Yahya M. Michot THE ARABIAN NIGHTS (RS-633) - Hartford Seminary
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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS (RS-633)
Yahya M. Michot
Hartford Seminary, Summer course 2020
This course explores from several perspectives the world famous collection of Arabian tales
developed within the Muslim Middle East since the ninth century and introduced into Europe in
1704 by the French Antoine Galland. The origins of the Nights corpus, the historical, cultural and
interreligious contexts in which it evolved, its manuscripts and editions, the key figures of its
passage to the West, its major English translations and their challenges, the literary, artistic and
other socio-cultural developments it triggered, in Islam, in Europe and in the US, will be among
the topics covered. Read in Arabic and/or English, a number of the core tales will be discussed.
Great benefit will be drawn from the scholarship of Hartford Seminary’s former professor D. B.
Macdonald (d. 1943) and from his Nights collection preserved in the Seminary’s library. While
being accessible to the general public, the course should be of particular interest to students of
Islamic studies (history, societies and, even, religion) as well as to professionals of pastoral care.
Isn’t indeed the whole matter about healing a serial killer of women by telling him more and
more amazing stories?
Class will meet during 9 days: from Tuesday May 26 to Friday June 5 2020, 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Each of
these classes will have two parts: A) Lecture; B) Discussion of the required readings. The teacher can
be contacted at ymichot@hartsem.edu.
Course Objectives
1) Students should be able to find their way around in the major reference works on, and versions of,
the Arabian Nights.
2) In relation to selected stories read in the Arabic text and various English versions, students will be
introduced to translation with its challenges: philological, socio-cultural, religious.
3) Students are expected to gain an acquaintance with the ways the Arabian Nights corpus developed, the historical and cultural contexts in which it evolved, the key figures of its passage to the West, the literary, artistic and other socio-cultural phenomena it crystallized into, in Islam and in the West. 4) They should be able to benefit from the methodological approach adopted in these classes and apply it for their own studies and/or research projects. Seminary Learning Outcomes To demonstrate the ability to relate theory and practice in the social contexts in which a religion’s communities exist (MARS 5). Competence to teach this area in religious communities and academia (PhD 3). Course Requirements 1) It is somehow recommended (but not at all pre-required) that the student arrive at the first class already able to read Arabic. A general knowledge about the religion of Islam, as well as about the history and geography of Muslim peoples would also be useful. They should already have read some of the Arabian Nights tales, especially those included in the required readings. They should also be able to find their way around in the major reference tools for Islamic Studies (Encyclopaedia of Islam, Index Islamicus…). 2) Daily preparations and readings (THE ASSIGNMENTS ARE ESSENTIAL), class participation, final presentation and paper. 3) Attendance in class is required. If you know that you will be unable to attend a class please inform the professor in advance. Missing two classes will result in an automatic lowering of your final grade by 30%. Missing three or more classes will result in automatic failure of the course. 4) PhD students are moreover expected to read a book concerning the Nights chosen in consultation with the professor from the general references listed in this syllabus and to use it in their final paper. The final grade will be based upon the following: 1) Active class participation (50%). 2) The presentations during Class IX (June 5). Each student, or group of students, will be responsible for the oral presentation and discussion of a topic related to the Arabian Nights. This oral presentation (30%) will be based on an original written research paper (8 pages maximum, 20%. For PhD students, 15 pages), to be submitted to the teacher, and circulated on paper in the class, before the presentation. The topic should be chosen by the end of class IV in consultation with the professor. * All written work is to conform to the seminary writing guidelines, which can be found online at: https://www.hartsem.edu/wp-content/uploads/Guidelines-for-Writing-A-Research-Paper2.pdf. It must use the transliteration system given in class I. It must be run through a grammar and spell-check program or read by the writing tutor if necessary before submission. The Hartford Seminary Grading Guidelines will be the standard of evaluation for work in the course. IMPORTANT: Plagiarism, the failure to give proper credit for the words and ideas of another person, whether published or unpublished, is strictly prohibited. All written material submitted by students must be their own original work; where the words and ideas of others are used they must be acknowledged. Credit will not be given for work containing plagiarism, and plagiarism will lead to failure of the course. General references ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ISLAM (EI2), INDEX ISLAMICUS… ENDRESS, Gerhard, Islam: An Historical Introduction. Translated by Carole HILLENBRAND (Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 2002 –
2d ed.), viii & 301 p., ISBN 0-‐7486-‐1620-‐9.
