Eastern Dreams by Paul Nurse Read Free Book Online

concerning
Alf Laila wa Laila
found in medieval references: two in the tenth century, a third in the twelfth and the last in the fifteenth century. Still, the work was sufficiently popular to survive for many centuries in the Muslim world. As well as being part of the
rawi
’s stock in trade, stories from
Alf Laila wa Laila
are known to have been read by literate court ladies in Baghdad and Cairo throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although even this appears to have been frowned on as a frivolous activity.
    Why? Why did a work possessing such tremendous longevity, as well as the ability to transcend cultures, merit so littleattention from the literate in the society from which it sprung? Part of the answer lies in simple snobbishness. As “coffee house” entertainments meant to please,
Alf Laila wa Laila
stories were considered beneath notice by earnest-minded Muslims. Regarded as something lowbrow for the masses, they belonged to the vulgar tradition of oral narrative entertainment, and on that account were deemed unworthy of educated individuals. In part, this was due to the
Koran
’s assertion that fictional narrative represents a form of falsehood, a kind of lying; for that reason, the
Nights
and stories in general were held as inferior to works designed specifically to instruct. This attitude prevailed even though, as folklorist Jack Zipes points out, for all their pleasurable aspects, the core
Nights
tales are primarily lessons—lessons in history, religion, etiquette, sex, duty, government or human frailty, enlightening listeners or readers with a kind of rough education about their society and social obligations. A continuing theme of many
Nights
stories is that problems have ultimate solutions that can be found by employing one’s courage and wit to unravel a predicament, making
Alf Laila wa Laila
as much a repository of instructive wisdom as any “serious” Muslim literary work.
    To be sure, there are problems in assigning strict class distinctions to Arabic literature, if for no other reason than literacy itself was not held in the same esteem as it was in Europe. Tradition holds that the Prophet Muhammad was himself illiterate, and the
Hadith
(traditional sayings and doings of the Prophet and his companions, the
Sahaba
) were commonly transmitted orally from teacher to students. Even in the realm of the printed word, prose literature was never accorded the same regard in Muslim culture as poetry, considered the highest form of literary expression.
    It is also true that
Alf Laila wa Laila
was never regarded as literature of the highest order because of the work’s perceived coarseness. A singular feature of the
Arabian Nights
is that many ofits tales are set among society’s lower reaches. While most classical Arabic literature focuses on the wealthy and well positioned, the
Nights
is set among the entire strata of Muslim society, high and low. A great part of the work’s original popularity was based on this lopsided regard, as well as its frequent criticism of authority. Wastrels, woodcutters, tailors, merchants and other commoners are often heroes in
The Thousand and One Nights
, their adventures fulfilling the fantasies and hopes of the working classes, who listened to the
rawi
tell of people just like themselves, except that their lives are enlarged by circumstance and fate. Along with its inelegant mixture of classical and vernacular Arabic, the mass appeal of the
Nights
was a prime reason why educated Muslims scoffed at its tales as crass popular entertainment, something unrepresentative of higher culture.
    This sense of coarseness extends to some of the book’s subject matter. There can hardly be many classical works that by necessity have been as “edited down” for younger readers as
The Thousand and One Nights
. A great number of versions, especially those found in the West, have been expurgated of material thought likely to be seen