as the Ghurids, Timurids and Mughal Empire, Persian culture and its literature gradually moved into the vast Indian subcontinent. Persian was the language of the nobility, literary circles, and the royal Mughal courts for hundreds of years. (In modern times, Persian has been generally supplanted by Urdu, a heavily Persian-influenced dialect of Hindustani.)Under the Moghul Empire of India during the 16th century, the official language of India became Persian. Only in 1832 did the British army force the Indian subcontinent to begin conducting business in English. (Clawson, p. 6) Persian poetry in fact flourished in these regions while post-Safavid Iranian literature stagnated. Dehkhoda and other scholars of the 20th century, for example, largely based their works on the detailed lexicography produced in India, using compilations such as Ghazi khan Badr Muhammad Dehlavi‘s Adat al-Fudhala (اداه الفضلا), Ibrahim Ghavamuddin Farughi‘s Farhang-i Ibrahimi ( فرهنگ ابراهیمی), and particularly Muhammad Padshah’s Farhang-i Anandraj (فرهنگ آناندراج). Famous South Asian poets and scholars such as Amir Khosrow Dehlavi, Mirza Ghalib and Muhammad Iqbal of Lahore found many admirers in Iran itself.
[edit] Western literature
Main article: Persian literature in the West
Persian literature was little known in the West before the 19th century. It became much better known following the publication of several translations from the works of late medieval Persian poets, and it inspired works by various Western poets and writers.[edit] German literature
- In 1819, Goethe published his West-östlicher Divan, a collection of lyric poems inspired by a German translation of Hafiz (1326–1390).
- The German essayist and philosopher Nietzsche was the author of the book Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–1885),[11] referring to the ancient Persian prophet Zoroaster (circa 1700 BCE).
[edit] English literature
- A selection from Ferdowsi‘s Shahnameh (935–1020) was published in 1832 by James Atkinson, a physician employed by the British East India Company.
- A portion of this abridgment was later versified by the British poet Matthew Arnold in his 1853 Rustam and Sohrab.
- The American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson was another admirer of Persian poetry. He published several essays in 1876 that discuss Persian poetry: Letters and Social Aims, From the Persian of Hafiz, and Ghaselle.
The Persian poet and mystic Rumi (1207–1273) (known as Molana in Iran) has attracted a large following in the late twentieth and early 21st centuries. Popularizing translations by Coleman Barks have presented Rumi as a New Age sage. There are also a number of more literary translations by scholars such as A.J. Arberry.
The classical poets (Hafiz, Sa’di, Khayyam, Rumi, Nizami and Ferdowsi) are now widely known in English and can be read in various translations. Other works of Persian literature are untranslated and little known. There is a translation from the earliest copy of the Thousand and one nights a “Ninth Century Fragment Of The Thousand Nights” by Arif Al-Majdhub The Travels Of Hakim Kohl’in Al-Deen Al-Salik:
[edit] Swedish literature
During the last century, numerous works of classical Persian literature have been translated into Swedish by baron Eric Hermelin. He translated works by, among others, Farid al-Din Attar, Rumi, Ferdowsi, Omar Khayyam, Sa’adi and Sana’i. Influenced by the writings of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, he was especially attracted to the religious or Sufi aspects of classical Persian poetry. His translations have had a great impact on numerous modern Swedish writers, among them Karl Wennberg, Willy Kyrklund and Gunnar Ekelöf. Excerpts from Ferdousi‘s Shahnama has also been rendered into Swedish prose by Namdar Nasser and Anja Malmberg.[edit] Italian literature
During the last century, numerous works of classical Persian literature have been translated into Italian by Alessandro Bausani (Nizami, Rumi, Iqbal, Khayyam), Carlo Saccone (‘Attar, Sana’i, Hafiz, Nasir-i Khusraw, Nizami, Ahmad Ghazali), Angelo Piemontese (Amir Khusraw Dihlavi), Pio Filippani-Ronconi (Nasir-i Khusraw, Sa’di), Riccardo Zipoli (Kay Ka’us, Bidil), Maurizio Pistoso (Nizam al-Mulk), Giorgio Vercellin (Nizami ‘Aruzi), Giovanni Maria D’Erme (‘Ubayd Zakani, Hafiz), Sergio Foti (Suhrawardi, Rumi, Jami), Rita Bargigli (Sa’di, Farrukhi, Manuchehri, ‘Unsuri). A complete translation of Firdawsi’s Shah-nama was made by Italo Pizzi in 19th century. See in Italian Wikipedia: letteratura persiana for more information.[edit] Contemporary Persian literature
[edit] History
In the 19th century, Persian literature experienced dramatic change and entered a new era. The beginning of this change was exemplified by an incident in the mid-19th century at the court of Nasereddin Shah, when the reform-minded prime minister, Amir Kabir, chastised the poet Habibollah Qa’ani for “lying” in a panegyric qasida written in Kabir’s honor. Kabir saw poetry in general and the type of poetry that had developed during the Qajar period as detrimental to “progress” and “modernization” in Iranian society, which he believed was in dire need of change. Such concerns were also expressed by others such as Fath-’Ali Akhundzadeh, Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani, and Mirza Malkom Khan. Khan also addressed a need for a change in Persian poetry in literary terms as well, always linking it to social concerns.The new Persian literary movement cannot be understood without an understanding of the intellectual movements among Iranian philosophical circles. Given the social and political climate of Persia (Iran) in the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries, which led to the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906–1911, the idea that change in poetry was necessary became widespread. Many argued that Persian poetry should reflect the realities of a country in transition. This idea was propagated by notable literary figures such as Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda and Abolqasem Aref, who challenged the traditional system of Persian poetry in terms of introducing new content and experimentation with rhetoric, lexico-semantics, and structure. Dehkhoda, for instance, used a lesser-known traditional form, the mosammat, to elegize the execution of a revolutionary journalist. ‘Aref employed the ghazal, “the most central genre within the lyrical tradition” (p. 88), to write his “Payam-e Azadi” (Message of Freedom).
Some researchers argue that the notion of “sociopolitical ramifications of esthetic changes” led to the idea of poets “as social leaders trying the limits and possibilities of social change.”
An important movement in modern Persian literature centered on the question of modernization and Westernization and whether these terms are synonymous when describing the evolution of Iranian society. It can be argued that almost all advocates of modernism in Persian literature, from Akhundzadeh, Kermani, and Malkom Khan to Dehkhoda, Aref, Bahar, and Taqi Rafat, were inspired by developments and changes that had occurred in Western, particularly European, literatures. Such inspirations did not mean blindly copying Western models but, rather, adapting aspects of Western literature and changing them to fit the needs of Iranian culture.
[edit] Persian literature in Afghanistan
Persian literature in Afghanistan has also experienced a dramatic change during last century. At the beginning of the 20th century, Afghanistan was confronted with economic and social change, which sparked a new approach to literature. In 1911, Mahmud Tarzi, who came back to Afghanistan after years of exile in Turkey and was influential in government circles, started a fortnightly publication named Saraj’ul Akhbar. Saraj was not the first such publication in the country, but in the field of journalism and literature it launched a new period of change and modernization. Saraj not only played an important role in journalism, it also gave new life to literature as a whole and opened the way for poetry to explore new avenues of expression through which personal thoughts took on a more social colour.In 1930 (1309 AH), after months of cultural stagnation, a group of writers founded the Herat Literary Circle. A year later, another group calling itself the Kabul Literary Circle was founded in the capital. Both groups published regular magazines dedicated to culture and Persian literature. Both, especially the Kabul publication, had little success in becoming venues for modern Persian poetry and writing. In time, the Kabul publication turned into a stronghold for traditional writers and poets, and modernism in Dari literature was pushed to the fringes of social and cultural life.
Three of the most prominent classical poets in Afghanistan at the time were Qari Abdullah, Abdul Haq Betab and Khalil Ullah Khalili. The first two received the honorary title Malek ul Shoara (King of Poets). Khalili, the third and youngest, was drawn toward the Khorasan style of poetry instead of the usual Hendi style. He was also interested in modern poetry and wrote a few poems in a more modern style with new aspects of thought and meaning. In 1318 (AH), after two poems by Nima Youshij titled “Gharab” and “Ghaghnus” were published, Khalili wrote a poem under the name “Sorude Kuhestan” or “The Song of the Mountain” in the same rhyming pattern as Nima and sent it to the Kabul Literary Circle. The traditionalists in Kabul refused to publish it because it was not written in the traditional rhyme. They criticized Khalili for modernizing his style.
Very gradually new styles found their way into literature and literary circles despite the efforts of traditionalists. The first book of new poems was published in the year 1957 (1336 AG), and in 1962 (1341 AH), a collection of modern Persian poetry was published in Kabul. The first group to write poems in the new style consisted of Mahmud Farani, Baregh Shafi’i, Solayman Layeq, Sohail, Ayeneh and a few others. Later, Vasef Bakhtari, Asadullah Habib and Latif Nazemi, and others joined the group. Each had his own share in modernizing Persian poetry in Afghanistan. Other notable figures include Leila Sarahat Roshani, Sayed Elan Bahar and Parwin Pazwak. Poets like Mayakovsky, Yase Nien and Lahouti (an Iranian poet living in exile in Russia) exerted a special influence on the Persian poets in Afghanistan. The influence of Iranians (e.g. Farrokhi Yazdi and Ahmad Shamlou) on modern Afghan prose and poetry, especially in the second half of the 20th century, must also be taken into consideration.[12]
Prominent writers from Afghanistan like Asef Soltanzadeh, Reza Ebrahimi, Ameneh Mohammadi, and Abbas Jafari grew up in Iran and were influenced by Iranian writers and teachers.
[edit] Persian literature in Tajikistan
The new poetry in Tajikistan is mostly concerned with the way of life of people and is revolutionary. From the 1950s until the advent of new poetry in France, Asia and Latin America, the impact of the modernization drive was strong. In the 1960s, modern Iranian poetry and that of Mohammad Iqbal Lahouri made a profound impression in Tajik poetry. This period is probably the richest and most prolific period for the development of themes and forms in Persian poetry in Tajikistan. Some Tajik poets were mere imitators, and one can easily see the traits of foreign poets in their work. Only two or three poets were able to digest the foreign poetry and compose original poetry. In Tajikistan, the format and pictorial aspects of short stories and novels were taken from Russian and other European literature. Some of Tajikistan‘s prominent names in Persian literature are Golrokhsar Safi Eva,[13] Mo’men Ghena’at,[14] Farzaneh Khojandi[15] and Layeq Shir-Ali.[edit] Novels
- Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh
- Sadeq Hedayat
- Sadeq Chubak
- Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi
- Jalal Al-e-Ahmad
- Simin Daneshvar
- Bozorg Alavi
- Ebrahim Golestan
- Bahman Sholevar
- Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
- Bahram Sadeghi
- Ghazaleh Alizadeh
- Bahman Forsi
- Houshang Golshiri
- Reza Baraheni
- Abbas Maroufi
- Reza Ghassemi
- Zoya Pirzad
- Shahriyar Mandanipour
[edit] Satire
Main article: Persian satire
- Dehkhoda
- Iraj Mirza
- Kioumars Saberi Foumani
- Obeid Zakani
- Ebrahim Nabavi
- Hadi Khorsandi
- Bibi Khatoon Astarabadi
- Bahman Sholevar
- Emran Salahi
[edit] Literary criticism
Pioneers of Persian literary criticism in 19th century include Mirza Fath `Ali Akhundzade, Mirza Malkom Khan, Mirza `Abd al-Rahim Talebof and Zeyn al-`Abedin Maraghe`i.Prominent 20th century critics include:
- Jamshid Behnam
- Allameh Dehkhoda
- Badiozzaman Forouzanfar
- Mohammad-Taqi Bahar
- Jalal Homaei
- Mohammad Moin
- Saeed Nafisi
- Parviz Natel-Khanlari
- Sadeq Hedayat
- Ahmad Kasravi.
- Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub
- Shahrokh Meskoob
Contemporary Persian literary criticism reached its maturity after Sadeq Hedayat, Ebrahim Golestan, Houshang Golshiri, Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub and Shahrokh Meskoob. Among these figures, Zarrinkoub held academic positions and had a reputation not only among the intelligentsia but also in academia. Besides his significant contribution to the maturity of Persian language and literature, Zarrinkoub boosted comparative literature and Persian literary criticism.[18] Zarrinkoub’s Serr e Ney is a critical and comparative analysis of Rumi‘s Masnavi. In turn, Shahrokh Meskoob worked on Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, using the principles of modern literary criticism.
Mohammad Taghi Bahar‘s main contribution to this field is his book called Sabk Shenasi (Stylistics). It is a pioneering work on the practice of Persian literary historiography and the emergence and development of Persian literature as a distinct institution in the early part of the 20th century. It contends that the exemplary status of Sabk-shinasi rests on the recognition of its disciplinary or institutional achievements. It further contends that, rather than a text on Persian ‘stylistics’, Sabk-shinasi is a vast history of Persian literary prose, and, as such, is a significant intervention in Persian literary historiography.[19]
Jalal Homaei, Badiozzaman Forouzanfar and his student, Mohammad Reza Shafiei-Kadkani, are other notable figures who have edited a number of prominent literary works.[20]
Critical analysis of Jami’s works has been carried out by Ala Khan Afsahzad. His classic book won the prestigious award of Iran’s Year Best book in the year 2000.[21]
[edit] Persian short stories
[22][edit] The formative period
The formative period was ushered in by Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh‘s collection Yak-i Bud Yak-i Nabud (1921; tr. H. Moayyad and P. Sprachman as Once Upon a Time, New York, 1985), and gained momentum with the early short stories of Sadeq Hedayat (1903–51). Jamalzadeh (1895–1997) is usually considered as the first writer of modern short stories in Persian. His stories focus on plot and action rather than on mood or character development and in that respect are reminiscent of the works of Guy de Maupassant and O. Henry. In contrast, Sadeq Hedayat, the writer who introduced modernism to Persian literature, brought about a fundamental change in Persian fiction. In addition to his longer stories, “Buf-e kur” (his masterpiece; see above ii.) and “Haji Aqa” (1945), he wrote collections of short stories including Se Ghatra-ye Khun (Three Drops of Blood, 1932; tr. into French by G. Lazard as Trois gouuttes de sang, Paris 1996) and Zenda be Gur (Buried Alive, 1930). His stories were written in a simple and lucid language, but he employed a variety of approaches, from realism and naturalism to surrealistic fantasy, breaking new ground and introducing a whole range of literary models and presenting new possibilities for the further development of the genre. He experimented with disrupted chronology and non-linear or circular plots, applying these techniques to both his realistic and surrealist writings. Unlike Hedayat, who focused on the psychological complexity and latent vulnerabilities of the individual, Bozorg Alavi depicts ideologically motivated personages defying oppression and social injustice. Such characters, seldom portrayed before in Persian fiction, are Alavi’s main contribution to the thematic range of the modem Persian short story. This commitment to social issues is emulated by Fereydun Tonokaboni (b. 1937), Mahmud Dawlatabadi (b. 1940), Samad Behrangi (q.v.; 1939–68), and other writers of the left in the next generation.Sadeq Chubak was one of the first authors to break the taboo. Following the example of William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Erskine Caldwell, and Ernest Hemingway, his blunt approach appears in the early short story collections Khayma Shab-bazi (The Puppet Show, 1945) and Antar-i ke Luti-ash Morda Bud (1949; tr. P. Avery as “The Baboon Whose Buffoon was Dead”, New World Writing 11, 1957, pp. 14–24), Later stories like “Zir-e Cheragh-e Ghermez”, “Pirahan-e Zereski”, and “Chera Darya Tufani Shoda Bud” describe the naked bestiality and moral degradation of the personages with no trace of squeamishness. His short stories mirror rotting society, populated by the crushed and the defeated. Chubak picks marginal characters—vagrants, pigeon-racers, corpse-washers, prostitutes, and opium addicts—who rarely appear in the fiction of his predecessors, and whom he portrays with vividness and force. His readers come face to face with grim realities and incidents that they have often witnessed for themselves in everyday life but have shunned out of their mind through complacency.
A distinctive trait of post-war Persian fiction in all the three stages of development is the attention devoted to narrative styles and techniques. In matters of style two main trends prevail. Some authors, like Chubak and Al-e Ahmad, follow colloquial speech patterns; others, such as Ebrahim Golestan (b. 1922) and Mahmoud Etemadzadeh “Behazin” (b. 1915), have adopted a more literary and lyrical tone. Although the work of all four writers stretch into later periods, some brief remarks about their differing techniques, which delineated future paths, need mentioning at the outset. Golestan experimented with different narrative styles, and it was only in two late collections of stories, Juy o Divar o Teshna (The Stream and the Wall and the Parched, 1967) and Madd o Meh (The Tide and the Mist, 1969) that he managed to find a style and voice of his own. His poetic language draws inspiration both from syntactical forms of classical Persian prose and the experiments of modernist writers, most notably Gertrude Stein. The influence of modernism is evident also in the structure of Golestan’s short stories, in which the traditional linear plot line is abandoned in favor of disrupted chronology and free association of ideas. Contrary to most other modern Persian authors, Golestan pays little heed to the state of the poor and the dispossessed. Instead, his short stories are devoted to the world of Persian intellectuals, their concerns, anxieties and private obsessions. Golestan’s brand of modernism has influenced the later generation of writers like Bahman Forsi (b. 1933) and Houshang Golshiri (b. 1937). Although the stories of Behazin show similar indebtedness to classical Persian models, he does not follow Golestan’s modernist experiments with syntax. Behazin is an author whose stories, delivered in a lucid literary style, express his leftist social beliefs. In some of his later works like the short story collection Mohra-ye Mar (The Snake Charm, 1955), he turns to literary allegory, imbuing ancient tales with a new message, a technique, which allows him to express his critical views obliquely. Behazin’s predecessors in the sub-genre of the allegorical tale were Hedayat (in Ab-e Zendegi, 1931) and Chubak (“Esa’a-ye Adab” in the collection Khayma-Shab-Bazi).
[edit] Period of growth and development
This second period in the development of the modern Persian short story began with the coup of 19 August 1953, and ended with the revolution of 1979. Jalal Al-e Ahmad is among the proponents of new political and cultural ideas whose influence and impact straddle the first and the second periods in the history of modern Persian fiction. His writings show an awareness of the works of Franz Fanon and the new generation of third-world writers concerned with the problems of cultural domination by colonial powers. Al-e Ahmad, Behazin, Tonekaboni, and Behrangi can all be described as engaged writers because most of their stories are built around a central ideological tenet or thesis and illustrate the authors’ political views and leanings. Among poets of this period, Forough Farrokhzad (1935–1967) has a special place as the first female poet of the Persian language acclaimed by her contemporaries and who left a lasting legacy despite her short life. Her legacy and influence is not primarily (or uniquely) political; however, she was among the first women able to set a personal and original mark. In this sense she is elevated to iconic status.Another notable author from this period is Simin Daneshvar (b. 1931), the first woman writer of note in contemporary Persian literature. Her reputation rests largely on her popular novel Savusun (“The Mourners of Siyāvosh,” 1969). Simin Daneshvar’s short stories deserve mention because they focus on the plight and social exclusion of women in Persian society and address topical issues from a woman’s point of view.
Gholam Hossein Saedi‘s (1935–85) short stories, which he called ghessa, often transcend the boundaries of realism and attain a symbolic significance. His allegorical stories, which occasionally resemble folkloric tales and fables, are inhabited by displaced persons, trapped in dead ends (Sepanlu, p. 117). They emphasize the anxieties and the psychological perturbations of his deeply troubled characters. Sadeghi (1936–84) was yet another author who focused on the anxieties and secret mental agonies of his characters.
Hooshang Golshiri (1937–2000) and Asghar Elahi (b. 1944) created memorable psychological portraits through interim monologue and stream of consciousness techniques. Golshiri, the author of the long story “Shazda Ehtejab” (Prince Ehtejab, 1968), is particularly noted for his successful experiments with extended interior monologues. A bold, innovative writer eager to explore modern methods and styles, Golshiri uses stream of consciousness narrative to reassess familiar theories and events.
[edit] Period of diversity
In this period, the influence of the western literature on the Iranian writers and authors is obvious. The new and modern approaches to writing is introduced and several genres have developed specially in the field of short story. The most popular trends are toward post-modern methods and speculative fiction.[edit] Poetry
Notable Persian poets, modern and classical, include[23] Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, Simin Behbahani, Forough Farrokhzad, Mohammad Zohari, Bijan Jalali, Mina Assadi, Siavash Kasraie, Fereydoon Moshiri, Nader Naderpour, Sohrab Sepehri, Mohammad-Reza Shafiei-Kadkani, Ahmad Shamlou, Nima Yushij, Manouchehr Atashi, Houshang Ebtehaj, Mirzadeh Eshghi (classical), Mohammad Taghi Bahar (classical), Aref Ghazvini (classical), Parvin Etesami (classical), and Shahriar (classical).[edit] Classical Persian poetry in modern times
A few notable classical poets have arisen since the 19th century, among whom Mohammad Taghi Bahar and Parvin Etesami have been most celebrated. Mohammad Taghi Bahar had the title “king of poets” and had a significant role in the emergence and development of Persian literature as a distinct institution in the early part of the 20th century.[24] The theme of his poems was the social and political situation of Iran.Parvin Etesami may be called the greatest Persian poetess writing in the classical style. One of her remarkable series, called Mast va Hoshyar (The Drunk and the Sober), won admiration from many of those involved in romantic poetry.[25]
[edit] Modern Persian poetry
Nima Yushij is considered the father of modern Persian poetry, introducing many techniques and forms to differentiate the modern from the old. Nevertheless, the credit for popularizing this new literary form within a country and culture solidly based on a thousand years of classical poetry goes to his few disciples such as Ahmad Shamlou, who adopted Nima’s methods and tried new techniques of modern poetry.The transformation brought about by Nima Youshij, who freed Persian poetry from the fetters of prosodic measures, was a turning point in a long literary tradition. It broadened the perception and thinking of the poets that came after him. Nima offered a different understanding of the principles of classical poetry. His artistry was not confined to removing the need for a fixed-length hemistich and dispensing with the tradition of rhyming but focused on a broader structure and function based on a contemporary understanding of human and social existence. His aim in renovating poetry was to commit it to a “natural identity” and to achieve a modern discipline in the mind and linguistic performance of the poet.[26]
Nima held that the formal technique dominating classical poetry interfered with its vitality, vigor and progress. Although he accepted some of its aesthetic properties and extended them in his poetry, he never ceased to widen his poetic experience by emphasizing the “natural order” of this art. What Nima Youshij founded in contemporary poetry, his successor Ahmad Shamlou continued.
The Sepid poem (which translates to white poem), which draws its sources from this poet, avoided the compulsory rules which had entered the Nimai’ school of poetry and adopted a freer structure. This allowed a more direct relationship between the poet and his or her emotional roots. In previous poetry, the qualities of the poet’s vision as well as the span of the subject could only be expressed in general terms and were subsumed by the formal limitations imposed on poetic expression.
Ahmad Shamlu discovered the inner characteristics of poetry and its manifestation in the literary creations of classical masters as well as the Nimai’ experience. He offered an individual approach. By distancing himself from the obligations imposed by older poetry and some of the limitations that had entered the Nimai’ poem, he recognized the role of prose and music hidden in the language. In the structure of Sepid poetry, in contrast to the prosodic and Nimai’ rules, the poem is written in more “natural” words and incorporates a prose-like process without losing its poetic distinction. Sepid poetry is a developing branch of Nimai’ poetry built upon Nima Youshij’s innovations. Nima thought that any change in the construction and the tools of a poet’s expression is conditional on his/her knowledge of the world and a revolutionized outlook. Sepid poetry could not take root outside this teaching and its application.