RUTHVEN, Malise, with Azim NANJI, Historical Atlas of the Islamic World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 208 p.,
0-‐19-‐860997-‐3.
HEWER, Christopher, Understanding Islam: The first ten steps (London: SCM Press, 2006), xi & 244 p. 0334-04032-9.
MACDONALD, Duncan Black, Alf laila wa-laila, in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Supplement (Leiden: E. J. Brill - London:
Luzac & Co, 1938), p. 17-21.
LITTMANN, E., Alf layla wa-layla, in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Vol. I (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1986), p. 358-
364.
MARZOLPH, Ulrich (ed.), The Arabian Nights Reader (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2006), xvi & 373 p., 0-8143-
3259-5.
—, Arabian Nights, in Encyclopaedia of Islam Three (Leiden - Boston: Brill, 2007-1), p. 137-145.
—, (ed.), The Arabian Nights in Transnational Perspective (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2007), xvi & 362 p.,
978-0-8143-3287-0.
MARZOLPH, Ulrich & VAN LEEUWEN, Richard, The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia. With the collaboration of Hassan
WASSOUF. With fourteen introductory essays by internationally renowned specialists, 2 vols. (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO,
2004), xxvii & 921 p., 1-57607-204-5.
IRWIN, Robert, The Arabian Nights: A Companion (London: Penguin Books, 1994), 344 p., 0-14-009863-1.
—, Visions of the Jinn: Illustrations of the Arabian Nights (London: The Arcadian Library - Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2010), 256 p., 978-0-19-959035-3.
MENGES, Jeff A. (ed.), Arabian Nights Illustrated. Art of Dulac, Folkard, Parrish and Others (Mineola: Dover Publications,
2008), xiv & 128 p., 978-0-486-46522-7.
JOYARD, Élodie, & BOUFFARD, Anne-Alexandra (eds), Les mille et une nuits (Paris: Hazan - Institut du Monde Arabe,
2012), 400 p., 978-2-7541-0654-2.
MAKDISI, Saree & NUSSBAUM, Felicity (eds), The Arabian Nights in Historical Context. Between East and West (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2008), xiii & 337 p., 978-0-19-955415-7.
GERHARDT, Mia I., The Art of Story-telling. A Literary Study of the Thousand and One Nights (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1963), xi
& 500 p.
PINAULT, David, Story-telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992), xi & 262 p., 90-04-09530-6.
KILITO, Abdelfattah, L’œil et l’aiguille. Essais sur “les mille et une nuits” (Paris: La Découverte, “Islam et société,” 1992),
126 p., 2-7071-2138-X.
WARNER, Marina, Stranger Magic. Charmed States & the Arabian Nights (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 2013), xx & 540 p., 978-0-674-75585-0.
BEAUMONT, Daniel, Slave of Desire. Sex, Love, and Death in The 1001 Nights (Madison - Teaneck: Fairleigh Dickinson
University Press - London: Associated University Presses, 2002), 190 p., 0-8386-3874-0.
CHRISTMAN, Henry M., Gay Tales and Verses from the Arabian Nights. Edited and with an introduction (Austin: Banned
Books, 1989), 100 p., 0-934411-27-1.
BRASEY, Édouard, Les sept portes des Mille et Une Nuits (Paris: Éditions du Chêne - Hachette, 2003), 184 p., 2842774655.
DEHOÏ, Enver F., L’érotisme des “Mille et Une Nuits” (Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvert, « Bibliothèque internationale
d’érotologie », 1961), 231 p.
EL-SHAMY, Hasan M., A Motif Index of The Thousand and One Nights (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University
Press, 2006), X & 679 p., 978-0-253-34834-0.
ELISSEEFF, Nikita, Thèmes et motifs des Mille et Une Nuits. Essai de classification (Beirut: Institut français de Damas,
1949), 244 p.
HEINRICHS, Wolfhart, Modes of Existence of the Poetry in the Arabian Nights, in Maurice A. POMERANTZ & Aram A.
