Arabian Nights
(كتاب ألف ليلة و ليلة )
COMMENTS: First of all, this book has been translated many times over the past two centuries. The quiz will be asking questions based ONLY on the translation assigned for class. There is a considerable amount of misinformation on the internet so the safest bet is to simply read the book. I will be using the titles and definitions (often in the footnotes) given in the book for the quiz.
GENERAL TERMS: Names, places, and other terms you should know for the quiz:
Abbasid |
Nur al-Din Ali al-Misri Sasanid Shahrayar Shahrazad Shahzaman Shams al-Din Muhammad Sit al-Husn Umayyad Mosque Yemen Zorastrianism |
Arabian Nights Discussion Essay Questions: Themes and questions you should have thought about and be able to discuss in your discussion sections on Friday:
1. The Arabian Nights on many levels contradicts our own modern
conceptions of Islamic society as socially and politically conservative. Using several specific examples from the book describe the cultural,
economic, social or religious ideals of the Islamic World in
the 10th-14th century.
2. What role do women play in the Arabian Nights? In what way(s) do
gender relations constitute one of the basic themes holding the entire work
together?
3. Some people speak of a “high” (erudite) and “low” (popular) types of literature. Within the framework of Arab/Islamic literature
this discussion is framed within the idea of
adab – that cherished
category of a refined highly intellectual literary product. One of the key
objectives of adab literature was to entertain but to be instructive at
the same time. In what ways do you see the Arabian Nights as part
of (or at least aware of) this tradition, and which ways is it flaunting
this tradition?
4. The sheer range of
topics addressed in the Arabian Nights is astonishingly broad: historical
tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, and Muslim religious
legends. Yet, despite this breadth several common moral messages
emerge. Selecting examples from at least two (2) different stories
describe what you perceive as a key concept the stories imparted.
5. Offer an overview of the type of rulers described in the tales? Select one you feel most typifies an Islamic ruler and explain why?