According to Simin Behbahani, Sepid poetry did not received general acceptance before Bijan Jalali‘s works. He is considered the founder of Sepid poetry according to Behbahani.[27][28] Behbahani herself used the “Char Pareh” style of Nima, and subsequently turned to ghazal, a free-flowing poetry style similar to the Western sonnet. Simin Behbahani contributed to a historic development in the form of the ghazal, as she added theatrical subjects, and daily events and conversations into her poetry. She has expanded the range of traditional Persian verse forms and produced some of the most significant works of Persian literature in the 20th century.
A reluctant follower of Nima Yushij, Mehdi Akhavan-Sales published his Organ (1951) to support contentions against Nima Yushij’s groundbreaking endeavors. In Persian poetry, Mehdi Akhavan Sales has established a bridge between the Khorassani and Nima Schools. The critics consider Mehdi Akhavan Sales as one of the best contemporary Persian poets. He is one of the pioneers of free verse (new style poetry) in Persian literature, particularly of modern style epics. It was his ambition, for a long time, to introduce a fresh style to Persian poetry.[29]
Forough Farrokhzad is important in the literary history of Iran for three reasons. First, she was among the first generation to embrace the new style of poetry, pioneered by Nima Yushij during the 1920s, which demanded that poets experiment with rhyme, imagery, and the individual voice. Second, she was the first modern Iranian woman to graphically articulate private sexual landscapes from a woman’s perspective. Finally, she transcended her own literary role and experimented with acting, painting, and documentary film-making.[30]
Fereydoon Moshiri is best known as conciliator of classical Persian poetry with the New Poetry initiated by Nima Yooshij. One of the major contributions of Moshiri’s poetry, according to some observers, is the broadening of the social and geographical scope of modern Persian literature.[31]
A poet of the last generation before the Islamic Revolution worthy of mention is Mohammad-Reza Shafiei-Kadkani (M. Sereshk). Though he is from Khorassan and sways between allegiance to Nima Youshij and Akhavan Saless, in his poetry he shows the influences of Hafiz and Mowlavi. He uses simple, lyrical language and is mostly inspired by the political atmosphere. He is the most successful of those poets who in the past four decades have tried hard to find a synthesis between the two models of Ahmad Shamloo and Nima Youshij.[32]
[edit] Persian literature awards
- Sadegh Hedayat Award
- National Ferdowsi Prize
- Houshang Golshiri Award
- Bijan Jalali Award
- Iran’s Annual Book Prize
- Mehrgan Adab Prize
- Parvin Etesami Award
- Yalda Literary Award
- Isfahan Literary Award
- Persian Speculative Art and Literature Award
- Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Awards
- Golden Pen Awards
[edit] Authors and poets
Main article: List of Persian poets and authors
(( “Eminent Poetesses of Persian” by R.M. Chopra, 2010.))[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Arthur John Arberry, The Legacy of Persia, Published by Clarendon Press, 1953, ISBN 019821905, p. 200.
- ^ Frye, R.N., “Darī”, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Brill Publications, CD version.
- ^ Franklin Lewis, Rumi Past and Present, East and West, Oneworld Publications, 2000. How is it that a Persian boy born almost eight hundred years ago in Khorasan, the northeastern province of greater Iran, in a region that we identify today as Central Asia, but was considered in those days as part of the Greater Persian cultural sphere, wound up in Central Anatolia on the receding edge of the Byzantine cultural sphere, in which is now Turkey, some 1500 miles to the west? (p. 9)
- ^ Encyclopedia of Library and … – Google Books
- ^ Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub, Naqde adabi, Tehran 1959 pp:374-379.
- ^ Yar-Shater, Ehsan. 1986. Persian Poetry in the Timurid and Safavid Periods, Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.973-974. 1986
- ^ The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Punjab
- ^ Iraj Parsinejad, A History of Literary Criticism in Iran, 1866-1951, (Ibex Publishers, Inc., 2003), 14.
- ^ Abdol Hossein Saeedian, “Land and People of Iran” p. 447
- ^ See William Shakespeare’s The Twelfth Night.
- ^ “Nietzsche’s Zarathustra”. Philosophical forum at Frostburg State University. Retrieved 2006-03-31.
- ^ “Latif Nazemi “A Look at Persian Literature in Afghanistan”“. Archived from the original on 2008-02-27.
- ^ “گلرخسار صفی اوا، مادر ملت تاجیک”. BBC Persian. Retrieved 2006-03-31.
- ^ “مومن قناعت، شاعر و سياستمدار”. BBC Persian. Retrieved 2006-03-31.
- ^ “فرزانه، صدای نسل نو”. BBC Persian. Retrieved 2006-03-31.
- ^ “پویایی فرهنگ هر کشور ی در “آزادی” نهفته است”. Archived from the original on 2005-11-29. Retrieved 2006-03-31.
- ^ “A history of literary criticism in Iran (1866-1951)”. Retrieved 2006-03-31.
- ^ AH Zarrinkoub: A biography
- ^ British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
- ^ “Luminaries – Mohammad Reza Shafiei-Kadkani”. Iran Daily – Panorama. 2005-09-24. Archived from the original on 2006-05-17. Retrieved 2006-03-31.
- ^ همایش بزرگداشت افصح زاد at BBC Persian URL accessed on 2006-03-31
- ^ Houra Yavari, “The Persian Short Story”
- ^ http://www.sharghnewspaper.com/850407/html/v2.htm
- ^ Wali Ahmadi “The institution of Persian literature and the genealogy of Bahar’s stylistics”
- ^ “Parvin Etesami’s biography at IRIB.com”. Archived from the original on 2008-01-12.
- ^ a b Mansur Khaksar “Shamlu’s poetic world”
- ^ “جايزه شعر بيژن جلالی به سيمين بهبهانی اهدا شد”. BBC Persian. Retrieved 2006-03-31.
- ^ “معرفی منتقدان و پژوهشگران برگزيده شعر”. BBC Persian. Retrieved 2006-03-31.
- ^ Mehdi Akhavan Sales’s biography on Iran Chamber Society (www.iranchamber.com)
- ^ Forough Farrokhzad and modern Persian poetry
- ^ Fereydoon Moshiri’s official website
- ^ Mahmud Kianush, “A Summary of the Introduction to Modern Persian Poetry”
[edit] See also
- Persian mythology
- Academy of Persian Language and Literature
- Persianate
- Persian language
- Pahlavi literature
- Middle Persian
- Persian literature in the West
- Persian culture
- Persian Mysticism
- Persian cinema
[edit] Further reading
- Aryanpur, Manoochehr. A History of Persian Literature. Tehran: Kayhan Press, 1973
- Clawson, Patrick. Eternal Iran. Macmillan, 2005. ISBN 1-4039-6276-6.
- Browne, E.G.. Literary History of Persia 1998. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X
- Browne, Edward G.. Islamic Medicine. 2002. ISBN 81-87570-19-9
- Rypka, Jan. History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company, 1968. OCLC 460598. ISBN 90-277-0143-1
- ʻAbd al-Ḥusayn Zarrīnʹkūb (1379 (2000)). Dū qarn-i sukūt : sarguz̲asht-i ḥavādis̲ va awz̤āʻ-i tārīkhī dar dū qarn-i avval-i Islām (Two Centuries of Silence). Tihrān: Sukhan. OCLC 46632917. ISBN 964-5983-33-6.
- Tikku, G.L. Persian Poetry in Kashmir. 1971. ISBN 0-520-09312-7
- Walker, Benjamin. Persian Pageant: A Cultural History of Iran. Calcutta: Arya Press, 1950.
- ((Chopra, R.M., “Eminent Poetesses of Persian”, Iran Society, Kolkata, 2010.
[edit] External links
[edit] In English
- The Packard Humanities Institute: Persian Texts in Translation
- More on Persian literature
- Another portal on Persian Literature
- “Persian undercurrent in Islamic civilization”
- The Persian Novel
- The Persian Short Story
- Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in e-book format
- Forough Farrokhzad Poetry in English
- Translated works of persian writers in the field of speculative fiction
- Sokhan – Persian Books and Literature
- Fal e Hafez – Complete database of Hafiz poems and Fals.
- Persian Language
- Iran and Persian language in the western world
- National Committee for the Expansion of the Persian Language and Literature (شورای گسترش زبان و ادبيات فارسی)
- “Modern Persian poetry”. Archived from the original on 2008-02-27. essay by Khosro Naghed.
- Raha – World independent writers’ home
- Ghabil – Persian literature Magazine
- Persopedia – Comprehensive Persian Literature Reference
- More Persian books
- Kargah Website of Persian Literature and Art Persian/English
- Official persian website of speculative fiction’s proponents in Iran
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IRANSAGA
“Persian Literature”
The “Persian Literature” Section of Iransaga includes Classical and modern Poetry and Prose, and informative facts relating to notable writers, and poets both from the past and the present day.
(Please click on the “titles” to enter each section.)
“THE DEVELOPMENT OF IRANIAN LITERATURES”A History and Analysis of Persian Literature
(This entire section has been taken from the book “Persian Literature”, ‘Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies 3′. Art Arena is indebted to Ehsan Yarshater for his permission to include parts of the “Introductory Survey” from this informative book.)
PART 1:1. Old Iranian Literature2. Epic Literature of Ancient Iran 3. Parthian and Middle Persian Written Literatures 4. The Rise and Development of Persian Literature 5. General Features of Persian Literature | PART 2:1. The Development of Persian Poetry2. Modernist Poetry 3. Prose Literature 4. Translating Persian Literature |
THE ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS A brief description of the origins of these popular tales
“One of the most famous collections of ancient tales is Alf Layla wa Layla, the Arabic name of One Thousand Nights and One Night, commonly known in English as The Arabian Nights. The original Arabic compiler is reputedly storyteller Abu abd-Allah Muhammed el-Gahshigar in the 9th century…“
PERSIAN CLASSICAL POETRYA selection of poems by Classical Persian Poets (in English translation).
Also included, is a brief biography of each poet: “Ibrahim Fakhr-od-Din Iraqi”, and “Kamal-od-Din Khajoo Kermani”
From the Book: “Sixteen Persian Classics”, by Mahmud Kianush
PEOPLE AND THEIR HEROESThe origins and basis of Ferdowsi’s epic, Shahnameh (The Book of Kings)
“This article was written by Mahmud Kianush, and it is part of a review published in
Asian Affairs, Vol. XXVII Oct. 1996, about the book:
“Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings” By Olga M. Davidson”
SHAMS-OD-DIN MUHAMMAD HAFEZLife and Works of a classic poet:
“Shams al-Din Muhammad Hafez was born in Shiraz between 1317 and 1326. He is known under his pen name Hafez (Koran-memorizer)…”
Ghazals (lyric poetry) by Hafez:
SAADI – The Genius of Shiraz{Updated with further extracts from Saadi’s Golestan (The Rose Garden)
Life and works of one of Iran’s greatest Sufi poets:
“…. he was born in Shiraz in the late 12th century AD … and began life as a student of the Koran, which he later exchanged for Sufism. During his life he travelled widely and returned to his native town some time around 1256.