SHAHIN (eds.), The Heritage of Arabo-Islamic Learning. Studies Presented to Wadad Kadi (Leiden - Boston: Brill,
“Islamic History and Civilization, 122,” 2016), xlii & 654 p., 978-90-04-30590-8, p. 528-538.
SAL’E, M. A., Kniga tuisyachi i odnoi nochi, 2 vols. (Leningrad: Academia, 1929-1930), lxiv & 574 & 637 p.
Web ressources
http://wwwuser.gwdg.de/~umarzol/arabiannights-a.html — An Arabian Nights Bibliography, by U. MARZSOLPH.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Thousand-and-One-Nights
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Thousand_and_One_Nights
http://journalofthenights.blogspot.com/2009/05/current-arabic-versions-of-nights.html
http://expositions.bnf.fr/1001nuits/arret/papl.htmCLASS SCHEDULE
Class I. Tuesday May 26, 2020. INTRODUCTION
Topics: Macdonald, Galland & Hanna Diyab. Indian origin of the frame story. The 101 Nights. Tales
of the Marvellous.
General references:
MACDONALD, Duncan B., A Bibliographical and Literary Study of the First Appearance of the Arabian Nights in
Europe, in Library Quarterly 2 (1932), p. 387-420.
ANONYMOUS, The Story of the Arabian Nights. How the Wonderful Tales were Told, Translated, and made Known to the
Nations of the World, in The Mentor, 10/2 (Springfield, Ohio: Crowell Publishing Company, March 1922), p. 13-18 &
23-28.
CHAUVIN, Victor, Bibliographie des ouvrages arabes ou relatifs aux Arabes publiés dans l’Europe chrétienne de 1810 à
1885, 12 vols (Liège: H. Vaillant-Carmanne, 1892-1922). Especially vol. IV-VII. Les Mille et une nuits (1900-1903),
228 p., XII & 297 p., 204 p., 192 p.; vol. VIII. Syntipas (1904), 219 p.; vol. IX (1905), Varia, 136 p.
MAHDI, Muhsin, The Thousand and One Nights (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995), vii & 277 p., 90-0410204-3. — P. 11-86.
MARZOLPH, U., Re-locating the Arabian Nights, in Orientalia Lovanensia Analecta 87 (1998), p. 155-163.
ABDEL-HALIM, Mohamed, Antoine Galland, sa vie et son œuvre (Paris: A.G. Nizet, 1964).
BAUDEN, Frédéric, Nouveaux Éclaircissements sur la vie et l’œuvre d’Antoine Galland (1646−1715), in Journal
Asiatique, 289 (2001), p. 1-66.
DOBIE, Madeleine, Translation in the Contact Zone: Antoine Galland’s Mille et une nuits: contes arabes, in Saree
MAKDISI & Felicity NUSSBAUM (eds.), The Arabian Nights in Historical Context. Between East and West…, p. 25-49.
BODINE, J. Jermain, Magic Carpet to Islam: Duncan Black Macdonald and the Arabian Nights, in The Muslim World,
67 (1977), p. 1-10.
BROCKWAY, Duncan, The Macdonald Collection of Arabian Nights: A Bibliography, in The Muslim World
(1971−1974), 61, p. 256-266; 63, p. 185-201; 64, p. 16-32.
COSQUIN, Emmanuel, Le prologue-cadre des Mille et Une Nuits, les légendes perses et le Livre d’Esther, in Revue
biblique, VI (Paris: Librairie Victor Lecoffre, 1909), p. 7-49, 161-197.
PRZYLUSKI, J., Le prologue-cadre des Mille et Une Nuits et le thème du svayamvara, contribution à l’histoire des contes
indiens, in Journal asiatique, July-Sept. 1924, p. 100-137.
BREMOND, Claude, Préhistoire de Schéhérazade, in Jean-Luc JOLY & Abdelfattah KILITO (eds.), Les Mille et Une Nuits.
Du texte au mythe. Actes du colloque international de littérature comparée. Rabat, les 30, 31 octobre et 1er novembre
2002 (Rabat: Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, 2005), 324 p., 9954-59-104-1, p. 19-42.
