The "Arabian Nights" Reader

"The Arabian Nights" commands a place in world literature unrivaled by any other fictional work of "Oriental" provenance. This is a guide to the research inspired by this intricate work. Through a selection of 16 essays, it encompasses various research topics, from the "Nights'" early history to interpretations of such characters as Sheherazade.

This volume's topics reflect the makings of a transnational narrative: evidence of a ninth-century version of the "Nights", the work's circulation among booksellers in twelfth-century Cairo, the establishment of a "canonical" text, the sources used by the French translator who introduced the "Nights" to the West and the dating of this French translation, the influence of Greek literature on the "Nights", the genre of romance, the relationship between narration and survival within the plots, reception of the "Nights" from the nineteenth century onward, interpretations of single stories from the collection, the universal nature of the sexual politics surrounding Sheherazade, and the repercussion of the "Nights" in modern Arabic literature. As this collection demonstrates, the "Arabian Nights" helped shape Western perceptions of the "Orient" as the quintessential "Other" while serving to inspire Western creativity. The research presented here not only deepens our insight into this great work, but also heightens our awareness of the powerful communal forces of transnational narrative.