… it was his experiences and his gift of acute observation that made him such a wonderful storyteller…”
JALAL AL-DIN RUMILife and Works of this outstanding Persian Sufi Sage and Poet:
“Jalal al-Din Rumi, was born in Balkh on the 30th September, 1207. His proper name was Mubammad, title Jalal al-Din and later ‘Khudawandagar’, ‘lord’. In his poetry he used the pen-name “khamush” (meaning “silent”) and from the 15th century came to be known as Mawlawi, the term deriving from his earlier title of Mulla-yi rum, ‘the learned master of Anatolia’…”
NIZAM-OD-DIN OBAYD-I ZAKANIA brief background and a selection of words and definitions from Obayd-i Zakani’s “Satirical Social Dictionary”:
“…. Obayd-i Zakani (14th century poet and satirist), is the unequalled master of parody and social satire …”
THE LEGEND OF LAYLI AND MADJNUNA brief description of the original legend in Arabic literature, and its Persian version:
“The story of Layli and Madjnun is one of the most popular legends of the Middle East. Its original version dates back to around 7th Century AD, and can be found in Arabic literature…”
EDWARD FITZGERALD’S RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAMA brief background and review of Fitzgerald’s Rubáiyát:
“The 12th century Persian poet Omar Khayyám, is well known in the West, through the work of the English clergyman, poet and translator Edward Fitzgerald…”
IRANIAN WOMEN POETSBrief biography and a poem by each poet:
“Iran and the Persian language have a rich poetic heritage, extending for a thousand years from the classical era of the 10th – 17th centuries into the present day. Among modern poets, social and political themes have been prominent, and there have been many notable women poets…”
NIMA YUSHIJ; “Father of Modern Persian Poetry” An analysis of the Poet and his works, including one of his poems entitled: “IT IS NIGHT”From the Book: “Modern Persian Poetry” by Mahmud Kianush
| This section of Art Arena, provides primarily modern Persian poetry and prose, mainly in English translation. The works are by two of Iran’s well-known literary figures, Mahmud Kianush and Pari Mansouri. The on-line Bookstore includes a small selection of books by the above authors. |
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Copyright © ’99, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 K. Kianush, Art Arena
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| Shahnameh (The Epic of Kings) By: Hakim Abol Qasem Ferdowsi Tousi Translated by: Helen Zimmern
  Story of Ferdowsi and Shahnameh (The Epic of Kings) |
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One Thousand and One Nights
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Arabian Nights” redirects here. For other uses, see Arabian Nights (disambiguation).
For other uses, see One Thousand and One Nights (disambiguation).
Arabic: كتاب ألف ليلة وليلة Kitāb alf laylah wa-laylah) is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English language edition (1706), which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment.[1]
The work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators and scholars across the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Turkish, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and literature. In particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Caliphate era, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably drawn from the Pahlavi Persian work Hazār Afsān (Persian: هزار افسان, lit. A Thousand Tales) which in turn relied partly on Indian elements.[2]
What is common throughout all the editions of the Nights is the initial frame story of the ruler Shahryār (from Persian: شهريار, meaning “king” or “sovereign”) and his wife Scheherazade (from Persian: شهرزاد, possibly meaning “of noble lineage”[3]) and the framing device incorporated throughout the tales themselves. The stories proceed from this original tale; some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Some editions contain only a few hundred nights, while others include 1,001 or more.
Some of the stories of The Nights, particularly “Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp“, “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” and “The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor“, while almost certainly genuine Middle-Eastern folk tales, were not part of The Nights in Arabic versions, but were interpolated into the collection by Antoine Galland and other European translators.[4]
It is also notable[says who?] that the innovative and rich poetry and poetic speeches, chants, songs, lamentations, hymns, beseeching, praising, pleading, riddles and annotations provided by Scheherazade or her story characters are unique to the Arabic version of the book. Some are as short as one line, while others go for tens of lines.
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[edit] Synopsis
See also: List of stories within One Thousand and One Nights and List of characters within One Thousand and One Nights
Queen Scheherazade tells her stories to King Shahryār.
The tales vary widely: they include historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, burlesques and various forms of erotica. Numerous stories depict Jinns, Ghouls, Apes,[5] sorcerers, magicians, and legendary places, which are often intermingled with real people and geography, not always rationally; common protagonists include the historical Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, his Grand Vizier, Jafar al-Barmaki, and his alleged court poet Abu Nuwas, despite the fact that these figures lived some 200 years after the fall of the Sassanid Empire in which the frame tale of Scheherazade is set. Sometimes a character in Scheherazade’s tale will begin telling other characters a story of his own, and that story may have another one told within it, resulting in a richly layered narrative texture.
The narrator’s standards for what constitutes a cliffhanger seem broader than in modern literature. 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 of the full text 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—and in all these cases turns out to be justified in her belief that the king’s curiosity about the sequel would buy her another day of life.
[edit] History: versions and translations
[edit] Speculation about Indian origins
Some scholars have seen an ultimate Indian origin for the Nights. This is because the collection makes use of devices found in Sanskrit literature: frame stories and animal fables.[7] Indian folklore is represented in the Nights by certain animal stories, which reflect influence from ancient Sanskrit fables. The influence of the Panchatantra and Baital Pachisi is particularly notable.[8] The Jataka Tales are a collection of 547 Buddhist stories, which are for the most part moral stories with an ethical purpose. The Tale of the Bull and the Ass and the linked Tale of the Merchant and his Wife are found in the frame stories of both the Jataka and the Nights.[9] [edit] Persian prototype: Hazār Afsān
The earliest mentions of the Nights refer to it as an Arabic translation from a Persian book, Hazār Afsān (or Afsaneh or Afsana), meaning “The Thousand Stories”. In the 10th century Ibn al-Nadim compiled a catalogue of books (the “Fihrist”) in Baghdad. He noted that the Sassanid kings of Iran enjoyed “evening tales and fables”.[10] Al-Nadim then writes about the Persian Hazār Afsān, explaining the frame story it employs: a bloodthirsty king kills off a succession of wives after their wedding night; finally one concubine had the intelligence to save herself by telling him a story every evening, leaving each tale unfinished until the next night so that the king would delay her execution.[11] In the same century Al-Masudi also refers to the Hazār Afsān, saying the Arabic translation is called Alf Khurafa (“A Thousand Entertaining Tales”) but is generally known as Alf Layla (“A Thousand Nights”). He mentions the characters Shirazd (Scheherazade) and Dinazad.[12] No physical evidence of the Hazār Afsān has survived[7] so its exact relationship with the existing later Arabic versions remains a mystery.[13] However, in the mid-20th century the scholar Nabia Abbott found a document with a few lines of an Arabic work with the title The Book of the Tale of a Thousand Nights, dating from the ninth century. This is the earliest surviving fragment of the Nights.[14]The Scheherezade frame story of the Nights as it now exists was taken from the Persian prototype. Several other tales have Persian origins, although it is unclear how they entered the collection.[15] They include the cycle of “King Jali’ad and his Wazir Shimas” and “The Ten Wazirs or the History of King Azadbakht and his Son” (derived from the seventh-century Persian Bakhtiyarnama).[16]
[edit] Arabic versions
The first reference to the Arabic version under its full title The One Thousand and One Nights appears in Cairo in the 12th century.[17] Professor Dwight Reynolds describes the subsequent transformations of the Arabic version: “Some of the earlier Persian tales may have survived within the Arabic tradition altered such that Arabic Muslim names and new locations were substituted for pre-Islamic Persian ones, but it is also clear that whole cycles of Arabic tales were eventually added to the collection and apparently replaced most of the Persian materials. One such cycle of Arabic tales centres around a small group of historical figures from 9th-century Baghdad, including the caliph Harun al-Rashid (died 809), his vizier Jafar al-Barmaki (d.803) and the licentious poet Abu Nuwas (d. c. 813). Another cluster is a body of stories from late medieval Cairo in which are mentioned persons and places that date to as late as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.”[18]Two main Arabic manuscript traditions of the Nights are known: the Syrian and the Egyptian. The Syrian tradition includes the oldest manuscripts; these versions are also much shorter and include fewer tales. It is represented in print by the so-called Calcutta I (1814–1818) and most notably by the Leiden edition (1984), which is based above all on the Galland manuscript. It is believed to be the purest expression of the style of the mediaeval Arabian Nights.[19][20]
Texts of the Egyptian tradition emerge later and contain many more tales of much more varied content; a much larger number of originally independent tales have been incorporated into the collection over the centuries, most of them after the Galland manuscript was written,[21] and were being included as late as in the 18th and 19th centuries, perhaps in order to attain the eponymous number of 1001 nights. The final product of this tradition, the so-called Zotenberg Egyptian Recension, does contain 1001 nights and is reflected in print, with slight variations, by the editions known as the Bulaq (1835) and the Macnaghten or Calcutta II (1839–1842).
All extant substantial versions of both recensions share a small common core of tales, namely:
- The Merchant and the Demon.
- The Fisherman and the Jinni.
- The Story of the Porter and the Three Ladies.
- The Hunchback cycle.
- The Story of the Three Apples, enframing the Story of Nur al-Din and Shams al-Din
- The Story of Nur al-Din Ali and Anis al-Jalis
- The Story of Ali Ibn Baqqar and Shams al-Nahar, and
- The Story of Qamar al-Zaman.
[edit] Modern translations
The first European version (1704–1717) was translated into French by Antoine Galland from an Arabic text of the Syrian recension and other sources. This 12-volume book, Les Mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français (“Thousand and one nights, Arab stories translated into French”), included stories that were not in the original Arabic manuscript. “Aladdin’s Lamp” and “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” appeared first in Galland’s translation and cannot be found in any of the original manuscripts. He wrote that he heard them from a Syrian Christian storyteller from Aleppo, a Maronite scholar whom he called “Hanna Diab.” Galland’s version of the Nights was immensely popular throughout Europe, and later versions were issued by Galland’s publisher using Galland’s name without his consent.As scholars were looking for the presumed “complete” and “original” form of the Nights, they naturally turned to the more voluminous texts of the Egyptian recension, which soon came to be viewed as the “standard version”. The first translations of this kind, such as that of Edward Lane (1840, 1859), were bowdlerized. Unabridged and unexpurgated translations were made, first by John Payne, under the title The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night (1882, nine volumes), and then by Sir Richard Francis Burton, entitled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (1885, ten volumes) – the latter was, according to some assessments, partially based on the former, leading to charges of plagiarism.[23][24] In view of the sexual imagery in the source texts (which Burton even emphasized further, especially by adding extensive footnotes and appendices on Oriental sexual mores[24]) and the strict Victorian laws on obscene material, both of these translations were printed as private editions for subscribers only, rather than published in the usual manner. Burton’s original 10 volumes were followed by a further six entitled The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night, which were printed between 1886 and 1888. It has, however, been criticized for its “archaic language and extravagant idiom” and “obsessive focus on sexuality” (and has even been called an “eccentric ego-trip” and a “highly personal reworking of the text”).[24]
Later versions of the Nights include that of the French doctor J. C. Mardrus, issued from 1898 to 1904. It was translated into English by Powys Mathers, and issued in 1923. Like Payne’s and Burton’s texts, it is based on the Egyptian recension and retains the erotic material, indeed expanding on it, but it has been criticized for inaccuracy.[23]
A notable recent version, which reverts to the Syrian recension, is a critical edition based on the 14th or 15th century Syrian manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, originally used by Galland. This version, known as the Leiden text, was compiled in Arabic by Muhsin Mahdi (1984) and rendered into English by Husain Haddawy (1990). Mahdi argued that this version is the earliest extant one (a view that is largely accepted today) and that it reflects most closely a “definitive” coherent text ancestral to all others that he believed to have existed during the Mamluk period (a view that remains contentious).[21][25][26] Still, even scholars who deny this version the exclusive status of “the only real Arabian Nights” recognize it as being the best source on the original style and linguistic form of the mediaeval work[19][20] and praise the Haddawy translation as “very readable” and “strongly recommended for anyone who wishes to taste the authentic flavour of those tales”.[26] An additional second volume of Arabian nights translated by Haddawy, composed of popular tales not present in the Leiden edition, was published in 1995.