FUDGE, Bruce, A Hundred and One Nights. Edited and translated. Foreword by Robert IRWIN (New York: New York
University Press, 2016), xlvii & 402 p., 978-0-8147-4519-9.
ṬARSHŪNAH, Maḥmūd, Kitāb mi’at layla wa layla. Dirāsa wa taḥqīq (Lybia - Tunis: al-Dār al-‘Arabiyya li-l-Kitāb,
1979).
GAUDEFROY-DEMOMBYNES, M., Les Cent et Une Nuits traduites de l’Arabe (Paris: E. Guilmoto, [1911]), xv & 352 p.
LYONS, Malcolm C., Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange. Translated and with an Introduction by Robert
IRWIN (London: Penguin, “Penguin Classics,” 2014), xliii & 447 p., 978-0-241-29995-1.
LAHY-HOLLEBECQUE, Marie, Schéhérazade ou l’éducation d’un roi (Puiseaux: Pardès, « Destins de femmes », 1988),
195 p., 2-86714-028-5.
LAPIDUS, I. M., Muslim cities in the Later Middle Ages. Student edn. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
WIET, Gaston, Baghdad. Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate. Translated by Seymour FEILER (Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1971), vii & 184 p.
Reading assignments:
a. BOTTIGHEIMER, Ruth B., East Meets West: Hanna Diyab and the Thousand and One Nights, in Marvels and Tales,
vol. 28, No 2 (July 1, 2014), p. 302-324.
b. BURTON, Richard F., A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments, now entituled The Book
of the Thousand Nights and a Night, with Introduction, Explanatory Notes on the Manners and Customs of Moslem
Men and a Terminal Essay upon the History of the Nights, 10 + 7 vols (Tehran: The Burton Club, 1985-1986) — Vol.
I, p. 1-24: The Story of King Shahryar and his Brother.Class II. Wednesday May 27, 2020. THE ARABIC TEXTS
Topics: the oldest MS, the literary Arabic witnesses, the Arabic editions, including Mahdi
General references:
MACDONALD, D. B., Maximilian Habicht and His Recension of the Thousand and One Nights, in Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1909), p. 685-704.
—, Lost MSS. of the ‘Arabian Nights’ and a Projected Edition of That of Galland, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society of Great Britain and Ireland (Jan. 1911), p. 219-221.
—, A Preliminary Classification of Some MSS of the Arabian Nights, in T. W. ARNOLD & R. A. NICHOLSON (eds), A
Volume of Oriental Studies Presented to E. G. Browne on his 60th Birthday (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1922), p. 304-321.
ZOTENBERG, M. H., Notice sur quelques manuscrits des Mille et une Nuits et la traduction de Galland, in Notices et
extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale et autres bibliothèques, 28,1 (1887), p. 167-320.
CHAUVIN, Victor, La recension égyptienne des Mille et une Nuits (Brussels: Office de publicité - Société belge de
librairie, 1899), 123 p.
MAHDI, Muhsin, The Thousand and One Nights (Alf Layla wa-Layla) From the Earliest Known Sources. The Classic
Edition (1984-1994). Volume One: Introduction by Aboubakr CHRAÏBI, Arabic Text (Leiden - Boston: Brill, 2014), ix,
xii & 708 p. Volume Two: Critical Apparatus, Description of Manuscripts, Indexes, Errata by Ibrahim AKEL (Leiden -
Boston: Brill, 2014), viii, [4] & 410 p., 978-9004-25649-1.
—, The Thousand and One Nights (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995), vii & 277 p., 90-0410204-3. — P. 87-126.
ABBOTT, Nabia, A Ninth-Century Fragment of the “Thousand Nights”: New Light on the Early History of the Arabian
Nights, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 8 (1949), p. 129-164.
GOITEIN, Solomon D., The Oldest Documentary Evidence for the Title Alf Laila wa Laila, in MARZOLPH, Ulrich
(ed.), The Arabian Nights Reader, p. 83-86.
CHRAÏBI, Aboubakr, Les mille et une nuits. Histoire du texte et Classification des contes (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2008),
243 p., 978-2-296-05097-6. — P. 21-49.
