Browse Hierarchy ESH296: The Thousand and One Nights

The Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights, has acquired the status of a classic of World Literature. Its contents ¿ the stories told by Shahrazad to King Shahriyar in order to postpone her execution -- have become a staple of Disney adaptations and pantomime, and have engendered numerous retellings. Yet the earliest known collection of The Thousand and One Nights, dating from the fourteenth or fifteenth century, is a text of many surprises. There is no Sinbad, Aladdin, or Ali Baba; but there are many djinn (demons), seemingly endless stories within stories, and challenging representations of sexuality and race. Reading the text in English translation, we will explore the cultures of the medieval Arabo-Islamic world evoked by the Nights, as well as the colonial and orientalist contexts that have determined the work¿s modern reception.