In 2008 a new English translation was published by Penguin Classics in three volumes. It is translated by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons with introduction and annotations by Robert Irwin. This is the first complete translation of the Macnaghten or Calcutta II edition (Egyptian recension) since Sir Richard Burton. It contains, in addition to the standard text of 1001 Nights, the so-called “orphan stories” of Aladdin and Ali Baba as well as an alternative ending to The seventh journey of Sindbad from Antoine Galland‘s original French. As the translator himself notes in his preface to the three volumes, “[N]o attempt has been made to superimpose on the translation changes that would be needed to ‘rectify’ … accretions, … repetitions, non sequiturs and confusions that mark the present text,” and the work is a “representation of what is primarily oral literature, appealing to the ear rather than the eye.” The Lyons translation includes all the poetry, omitted in some translations, but does not attempt to reproduce in English the internal rhyming of some prose sections of the original Arabic.
[edit] Timeline
- One of the oldest Arabic manuscript fragments from Syria (a few handwritten pages) dating to the early 9th century. Discovered by scholar Nabia Abbott in 1948, it bears the title Kitab Hadith Alf Layla (“The Book of the Tale of the Thousand Nights”) and the first few lines of the book in which Dinazad asks Shirazad (Scheherazade) to tell him stories.[18]
- 10th century – Mention of Hazar Afsan in Ibn al-Nadim‘s “Fihrist” (Catalogue of books) in Baghdad. He attributes a pre-Islamic Sassanian Persian origin to the collection and refers to the frame story of Scheherazade telling stories over a thousand nights to save her life. However, according to al-Nadim, the book contains only 200 stories. Curiously, al-Nadim also writes disparagingly of the collection’s literary quality, observing that “it is truly a coarse book, without warmth in the telling”.[30]
- 10th century – Reference to The Thousand Nights, an Arabic translation of the Persian Hazar Afsan (“Thousand Stories”), in Muruj Al-Dhahab (The Meadows of Gold) by Al-Masudi.[12]
- 11th century – Mention of The Nights by Qatran Tabrizi in the following couplet in Persian:
-
- هزار ره صفت هفت خوان و رويين دژ
- فرو شنيدم و خواندم من از هزار افسان
-
- A thousand times, accounts of Rouyin Dezh and Haft Khān
- I heard and read from Hezār Afsān (literally Thousand Fables)[citation needed]
- 12th century; – A document from Cairo refers to a Jewish bookseller lending a copy of The Thousand and One Nights (this is the first appearance of the final form of the title).[17]
- 14th century – Existing Syrian manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (contains about 300 tales).
- 1704 – Antoine Galland‘s French translation is the first European version of The Nights. Later volumes were introduced using Galland’s name though the stories were written by unknown persons at the behest of the publisher wanting to capitalize on the popularity of the collection.
- 1706 – An anonymously translated version in English appears in Europe dubbed the “Grub Street” version. This is entitled The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment – the first known use of the common English title of the work.
- 1775 – Egyptian version of The Nights called “ZER” (Hermann Zotenberg‘s Egyptian Recension) with 200 tales (no surviving edition exists).
- 1814 – Calcutta I, the earliest existing Arabic printed version, is published by the British East India Company. A second volume was released in 1818. Both had 100 tales each.
- Early 19th century: Modern Persian translations of the text are made, variously under the title Alf leile va leile, Hezār-o yek šab (هزار و یک شب), or, in distorted Arabic, Alf al-leil. One early extant version is that illustrated by Sani al-Molk (1814–1866) for Mohammad Shah Qajar.[31]
- 1825–1838 – The Breslau/Habicht edition is published in Arabic in 8 volumes. Christian Maxmilian Habicht (born in Breslau, Germany, 1775) collaborated with the Tunisian Murad Al-Najjar and created this edition containing 1001 stories. Using versions of The Nights, tales from Al-Najjar, and other stories from unknown origins Habicht published his version in Arabic and German.
- 1842–1843 – Four additional volumes by Habicht.
- 1835 Bulaq version – These two volumes, printed by the Egyptian government, are the oldest printed (by a publishing house) version of The Nights in Arabic by a non-European. It is primarily a reprinting of the ZER text.
- 1839–1842 – Calcutta II (4 volumes) is published. It claims to be based on an older Egyptian manuscript (which was never found). This version contains many elements and stories from the Habicht edition.
- 1838 – Torrens version in English.
- 1838–1840 – Edward William Lane publishes an English translation. Notable for its exclusion of content Lane found “immoral” and for its anthropological notes on Arab customs by Lane.
- 1882–1884 – John Payne publishes an English version translated entirely from Calcutta II, adding some tales from Calcutta I and Breslau.
- 1885–1888 – Sir Richard Francis Burton publishes an English translation from several sources (largely the same as Payne[23]). His version accentuated the sexuality of the stories vis-à-vis Lane’s bowdlerized translation.
- 1889–1904 – J. C. Mardrus publishes a French version using Bulaq and Calcutta II editions.
- 1984 – Muhsin Mahdi publishes an Arabic edition which he claims is faithful to the oldest Arabic versions surviving (primarily based on the Syrian manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in combination with other early manuscripts of the Syrian branch).
- 1990 – Husain Haddawy publishes an English translation of Mahdi.
- 2008 — New Penguin Classics translation (in three volumes) by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons of the Calcutta II edition
[edit] Literary themes and techniques
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, suspense, or other emotions.[32] Some of these date back to earlier Persian, Indian and Arabic literature, while others were original to the One Thousand and One Nights.
[edit] Frame story
An early example of the frame story, or framing device, is employed in the One Thousand and One Nights, in which the character Scheherazade narrates a set of tales (most often fairy tales) to the Sultan Shahriyar over many nights. Many of Scheherazade’s tales are also frame stories, such as the Tale of Sindbad the Seaman and Sindbad the Landsman being a collection of adventures related by Sindbad the Seaman to Sindbad the Landsman. The concept of the frame story dates back to ancient Sanskrit literature, and was introduced into Persian and Arabic literature through the Panchatantra.[edit] Embedded narrative
An early example of the “story within a story” technique can be found in the One Thousand and One Nights, which can be traced back to earlier Persian and Indian storytelling traditions, most notably the Panchatantra of ancient Sanskrit literature. The Nights, however, improved on the Panchatantra in several ways, particularly in the way a story is introduced. In the Panchatantra, stories are introduced as didactic analogies, with the frame story referring to these stories with variants of the phrase “If you’re not careful, that which happened to the louse and the flea will happen to you.” In the Nights, this didactic framework is the least common way of introducing the story, but instead a story is most commonly introduced through subtle means, particularly as an answer to questions raised in a previous tale.[33]An early example of the “story within a story within a story” device is also found in the One Thousand and One Nights, where the general story is narrated by an unknown narrator, and in this narration the stories are told by Scheherazade. In most of Scheherazade’s narrations there are also stories narrated, and even in some of these, there are some other stories.[34] This is particularly the case for the “Sinbad the Sailor” story narrated by Scheherazade in the One Thousand and One Nights. Within the “Sinbad the Sailor” story itself, the protagonist Sinbad the Sailor narrates the stories of his seven voyages to Sinbad the Porter. The device is also used to great effect in stories such as “The Three Apples” and “The Seven Viziers“. In yet another tale Scheherazade narrates, “The Fisherman and the Jinni“, the “Tale of the Wazir and the Sage Duban” is narrated within it, and within that there are three more tales narrated.
[edit] Dramatic visualization
[edit] Fate and destiny
A common theme in many Arabian Nights tales is fate and destiny. The Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini observed:[36]| “ | every tale in The Thousand and One Nights begins with an ‘appearance of destiny’ which manifests itself through an anomaly, and one anomaly always generates another. So a chain of anomalies is set up. And the more logical, tightly knit, essential this chain is, the more beautiful the tale. By ‘beautiful’ I mean vital, absorbing and exhilarating. The chain of anomalies always tends to lead back to normality. The end of every tale in The One Thousand and One Nights consists of a ‘disappearance’ of destiny, which sinks back to the somnolence of daily life … The protagonist of the stories is in fact destiny itself. | ” |
[edit] Foreshadowing
Another early foreshadowing technique is formal patterning, “the organization of the events, actions and gestures which constitute a narrative and give shape to a story; when done well, formal patterning allows the audience the pleasure of discerning and anticipating the structure of the plot as it unfolds”. This technique also dates back to the One Thousand and One Nights.[35]
Another form of foreshadowing is the self-fulfilling prophecy, which dates back to the story of Krishna in ancient Sanskrit literature. A variation of this device is the self-fulfilling dream, which dates back to medieval Arabic literature. Several tales in the One Thousand and One Nights use this device to foreshadow what is going to happen, as a special form of literary prolepsis. A notable example is “The Ruined Man who Became Rich Again through a Dream”, in which a man is told in his dream to leave his native city of Baghdad and travel to Cairo, where he will discover the whereabouts of some hidden treasure. The man travels there and experiences misfortune, ending up in jail, where he tells his dream to a police officer. The officer mocks the idea of foreboding dreams and tells the protagonist that he himself had a dream about a house with a courtyard and fountain in Baghdad where treasure is buried under the fountain. The man recognizes the place as his own house and, after he is released from jail, he returns home and digs up the treasure. In other words, the foreboding dream not only predicted the future, but the dream was the cause of its prediction coming true. A variant of this story later appears in English folklore as the “Pedlar of Swaffham” and Paulo Coelho‘s “The Alchemist“; Jorge Luis Borges‘ collection of short stories A Universal History of Infamy featured his translation of this particular story into Spanish, as “The Story Of The Two Dreamers.”[40]
Another variation of the self-fulfilling prophecy can be seen in “The Tale of Attaf”, where Harun al-Rashid consults his library (the House of Wisdom), reads a random book, “falls to laughing and weeping and dismisses the faithful vizier” Ja’far ibn Yahya from sight. Ja’afar, “disturbed and upset flees Baghdad and plunges into a series of adventures in Damascus, involving Attaf and the woman whom Attaf eventually marries.” After returning to Baghdad, Ja’afar reads the same book that caused Harun to laugh and weep, and discovers that it describes his own adventures with Attaf. In other words, it was Harun’s reading of the book that provoked the adventures described in the book to take place. This is an early example of reverse causation.[41] Near the end of the tale, Attaf is given a death sentence for a crime he didn’t commit but Harun, knowing the truth from what he has read in the book, prevents this and has Attaf released from prison. In the 12th century, this tale was translated into Latin by Petrus Alphonsi and included in his Disciplina Clericalis,[42] alongside the “Sinbad the Sailor” story cycle.[43] In the 14th century, a version of “The Tale of Attaf” also appears in the Gesta Romanorum and Giovanni Boccaccio‘s The Decameron.[42]
[edit] Repetition
Thematic patterning is “the distribution of recurrent thematic concepts and moralistic motifs among the various incidents and frames of a story. In a skillfully crafted tale, thematic patterning may be arranged so as to emphasize the unifying argument or salient idea which disparate events and disparate frames have in common”. This technique also dates back to the One Thousand and One Nights (and earlier).[35]
Several different variants of the “Cinderella” story, which has its origins in the Egyptian story of Rhodopis, appear in the One Thousand and One Nights, including “The Second Shaykh’s Story”, “The Eldest Lady’s Tale” and “Abdallah ibn Fadil and His Brothers”, all dealing with the theme of a younger sibling harassed by two jealous elders. In some of these, the siblings are female, while in others they are male. One of the tales, “Judar and His Brethren”, departs from the happy endings of previous variants and reworks the plot to give it a tragic ending instead, with the younger brother being poisoned by his elder brothers.[44]
[edit] Satire and parody
The Nights contain many examples of sexual humour. Some of this borders on satire, as in the tale called “Ali with the Large Member” which pokes fun at obsession with human penis size.[45]Repetition is also used to humorous effect in the One Thousand and One Nights. Sheherezade sometimes follows up a relatively serious tale with a cruder or more broadly humorous version of the same tale. For example, “Wardan the Butcher’s Adventure With the Lady and the Bear” is paralleled by “The King’s Daughter and the Ape”, “Harun al-Rashid and the Two Slave-Girls” by “Harun al-Rashid and the Three Slave-Girls”, and “The Angel of Death With the Proud King and the Devout Man” by “The Angel of Death and the Rich King”. The idea has been put forward that these pairs of tales are deliberately intended as examples of self parody,[46] although this assumes a greater degree of editorial control by a single writer than the history of the collection as a whole would seem to indicate.