—, Notes et commentaires sur l’édition des Mille et une nuits de M. Mahdi, in Studia Islamica, 72 (1990), p. 172-187.
—, Arabic Manuscripts of the Thousand and One Nights. Presentation and Critical Editions of Four Noteworthy Texts.
Observations on Some Osmanli Translations (Paris: Espaces&Signes, 2016), 576 p., 979-10-94176-11-5.
GARCIN, Jean-Claude, Pour une lecture historique des Mille et Une Nuits. Essai sur l’édition de Būlāq (1835) (Arles:
Sindbad - Actes Sud, « La bibliothèque arabe. Hommes et sociétés », 2013), 812 p., 978-2-330-01319-6.
PINAULT, David, Bûlâq, Macnaghten, and the New Leiden Edition Compared: Notes on Storytelling Technique from the
Thousand and One Nights, in Journal of Semitic Studies 32 (1987), p. 125-157.
LARZUL, Sylvette, Arab Receptions of the Arabian Nights: Between Contemptuous Dismissal and Recognition, in After
Orientalism: Critical Perspectives on Western Agency and Eastern Re-appropriations. Ed. by François POUILLON,
Jean-Claude VATIN (Leiden: Brill, 2015), p. 199-217.
GROTZFELD, Heinz, The Age of the Galland Manuscript of the Nights: Numismatic Evidence for Dating a Manuscript?,
in Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies I (1996-1997), p. 50-64.
POPPER, William. Data for Dating a Tale in the Thousand and One Nights, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
(1926), p. 1-14.
HOGENDIJK, Jan P., A New Look at the Barber’s Astrolabe in the Arabian Nights, in Arnoud VROLIJK & Jan P.
HOGENDIJK (eds), O ye Gentlemen. Arabic Studies on Science and Literary Culture. In Honour of Remke Kruk
(Leiden: Brill, 2007), p. 65-76.
HABICHT, Maximilian, Tausend und Eine Nacht. Arabisch Nach einer Handschrift aus Tunis Herausgegeben. Nach
seinem Tode fortgesetzt von H. L. FLEISCHER, 12 vols (Breslau: 1825-1843).
MACNAGHTEN, William H., The Alif Laila or Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Commonly known as “The
Arabian Nights’ Entertainments,” now, for the first time, published complete in the original Arabic, from an Egyptian
manuscript brought to India by the late Turner Macan, editor of the Shah-Nameh. Edited in four volumes (Calcutta:
W. Thacker and Co. St. Andrew’s Library - London: Wm. H. Allen and Co., 1839-1842).
AL-QĀḌĪ FATḤ MUḤAMMAD & MULĀ NŪR AL-DĪN B. JĪVĀKHĀN, Alf layla wa layla, 4 vols (Bombay: Maṭba‘ al-Ḥaydarī,
1300[/1883]).
ALF LAYLA WA LAYLA, 4 vols (Cairo: Sa‘īd ‘Alī al-Khuṣūṣī wa Awlādu-hu, 1935) — Reproduction of the Būlāq edition,
1280[/1863]).
ALF LAYLA WA LAYLA, 4 vols (Saida - Beirut: al-Dār al-namūdhājiyya li-l-Ṭibā‘a wa l-Nashr, 1434/2013).Reading assignments:
a. REYNOLDS, Dwight F., A Thousand and One Nights: A History of the Text and Its Reception, in Arabic Literature in
the Post-Classical Period. Ed. by Roger ALLEN and D. S. RICHARDS (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006),
p. 270-291. — P. 270-284.
b. STADE, George (ed.), The Arabian Nights. Illustrated. With an Introduction and Notes by Muhsin AL-MUSAWI (New
York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2007), xlvii & 680 p., 978-1-59308-281-9 (Based on H. W. DULKEN’s edition—
serialized between 1863 and 1865—of the English version of Antoine Galland’s French translation)— P. 462-471:
The Three Apples & The Lady who was murdered.
Class III. Thursday May 28, 2020. THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
Topics: Lane, Payne, Burton, Dawood, Haddawy, Lyons
General references:
LANE, Edward William, The Thousand and One Nights, Commonly called, in England, The Arabian Nights’
Entertainments. A new translation from the Arabic, with copious notes. Illustrated by many hundreds engravings on
wood from original designs by William BARBEY. A new edition, from a copy annotated by the translator, edited by his
nephew Edward STANLEY POOLE in three volumes. — Reproduction of the 1859 edition, 3 vols (London - Cairo: East-
West Publications - Livres de France, 1979), 555, 578, 703 p., 0-85692-042-8/043-6/044-4.
THOMPSON, Jason, Edward William Lane (1801-1876). The Life of the Pioneering Egyptologist and Orientalist (Cairo -
New York: The American University in Cairo Press, 2010), x & 747 p., 978-977-416-287-9.
AHMED, Leila, Edward W. Lane. A Study of His Life and Works and of British Ideas of the Middle East in the Nineteenth
Century (London: Longman, 1978).
ARATA, Stephen, On E. W. Lane’s Edition of the Arabian Nights Entertainments, 1838, p. 1-7. Internet:
http://www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=stephen-arata-on-e-w-lanes-edition-of-the-arabian-nights-
entertainments-1838.
PAYNE, John, The book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, 13 vols (London: 1901).
WRIGHT, Thomas, The Life of John Payne (London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd, 1919), 283 p.
BURTON, Richard F., A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments, now entituled The Book of
the Thousand Nights and a Night, with Introduction, Explanatory Notes on the Manners and Customs of Moslem Men
and a Terminal Essay upon the History of the Nights, 10 + 7 vols (Tehran: The Burton Club, 1985-1986).
WRIGHT, Thomas, The Life of Sir Richard Burton, 2 vols (London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd & Everett & Co., 1906), xxix +
283 p. & 291 + xxv p.
DOWNEY, Fairfax, Burton. Arabian Nights Adventurer (New York: Modern Age Books, Inc., 1938), iv & 155.
RICE, Edward, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton. The Secret Agent Who Made the Pilgrimage to Mecca, Discovered
the Kama Sutra, and brought the Arabian Nights to the West (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1990), xxii & 522
p., 0-684-19137-7.
WALLEN, John, The “Terminal essay” to Burton’s Arabian Nights: Tasting the Forbidden Fruit, in The Victorian, 2/2,
June 2014, 28 p.
SHIYAB, Said & LYNCH, Michael Stuart, Borgesian Rewriting: Burton’s Arabian Nights, in Translation Review 73
(Dallas, 2007), p. 23-29.
LEMOS HORTA, Paulo, The Collector of Worlds. Richard Burton, Cosmopolitan Translator of the Nights, in
Scheherazade’s Children. Global Encounters with the Arabian Nights. Ed. by Philip F. KENNEDY and Marina
WARNER (New York - London: New York University Press, 2013), p. 70-85.
DAWOOD, N. J., Tales from the Thousand and One Nights. Translated with an introduction. Engravings on wood from
original designs by William HARVEY (London: Penguin Books, 1954 – Reprint 1988), 407 p., 0-14-044289-8.
HADDAWY, Husain, The Arabian Nights. Translated. Based on the text of the Fourteenth-Century Syrian manuscript
edited by Muhsin MAHDI (London: David Campbell Publishers, “Everyman’s Library, 87,” 1992), xxx & 428 p., 1-
85715-087-2.
—, The Arabian Nights II: Sindbad and Other Popular Stories Translated (London: David Campbell Publishers,
“Everyman’s Library, 142,” 1995), xxii & 266 p., 1-85715-142-9.
BORGES, Jorge Luis, Los traductores de las 1001 Noches, in Historia de la eternidad (1936). On internet:
https://pacotraver.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/eternidad1.pdf, p. 36-47.
Web ressources
http://burtoniana.org/biography/index.html
https://archive.org/details/arabiannights01paynuoft/page/n6/mode/2up
https://royalasiaticsociety.org/edward-william-lane-1801-1876/Reading assignments:
a. KNIPP, C., The Arabian Nights in England: Galland’s Translation and Its Successors, in Journal of Arabic Literature
5 (1974), p. 44-54.
b1. STADE, George (ed.), The Arabian Nights. — P. 162-177: The Story Told by the Tailor.
OR
b2. LANE, Edward William, The Thousand and One Nights. — Vol. I, p. 142-150: The Story Told by the Tailor.