[edit] Unreliable narrator
The literary device of the unreliable narrator was used in several fictional medieval Arabic tales of the One Thousand and One Nights. In one tale, “The Seven Viziers” (also known as “Craft and Malice of Women or The Tale of the King, His Son, His Concubine and the Seven Wazirs”), a courtesan accuses a king’s son of having assaulted her, when in reality she had failed to seduce him (inspired by the Qur’anic/Biblical story of Yusuf/Joseph). Seven viziers attempt to save his life by narrating seven stories to prove the unreliability of women, and the courtesan responds back by narrating a story to prove the unreliability of viziers.[47] The unreliable narrator device is also used to generate suspense in “The Three Apples” and humor in “The Hunchback’s Tale” (see Crime fiction elements below).[edit] Crime fiction elements
Another Nights tale with crime fiction elements was “The Hunchback’s Tale” story cycle which, unlike “The Three Apples”, was more of a suspenseful comedy and courtroom drama rather than a murder mystery or detective fiction. The story is set in a fictional China and begins with a hunchback, the emperor’s favourite comedian, being invited to dinner by a tailor couple. The hunchback accidentally chokes on his food from laughing too hard and the couple, fearful that the emperor will be furious, take his body to a Jewish doctor‘s clinic and leave him there. This leads to the next tale in the cycle, the “Tale of the Jewish Doctor”, where the doctor accidentally trips over the hunchback’s body, falls down the stairs with him, and finds him dead, leading him to believe that the fall had killed him. The doctor then dumps his body down a chimney, and this leads to yet another tale in the cycle, which continues with twelve tales in total, leading to all the people involved in this incident finding themselves in a courtroom, all making different claims over how the hunchback had died.[52] Crime fiction elements are also present near the end of “The Tale of Attaf” (see Foreshadowing above).
[edit] Horror fiction elements
Horror fiction elements are also found in “The City of Brass” tale, which revolves around a ghost town.[55]
The horrific nature of Scheherazade‘s situation is magnified in Stephen King‘s Misery, in which the protagonist is forced to write a novel to keep his captor from torturing and killing him. The influence of the Nights on modern horror fiction is certainly discernible in the work of H. P. Lovecraft. As a child, he was fascinated by the adventures recounted in the book, and he attributes some of his creations to his love of the 1001 Nights.[56]
[edit] Science fiction elements
Several stories within the One Thousand and One Nights feature early science fiction elements. One example is “The Adventures of Bulukiya”, where the protagonist Bulukiya’s quest for the herb of immortality leads him to explore the seas, journey to Paradise and to Hell, and travel across the cosmos to different worlds much larger than his own world, anticipating elements of galactic science fiction;[57] along the way, he encounters societies of djinns,[58] mermaids, talking serpents, talking trees, and other forms of life.[57] In “Abu al-Husn and His Slave-Girl Tawaddud”, the heroine Tawaddud gives an impromptu lecture on the mansions of the Moon, and the benevolent and sinister aspects of the planets.[59]In another 1001 Nights tale, “Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman”, the protagonist Abdullah the Fisherman gains the ability to breathe underwater and discovers an underwater submarine society that is portrayed as an inverted reflection of society on land, in that the underwater society follows a form of primitive communism where concepts like money and clothing do not exist. Other Arabian Nights tales also depict Amazon societies dominated by women, lost ancient technologies, advanced ancient civilizations that went astray, and catastrophes which overwhelmed them.[60] “The City of Brass” features a group of travellers on an archaeological expedition[61] across the Sahara to find an ancient lost city and attempt to recover a brass vessel that Solomon once used to trap a jinn,[62] and, along the way, encounter a mummified queen, petrified inhabitants,[63] life-like humanoid robots and automata, seductive marionettes dancing without strings,[64] and a brass horseman robot who directs the party towards the ancient city,[65] which has now become a ghost town.[55] “The Ebony Horse” features a flying mechanical horse controlled using keys that could fly into outer space and towards the Sun.[66] Some modern interpretations see this horse as a robot.[65] The titular ebony horse can fly the distance of one year in a single day, and is used as a vehicle by the Prince of Persia [disambiguation needed
], Qamar al-Aqmar, in his adventures across Persia, Arabia and Byzantium. This story appears to have influenced later European tales such as Adenes Le Roi‘s Cleomades and “The Squire’s Prologue and Tale” told in Geoffrey Chaucer‘s The Canterbury Tales.[67] “The City of Brass” and “The Ebony Horse” can be considered early examples of proto-science fiction.[68] The “Third Qalandar’s Tale” also features a robot in the form of an uncanny boatman.[65][edit] The Arabic poetry in One Thousand and One Nights
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The uses would include but are not limited to:
- Giving advice, warning, and solutions.
- Praising God, royalties and those in power.
- Pleading for mercy and forgiveness.
- Lamenting wrong decisions or bad luck.
- Providing riddles, laying questions, challenges.
- Criticizing elements of life, wondering.
- Expressing feelings to others or one’s self: happiness, sadness, anxiety, surprise, anger.
Transliteration:وَلَقـدْ نَدِمْـتُ عَلى تَفَرُّقِ شَمْــلِنا :: دَهْـرَاً وّفاضَ الدَّمْـعُ مِنْ أَجْفـاني
وَنَـذَرْتُ إِنْ عـادَ الزَّمـانُ يَلُمـُّـنا :: لا عُــدْتُ أَذْكُــرُ فُرْقًــةً بِلِســاني
هَجَــمَ السُّــرورُ عَلَــيَّ حَتَّـى أَنَّهُ :: مِـنْ فَــرَطِ مـا سَــرَّني أَبْكــــاني
يا عَيْـنُ صـارَ الدَّمْـعُ مِنْكِ سِجْيَةً :: تَبْكيــنَ مِـنْ فَـــرَحٍ وَأَحْزانـــــي
Translation:Wa-laqad nadimtu ‘alá tafaraqi thamlinā :: Dahran wa-fāḍa ad-dam‘u min ajfānī
Wa-nadhartu in ‘āda az-zamānu yalumanā :: la ‘udtu adhkuru furqatan bilisānī
Hajama as-sarūru ‘alayya ḥatá adhdhahu :: min faraṭi mā saranī ankānī
Yā ‘aynu ṣāra ad-dam‘u minki sijyatan :: tankīna min faraḥin wa-’aḥzānī
And I have regretted the separation of our companionship :: An eon, and tears flooded my eyes
And I’ve sworn if time brought us back together :: I’ll never utter any separation with my tongue
Joy conquered me to the point of :: which it made me happy that I cried
Oh eye, the tears out of you became a principle :: You cry out of joy and out of sadness
[edit] The Nights in world culture
Main article: List of works influenced by the 1001 Nights
The influence of the versions of The Nights on world literature is immense. Writers as diverse as Henry Fielding to Naguib Mahfouz have alluded to the collection by name in their own works. Other writers who have been influenced by the Nights include John Barth, Jorge Luis Borges, Salman Rushdie, Goethe, Walter Scott, Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Nodier, Flaubert, Marcel Schwob, Stendhal, Dumas, Gérard de Nerval, Gobineau, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Hofmannsthal, Conan Doyle, W. B. Yeats, H. G. Wells, Cavafy, Calvino, Georges Perec, H. P. Lovecraft, Marcel Proust, A. S. Byatt and Angela Carter.[71]Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. Part of its popularity may have sprung from the increasing historical and geographical knowledge, so that places of which little was known and so marvels were plausible had to be set further “long ago” or farther “far away”; this is a process that continues, and finally culminate in the fantasy world having little connection, if any, to actual times and places. Several elements from Arabian mythology and Persian mythology are now common in modern fantasy, such as genies, bahamuts, magic carpets, magic lamps, etc. When L. Frank Baum proposed writing a modern fairy tale that banished stereotypical elements, he included the genie as well as the dwarf and the fairy as stereotypes to go.[72]
[edit] In Arabic culture
[edit] Possible early influence on European literature
Although the first known translation into a European language only appeared in 1704, it is possible that the Nights began exerting its influence on Western culture much earlier. Christian writers in Medieval Spain translated many works from Arabic, mainly philosophy and mathematics, but also Arab fiction, as is evidenced by Juan Manuel‘s story collection El Conde Lucanor and Ramón Llull‘s The Book of Beasts.[76] Knowledge of the work, direct or indirect, apparently spread beyond Spain. Themes and motifs with parallels in the Nights are found in Chaucer‘s The Canterbury Tales (in The Squire’s Tale the hero travels on a flying brass horse) and Boccaccio‘s Decameron. Echoes in Giovanni Sercambi‘s Novelle and Ariosto‘s Orlando furioso suggest that the story of Shahriyar and Shahzaman was also known.[77] Evidence also appears to show that the stories had spread to the Balkans and a translation of the Nights into Romanian existed by the 17th century, itself based on a Greek version of the collection.[78][edit] Western literature from the 18th century onwards
The Nights was a favourite book of many British authors of the Romantic and Victorian eras. According to A. S. Byatt, “In British Romantic poetry the Arabian Nights stood for the wonderful against the mundane, the imaginative against the prosaically and reductively rational.” [84] In their autobiographical writings, both Coleridge and de Quincey refer to nightmares the book had caused them when young. Wordsworth and Tennyson also wrote about their childhood reading of the tales in their poetry.[85] Charles Dickens was another enthusiast and the atmosphere of the Nights pervades the opening of his last novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870).[86]
Several writers have attempted to add a thousand and second tale,[87] including Théophile Gautier (La mille deuxième nuit, 1842)[75] and Joseph Roth (Die Geschichte von der 1002. Nacht, 1939).[87] Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade” (1845). It depicts the eighth and final voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, along with the various mysteries Sinbad and his crew encounter; the anomalies are then described as footnotes to the story. While the king is uncertain—except in the case of the elephants carrying the world on the back of the turtle—that these mysteries are real, they are actual modern events that occurred in various places during, or before, Poe’s lifetime. The story ends with the king in such disgust at the tale Scheherazade has just woven, that he has her executed the very next day.
Modern authors influenced by the Nights include James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Jorge Luis Borges and John Barth.