OR
b3. PAYNE, John, The book of the Thousand Nights and One Night. — Vol. I, p. 268-285: The Tailor’s Story.
OR
b4. BURTON, Richard F., A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments. — Vol. I, p. 300-317:
Tale of the Tailor.
OR
b5. HADDAWY, Husain, The Arabian Nights. — P. 249-266: The Tailor’s Tale.
Class IV. Friday May 29, 2020. THE MARDRUS PHENOMENON
Topics: Mardrus
General references:
MARDRUS, J. C., Le Livre des mille nuits et une nuit. Traduction littérale du texte arabe, 16 vols (Paris: Éditions de la
Revue Blanche - Charpentier & Fasquelle, 1899-1904).
MATHERS, Powys, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night. Rendered into English from the Literal and
Complete French Translation of Dr. J. C. MARDRUS, 4 vols (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1972), xi & 644 p., vi &
592 p., vi & 569 p., vii & 537 p.
CHAUVIN, Victor, Bibliographie des ouvrages arabes ou relatifs aux Arabes…, vol. IV, p. 108-110, 159-160; vol. VII, p.
95-96; vol. IX, p. 77-85.
JULIA, Émile-François, Les Mille et une Nuits et l’Enchanteur Mardrus (Paris: Société Française d’Éditions Littéraires et
Techniques, « Les grands événements littéraires », 1935), 329 p.
PAULVE, Dominique, CHESNAIS, Marion, Les mille et une nuits et les enchantements du docteur Mardrus. Préface de
Frédéric MITTERRAND (Paris: Éditions Norma, 2004), 128 p., 2-909283-91-7.
JULLIEN, Dominique, Une lecture esthétique des Nuits: Schéhérazade fin-de-siècle, in Les amoureux de Schéhérazade.
Variations modernes sur les Mille et Une Nuits (Genève: Droz, « Histoire des idées et critique littéraire, 450 », 2009),
219 p., 978-2-600-01253-9 – P. 71-119.
LARZUL, Sylvette, Les traductions françaises des Mille et Une Nuits. Étude des versions Galland, Trébutien et Mardrus,
précédée de Traditions, traductions, trahisons par Claude BREMOND (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1996), 238 p., 2-7384-4183-
1.
VITALI, Ilaria, Mille et Une Nuits sur Seine : l’influence de la traduction de Joseph-Charles Mardrus sur l’orientalisme
vestimentaire de la Belle Époque, in Meridian Critic No. 1 (vol. 24) (2015), p. 21-33.
YOUNES, Mona Saleh, La traduction française des Mille et une nuits par le Dr. J.C. Mardrus d’après son dossier de
presse : 1898-1904, in Merveilles & contes, vol. 4/1 (May 1990), p. 5-17.
Reading assignments:
a. VROLIJK, Arnoud, Orientalism à la parisienne. Dr Mardrus, Kees Van Dongen and the Thousand and One Nights, in
Arnoud VROLIJK & Jan P. HOGENDIJK (eds), O ye Gentlemen. Arabic Studies on Science and Literary Culture. In
Honour of Remke Kruk (Leiden: Brill, 2007), p. 377-390. — P. 377-383.
b. MATHERS, Powys, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night… Vol. I, p. 259-267: The Tale of Shakkāshik,
the Barber’s Sixth Brother.
Class V. Monday June 1, 2020. TWO TALES
Topics: A. The Tale of the Trader and the Jinni – reading the tales in Arabic. Link with Ibn Hanbal.
B. The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad – reading excerpts of the story in Arabic and
comparing English versions
General references:
CHRAÏBI, Aboubakr, Introduction, in Arabic Manuscripts of the Thousand and One Nights. Presentation and Critical
Editions of Four Noteworthy Texts. Observations on Some Osmanli Translations (Paris: Espaces&Signes, 2016),
576 p., 979-10-94176-11-5 – P. 15-64.
AL-ḤAMMĀL MA‘A L-BANĀT (Cairo: Maktabat al-Jandī, n.d.), 80 p.QIṢṢAT AL-ḤAMMĀL MA‘A L-SAB‘ BANĀT WA MĀ JARĀ LA-HUM MIN GHARĀ’IB AL-AḤWĀL (Cairo: Sa‘īd ‘Alī al-Khuṣūṣī,
1324[/1906]), 40 p.