[edit] Cinema
Stories from the Nights have been popular subjects for films, beginning with Georges Méliès‘s Le Palais des Mille et une nuits in 1905. The critic Robert Irwin singles out the two versions of The Thief of Baghdad (1924 version directed by Raoul Walsh; 1940 version produced by Alexander Korda) and Pier Paolo Pasolini‘s Il fiore delle Mille ed una notte (1974) as ranking “high among the masterpieces of world cinema.”[88]There is also a Japanese animated version of One Thousand and One Nights. Directed by Osamu Tezuka and Eichii Yamamoto, the imagery and psychedelic sounds reflect the period in which the full feature animation was produced. The piece is also considered for an adult audience given the erotic scenes between some of the characters.[89]
[edit] Music
The Nights has inspired many pieces of music :- François Adrien Boieldieu: Le calife de Bagdad (1800)
- Carl Maria von Weber: Abu Hassan (1811)
- Luigi Cherubini: Ali Baba (1833)
- Peter Cornelius: Der Barbier von Bagdad (1858)
- Ernest Reyer: La statue (1861)
- C. F. E. Horneman (1840–1906), Aladdin (overture), 1864
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov : Scheherazade Op. 35 (1888) [90]
- Henri Rabaud: Mârouf, savetier du Caire (1914)
- Carl Nielsen, Aladdin Suite (1918–1919)
- Fikret Amirov: Arabian Nights (Ballet, 1979)
- Ezequiel Viñao, La Noche de las Noches (1990)
- Carl Davis, Aladdin
[edit] Illustrators
Many artists have illustrated the Arabian nights, including : Pierre-Clément Marillier for Le Cabinet des Fées (1785–1789)Gustave Doré, Léon Carré (Granville, 1878 – Alger, 1942), Roger Blachon, Françoise Boudignon, André Dahan, Amato Soro, Albert Robida, Alcide Théophile Robaudi and Marcelino Truong; Vittorio Zecchin (Murano, 1878 – Murano, 1947) and Emanuele Luzzati; The German Morgan; Mohammed Râcim (Algiers, 1896 – Algiers 1975), Sani ol-Molk (1849–1856) and Emre Orhun.Famous illustrators for British editions include: Arthur Boyd Houghton, John Tenniel, John Everett Millais and George John Pinwell for Dalziel’s Illustrated Arabian Nights Entertainments, published in 1865; Walter Crane for Aladdin’s Picture Book (1876); Albert Letchford for the 1897 edition of Burton’s translation ; Edmund Dulac for Stories from the Arabian Nights (1907), Princess Badoura (1913) and Sindbad the Sailor & Other Tales from the Arabian Nights (1914). Others artists include John D. Batten, (Fairy Tales From The Arabian Nights, 1893), Kay Nielsen, Eric Fraser, Errol le Cain, Maxfield Parrish and W. Heath Robinson.[91]
[edit] See also
 | Book: One Thousand and One Nights |
| Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. | |
- Arabic literature
- Hamzanama
- List of One Thousand and One Nights characters
- List of stories from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (translation by R. F. Burton)
- List of works influenced by the 1001 Nights
- Persian literature
- Shahnameh
-
One Thousand and One Nights book.
[edit] Notes
- ^ See illustration of title page of Grub St Edition in Yamanaka and Nishio (p. 225)
- ^ Marzolph (2007), Arabian Nights, I, Leiden: Brill.
- ^ There is scholarly confusion over the exact form and original meaning of Scheherazade’s name, see the note in Scheherazade’s own Wiki article on this point
- ^ John Payne, Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp and Other Stories, (London 1901) gives details of Galland’s encounter with ‘Hanna’ in 1709 and of the discovery in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris of two Arabic manuscripts containing Aladdin and two more of the ‘interpolated’ tales. Text of “Alaeddin and the enchanted lamp”
- ^ http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/arabian/bl-arabian-3sindbad.htm
- ^ Irwin p.48
- ^ a b Reynolds p.271
- ^ Burton, Richard F. (2002). Vikram and the Vampire Or Tales of Hindu Devilry pg xi. Adamant Media Corporation
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, p. 65, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ Pinault p.1
- ^ Pinault p.4
- ^ a b Irwin p.49
- ^ Irwin p.51: “It seems probable from all the above [...] that the Persian Hazār Afsaneh was translated into Arabic in the eighth or early ninth century and was given the title Alf Khurafa before being subsequently retitled Alf Layla. However, it remains far from clear what the connection is between this fragment of the early text and the Nights stories as they have survived in later and fuller manuscripts, nor how the Syrian manuscripts related to later Egyptian versions.”
- ^ Irwin p.51
- ^ Eva Sallis Scheherazade Through the Looking-Glass: The Metamorphosis of the Thousand and One Nights (Routledge, 1999), p.2 and note 6
- ^ Irwin p.76
- ^ a b Irwin p.50
- ^ a b Reynolds p.270
- ^ a b Beaumont, Daniel. Literary Style and Narrative Technique in the Arabian Nights. P.1. In The Arabian nights encyclopedia, Volume 1
- ^ a b Irwin, Robert. 2004. The Arabian nights: a companion. P.55
- ^ a b c Sallis, Eva. 1999. Sheherazade through the looking glass: the metamorphosis of the Thousand and One Nights. P.18-43
- ^ Pinault, David. Story-telling techniques in the Arabian nights. P.1-12. Also in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, v.1
- ^ a b c Sallis, Eva. 1999. Sheherazade through the looking glass: the metamorphosis of the Thousand and One Nights. P.4 and passim
- ^ a b c Marzolph, Ulrich and Richard van Leeuwen. 2004. The Arabian nights encyclopedia, Volume 1. P.506-508
- ^ Madeleine Dobie, 2009. Translation in the contact zone: Antoine Galland’s Mille et une nuits: contes arabes. P.37. In Makdisi, Saree and Felicity Nussbaum: “The Arabian Nights in Historical Context: Between East and West”
- ^ a b Irwin, Robert. 2004. The Arabian nights: a companion. P.1-9
- ^ Dwight Reynolds. “The Thousand and One Nights: A History of the Text and its Reception.” The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Arabic Literature in the Post-Classical Period. Cambridge UP, 2006.
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ “The Oriental Tale in England in the Eighteenth Century”, by Martha Pike Conant, Ph.D. Columbia University Press (1908)
- ^ Irwin pp.49-50
- ^ Ulrich Marzolph, The Arabian nights in transnational perspective, 2007, ISBN 9780814332870, p. 230.
- ^ a b Heath, Peter (May 1994), “Reviewed work(s): Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights by David Pinault”, International Journal of Middle East Studies (Cambridge University Press) 26 (2): 358–360 [359–60]
- ^ Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004), The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, pp. 3–4, ISBN 1576072045
- ^ Burton, Richard (September 2003), The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1, Project Gutenberg
- ^ a b c Heath, Peter (May 1994), “Reviewed work(s): Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights by David Pinault”, International Journal of Middle East Studies (Cambridge University Press) 26 (2): 358–360 [360]
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 200, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, pp. 198, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, pp. 199–200, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ Heath, Peter (May 1994), “Reviewed work(s): Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights by David Pinault”, International Journal of Middle East Studies (Cambridge University Press) 26 (2): 358–360 [359]
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, pp. 193–4, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 199, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ a b Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004), The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, p. 109, ISBN 1576072045
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 93, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004), The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, p. 4, ISBN 1576072045
- ^ Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004), The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, pp. 97–8, ISBN 1576072045
- ^ Yuriko Yamanaka, Tetsuo Nishio (2006), The Arabian Nights and Orientalism: Perspectives from East & West, I.B. Tauris, p. 81, ISBN 1850437688
- ^ Pinault, David (1992), Story-telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights, Brill Publishers, p. 59, ISBN 9004095306
- ^ Marzolph, Ulrich (2006), The Arabian Nights Reader, Wayne State University Press, pp. 240–2, ISBN 0814332595
- ^ Pinault, David (1992), Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights, Brill Publishers, pp. 93, 95, 97, ISBN 9004095306
- ^ Pinault, David (1992), Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights, Brill Publishers, pp. 91 & 93, ISBN 9004095306
- ^ Marzolph, Ulrich (2006), The Arabian Nights Reader, Wayne State University Press, p. 240, ISBN 0814332595
- ^ Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004), The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, pp. 2–4, ISBN 1576072045
- ^ Yuriko Yamanaka, Tetsuo Nishio (2006), The Arabian Nights and Orientalism: Perspectives from East & West, I.B. Tauris, p. 83, ISBN 1850437688
- ^ Al-Hakawati. “The Story of Gherib and his Brother Agib“. Thousand Nights and One Night. Retrieved October 2, 2008.
- ^ a b Hamori, Andras (1971), “An Allegory from the Arabian Nights: The City of Brass”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (Cambridge University Press) 34 (1): 9–19 [10], doi:10.1017/S0041977X00141540
- ^ Daniel Harms, John Wisdom Gonce, John Wisdom Gonce, III (2003), The Necronomicon Files: The Truth Behind Lovecraft’s Legend, Weiser, pp. 87–90, ISBN 1578632692, 9781578632695
- ^ a b Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 209, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 204, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 190, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, pp. 211–2, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ Hamori, Andras (1971), “An Allegory from the Arabian Nights: The City of Brass”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (Cambridge University Press) 34 (1): 9–19 [9], doi:10.1017/S0041977X00141540
- ^ Pinault, David (1992), Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights, Brill Publishers, pp. 148–9 & 217–9, ISBN 9004095306
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 213, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ Hamori, Andras (1971), “An Allegory from the Arabian Nights: The City of Brass”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (Cambridge University Press) 34 (1): 9–19 [12–3], doi:10.1017/S0041977X00141540
- ^ a b c Pinault, David (1992), Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights, Brill Publishers, pp. 10–1, ISBN 9004095306
- ^ Geraldine McCaughrean, Rosamund Fowler (1999), One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, Oxford University Press, pp. 247–51, ISBN 0192750135
- ^ Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004), The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, pp. 172–4, ISBN 1576072045
- ^ Academic Literature, Islam and Science Fiction
- ^ http://www.mythfolklore.net/1001nights/burton/kamar.htm
- ^ http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/arabian/bl-arabian-nuraldin.htm
- ^ Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 290, ISBN 1860649831
- ^ James Thurber, “The Wizard of Chitenango”, p 64 Fantasists on Fantasy edited by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski, ISBN 0-380-86553-X.
- ^ Reynolds p.272
- ^ Irwin pp.81-82
- ^ a b Encyclopaedia Iranica
- ^ Irwin pp.92-94
- ^ Irwin pp.96-99
- ^ Irwin pp.61-62
- ^ Irwin p.14
- ^ Reynolds pp.279-81
- ^ Irwin pp.238-241
- ^ Irwin p.242
- ^ Irwin pp.245-260
- ^ A. S. Byatt On Histories and Stories (Harvard University Press, 2001) p.167
- ^ Wordsworth in Book Five of The Prelude; Tennyson in his poem “Recollections of the Arabian Nights“. (Irwin, pp.266-69)
- ^ Irwin p.270
- ^ a b Byatt p.168
- ^ Irwin pp.291-292
- ^ www.thespinningimage.co.uk/cultfilms/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=4107
- ^ See Encyclopaedia Iranica (NB: Some of the dates provided there are wrong)
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/mar/12/arabian-nights-illustration
[edit] Sources
- Robert Irwin The Arabian Nights: A Companion (Tauris Parke, 2005)
- David Pinault Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights (Brill Publishers, 1992)
- Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf,The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia (2004)
- Ulrich Marzolph (ed.) The Arabian Nights Reader (Wayne State University Press, 2006)
- Dwight Reynolds, “A Thousand and One Nights: a history of the text and its reception” in The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature Vol 6. (CUP 2006)
- Eva Sallis Scheherazade Through the Looking-Glass: The Metamorphosis of the Thousand and One Nights (Routledge, 1999),
- Yamanaka, Yuriko and Nishio, Tetsuo (ed.) The Arabian Nights and Orientalism – Perspectives from East and West (I.B.Tauris, 2006) ISBN 1-85043-768-8
- Ch. Pellat, “Alf Layla Wa Layla” in Encyclopædia Iranica. Online Access June 2011 at [1]
[edit] Further reading
- In Arabian Nights: A search of Morocco through its stories and storytellers by Tahir Shah, Doubleday, 2008.
- The Islamic Context of The Thousand and One Nights by Muhsin J. al-Musawi, Columbia University Press, 2009.
- Nurse, Paul McMichael. Eastern Dreams: How the Arabian Nights Came to the World Viking Canada: 2010. General popular history of the 1001 Nights from its earliest days to the present.
[edit] External links
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arabian Nights |
 | Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: One Thousand and One Nights |
 | Arabic Wikisourcehas original text related to this article: |
[edit] Online translations
- The Thousand Nights and a Night in several classic translations, including unexpurgated version by Sir Richard Francis Burton, and John Payne translation, with additional material.
- Project Bartleby edition of Stories From One Thousand and One Nights, (Lane and Poole translation)
- Galland’s French translation (an edition from 1822)
[edit] Other
- Interview with Claudia Ott: A New Chapter in the History of Arab Literature
- Journal of the 1001 Nights – An online blog resource for new and developing news, scholarship and info on the 1001 (aka The Arabian) Nights and their many manifestations.
- Arabian Nights Six full-color plates of illustrations from the 1001 Nights which are in the public domain
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Iran heats up foreign policy talk on trail
February 20, 2012|Bryan Bender, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON – Foreign policy, mostly an afterthought in the presidential contest so far, is emerging as a focal point between President Obama and his Republican challengers – and no issue has more potential to be a game-changer than Iran’s development of a nuclear program, according to several specialists.
Tensions over Iran’s alleged efforts to develop a nuclear bomb are escalating, with the United States and Europe tightening sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and financial institutions and Iran, in turn, threatening to shut down the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. Intensifying fears are reports that Israel is considering launching a preemptive strike against Iran.
Tensions over Iran’s alleged efforts to develop a nuclear bomb are escalating, with the United States and Europe tightening sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and financial institutions and Iran, in turn, threatening to shut down the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. Intensifying fears are reports that Israel is considering launching a preemptive strike against Iran.
“Iran is one of the biggest wild cards in this election,’’ said Bill Schneider, a senior fellow and longtime political analyst at Third Way, a nonpartisan Washington think tank.
Obama has emphasized sanctions and negotiations to deter the Iranians from developing a nuclear weapon. His main GOP opponents assert that such an approach is bound to fail and the United States must be prepared to take military action – or at least support a unilateral strike by Israel on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Mitt Romney, stepping up his attacks on Obama’s handling of the issue, has described Iran as Obama’s greatest foreign policy failure. “He did not do what was necessary to get Iran to be dissuaded from their nuclear folly,’’ Romney said.
The former Massachusetts governor criticized the president first for seeking to engage Tehran’s leaders in negotiations and then for not more actively supporting protesters who took to the streets of Iran in 2009. Sanctions to isolate the nation’s leaders have been too slow and too ineffective, Romney said.
“Finally,’’ Romney said recently, “the president should have built a credible threat of military action and made it very clear that the United States of America is willing, in the final analysis, if necessary, to take military action to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon.’’
Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have gone so far as to advocate a US preemptive strike against Iran to halt its nuclear program, saying the current approach is little more than appeasement and imperils Americans.
“Remember what it felt like on 9/11 when 3,100 Americans were killed?’’ Gingrich said at a recent stop in Ohio. “Now imagine an attack where you add two zeros. And it’s 300,000 dead. Maybe a half million wounded. This is a real danger.’’
On the GOP primary campaign trail, attention to Iran and other foreign issues has been eclipsed by the economy. But recent bullish news on the job market could change that.
“If the news on the economic front looks good, the Republican candidate almost by definition has to bang the drum louder because the main issue has been taken away from him,’’ said James M. Lindsey, the director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Yet despite the harsh attacks on Obama’s handling of global affairs, several specialists said unique factors could neutralize some of the Republican arguments.
Traditionally, the GOP has positioned itself as the more hawkish of the two parties on national security and as better equipped to handle a complicated world than the Democrats.
But that argument could be offset by some of Obama’s own accomplishments, such as ordering the daring raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden last year and using American air power to help topple Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy.
Obama is preparing to make a case that he has been a good steward of American interests overseas and has helped to make the country safer.
In an interview with Time magazine last month, the president previewed his message on foreign policy, saying: “It’s going to be pretty hard to argue that we have not executed a strategy over the last three years that has put America in a stronger position that it was when I came into office.’’
He cited – in addition to the Iraq war’s end and bin Laden’s death – the rebuilding of international alliances that had frayed over some controversial US policies, such as the brutal treatment of detainees, since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“The Republican line of attack has been turned on its ear,’’ Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, said in an interview. “President Obama has been more aggressive that George W. Bush ever was in pursuing terrorists. It is one of the reasons the Republicans are casting about.’’
Even on Iran, some observers expressed doubt the eventual Republican nominee will be able to convince many voters that Obama’s approach has been weak.
“I don’t think they are going to get much mileage,’’ said Daniel Brumberg, a senior adviser at the nonpartisan US Institute for Peace in Washington. “Once bombing starts you don’t know how this ends. Is the American public interested in pursuing another war? I doubt it.’’
Another factor is the apparent resurgence of an isolationist wing of the GOP. “A rising percentage of Americans believe America should mind its own business,’’ said Lindsey, of the Council on Foreign Relations.
The isolationist strain is most prominently reflected by candidate Ron Paul, who has tapped into a deep wariness among Republicans and independent voters about the United States taking on more costly foreign entanglements.
Some of Romney’s harshest comments have decried the Obama administration’s plans to halt combat operations in Afghanistan by the middle of 2013 and withdraw all US troops by the end of 2014.
“His naivete is putting in jeopardy the mission of the United States of America and our commitments to freedom,’’ Romney said last week in Nevada.
Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich have also denounced the administration’s plans to rein in military spending – what they have all described as “hollowing out’’ the armed forces.
The cuts, totally $487 billion over the next 10 years, were mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011 – legislation approved by both parties in Congress to reduce the national debt.
When it comes to the challenge for voters, what is clear, according to James Carafano, a scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, is that the candidates in the general election will offer a clear contrast.
“There will be two very stark visions of national security and foreign policy,’’ he said. “It will seem like Venus and Mars.’’
Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com
Obama has emphasized sanctions and negotiations to deter the Iranians from developing a nuclear weapon. His main GOP opponents assert that such an approach is bound to fail and the United States must be prepared to take military action – or at least support a unilateral strike by Israel on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Mitt Romney, stepping up his attacks on Obama’s handling of the issue, has described Iran as Obama’s greatest foreign policy failure. “He did not do what was necessary to get Iran to be dissuaded from their nuclear folly,’’ Romney said.
The former Massachusetts governor criticized the president first for seeking to engage Tehran’s leaders in negotiations and then for not more actively supporting protesters who took to the streets of Iran in 2009. Sanctions to isolate the nation’s leaders have been too slow and too ineffective, Romney said.
“Finally,’’ Romney said recently, “the president should have built a credible threat of military action and made it very clear that the United States of America is willing, in the final analysis, if necessary, to take military action to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon.’’
Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have gone so far as to advocate a US preemptive strike against Iran to halt its nuclear program, saying the current approach is little more than appeasement and imperils Americans.
“Remember what it felt like on 9/11 when 3,100 Americans were killed?’’ Gingrich said at a recent stop in Ohio. “Now imagine an attack where you add two zeros. And it’s 300,000 dead. Maybe a half million wounded. This is a real danger.’’
On the GOP primary campaign trail, attention to Iran and other foreign issues has been eclipsed by the economy. But recent bullish news on the job market could change that.
“If the news on the economic front looks good, the Republican candidate almost by definition has to bang the drum louder because the main issue has been taken away from him,’’ said James M. Lindsey, the director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Yet despite the harsh attacks on Obama’s handling of global affairs, several specialists said unique factors could neutralize some of the Republican arguments.
Traditionally, the GOP has positioned itself as the more hawkish of the two parties on national security and as better equipped to handle a complicated world than the Democrats.
Obama is preparing to make a case that he has been a good steward of American interests overseas and has helped to make the country safer.
In an interview with Time magazine last month, the president previewed his message on foreign policy, saying: “It’s going to be pretty hard to argue that we have not executed a strategy over the last three years that has put America in a stronger position that it was when I came into office.’’
He cited – in addition to the Iraq war’s end and bin Laden’s death – the rebuilding of international alliances that had frayed over some controversial US policies, such as the brutal treatment of detainees, since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“The Republican line of attack has been turned on its ear,’’ Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, said in an interview. “President Obama has been more aggressive that George W. Bush ever was in pursuing terrorists. It is one of the reasons the Republicans are casting about.’’
Even on Iran, some observers expressed doubt the eventual Republican nominee will be able to convince many voters that Obama’s approach has been weak.
“I don’t think they are going to get much mileage,’’ said Daniel Brumberg, a senior adviser at the nonpartisan US Institute for Peace in Washington. “Once bombing starts you don’t know how this ends. Is the American public interested in pursuing another war? I doubt it.’’
Another factor is the apparent resurgence of an isolationist wing of the GOP. “A rising percentage of Americans believe America should mind its own business,’’ said Lindsey, of the Council on Foreign Relations.
The isolationist strain is most prominently reflected by candidate Ron Paul, who has tapped into a deep wariness among Republicans and independent voters about the United States taking on more costly foreign entanglements.
Some of Romney’s harshest comments have decried the Obama administration’s plans to halt combat operations in Afghanistan by the middle of 2013 and withdraw all US troops by the end of 2014.
“His naivete is putting in jeopardy the mission of the United States of America and our commitments to freedom,’’ Romney said last week in Nevada.
Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich have also denounced the administration’s plans to rein in military spending – what they have all described as “hollowing out’’ the armed forces.
The cuts, totally $487 billion over the next 10 years, were mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011 – legislation approved by both parties in Congress to reduce the national debt.When it comes to the challenge for voters, what is clear, according to James Carafano, a scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, is that the candidates in the general election will offer a clear contrast.
“There will be two very stark visions of national security and foreign policy,’’ he said. “It will seem like Venus and Mars.’’
Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com
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Of States and Statesmanship: Sid Harth – soc.culture.iranian …
groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/…/843cea7792ab9aeeFeb 4, 2010 – Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian.marathi, soc.culture.pakistan, soc.culture.iraq, soc.culture.iranian, soc.culture.bangladesh. From: Sid Harth …
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News, Views and Reviews: Sid Harth
cogitoergosumsite.net/You want to blame Iran for what she is ready, not yet ready, absolutely not ready as per Nuland woman’s blandishments, … …and I am Sid Harth@arabuhuru.org …
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Wassup? Doc!: Sid Harth
www.cogitoergosumsite.com/5 days ago – News, Views and Reviews: Sid Harth … After a disruption of access in Iran to Google’s e-mail services and other international Web sites starting …
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Sid Harth Sid Harth
www.sidharthsidharth.com/It supports the Obama administration views of Iran’s offer. If Iran wants to talk, why is Nuland … …and I am Sid Harth@arabuhuru.org. Recommend. ReplyReport …
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Corruption: Sid Harth
www.cogitoergosumcenter.com/groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/…/2b7c200a964c356e. Feb 16, 2010 – Subject: Re: Bade Mian Subhanallah: Sid Harth. Print | View thread | Show …
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navanavonmilita.newsvine.com – Sid Harth
navanavonmilita.newsvine.com/… as good, perhaps better in drones. Israel, Iran’s arch enemy, endorses, at least this development. … Sid Harth is not offering any recommendations at this time.
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Screw Iran, Screw you Europe « Sid Harth Sid Harth
www.sidharthsidharth.com/?p=2000Jan 29, 2012 – Cogito Ergo Sum I think, Therefore, I am Sid Harth … The world is not coming to an end if and when Iran begets a little, harmless atom bomb.
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News, Views and Reviews: Sid Harth
onlinecogitoergosum.net/We will continue to deepen Iran’s isolation, regionally and globally.” And a recent report … …and I am Sid Harth@arabuhuru.org. Real-time updating is enabled.
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News, Views and Reviews: Sid Harth
sidileak.us/News, Views and Reviews: Sid Harth … The U.S. and its partner Israel welcomed it as “a major setback for Iran’s most advanced long-range programme”.
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My Sister Eileen
www.cogitoergosumdesign.com/Posting as Sid Harth (Change) Post to Facebook Sid Harth My dear Jonathan Moore, … Iran is being attacked in every respect, except a direct (military) invasion.
…and I am Sid Harth@sidileak.com
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