MIQUEL, André, Les dames de Bagdad. Conte des Mille et une nuits. Présentation par Claude BREMOND. Notes et
variantes par André MIQUEL et Claude BREMOND. Suivi de La nébuleuse du conte. Essai sur les premiers contes de
Galland par Cl. BREMOND, A. CHRAÏBI, A. LARUE, M. SIRONVAL (Paris: Éditions Desjonquières, 1991), 156 p., 2-
904227-53-9.
HALFLANTS, Bruno, Le Conte du Portefaix et des Trois Jeunes Femmes dans le manuscrit de Galland (XIVe-XVe
siècles). Édition, traduction et étude du Moyen Arabe d’un conte des Mille et une nuits (Louvain-la-Neuve: Université
Catholique de Louvain, Institut Orientaliste – Louvain: Peeters, 2007), 490 p., 978-90-429-1874-0.
PERFETTI, Lisa, “No, this is not its name”: Anatomy of the Joke Women Teach Men in the Thousand and One Nights, in
L. PERFETTI, Women and Laughter in Medieval Comic Literature (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003), p.
203-237.
HAMORI, Andras, The Music of the Spheres: The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad, in A. HAMORI, On the Art of
Medieval Arabic Literature (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974), p. 177-195.
NADDAFF, Sandra, Arabesque. Narrative Structure and the Aesthetics of Repetition in the 1001 Nights (Evanston:
Northwestern University Press, 1991), x & 156 p., 0-8101-0990-5.
MOTTAHEDEH, Roy, ‘Ajā’ib in The Thousand and One Nights, in Richard G. HOVANNISIAN & Georges SABAGH (eds),
The Thousand and One Nights in Arabic literature and society. Introduction by Fedwa MALTI-DOUGLAS (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, “Giorgio Levi della Vida Conferences,” 1989), [viii] & 121 p., 0-521-573971 – P. 29-39.
BEAUMONT, Daniel, The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad, in Slave of Desire…, p. 129-136.
BREMOND, Claude, Chez trois dames de Bagdad, in BENCHEIKH, Jamel Eddine, BREMOND, Claude, MIQUEL, André,
Mille et un contes de la nuit (Paris: Gallimard - NRF, « Bibliothèque des Idées », 1991), 366 p., 2-07-072176-0 – P.
83-133.
GARCIN, Jean-Claude, Le conte du porteur et des trois dames de Bagdad, in Pour une lecture historique des Mille et
Une Nuits…, p. 62-70.
MALTAITE, Eric, The 1001 Nights of Scheherazade (New York: NBM, “Eurotica,” 2002), [55] p., 1-56163-321-6.
CLOT, A., Harun al-Rashid and the World of the Thousand and One Nights. Translated from the French by John Howe
(London: Saqi Books, 1989), 268 p., 0-86356-153-5.
Reading assignments:
a1. MACDONALD, D. B., The Earlier History of the Arabian Nights, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, July 1924,
p. 353-397. — P. 353-379.
OR
a2. GAUL, Anny, Shahrazad’s pharmacy: women’s bodies of knowledge in “The Tale of the Porter and the Three
Ladies”, in Middle Eastern Literatures, 19/2, p. 185-205.
b. LANE, E. W., The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, translated by E. W. LANE, New Edition (Boston: Little, Brown, &
Company, 1853). — Vol. 1, p. 10-19: The Story of the Merchant and the Genii.
c. MATHERS, P., The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night. Rendered into English from the Literal and Complete
French Translation of Dr. J. C. MARDRUS, 4 vols (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1972). — Vol. 1, p. 50-66: The Tale
of the Porter and the Young Girls.
Class VI. Tuesday June 2, 2020. THE NIGHTS FOR CHILDREN ?
Topics: Ali Baba, Aladdin, Sindbad
General references:
MACDONALD, D. B., “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” in Arabic from a Bodleian Ms., in Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society of Great Britain and Ireland (April 1910), p. 327-386.
—, Further Notes on ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and
Ireland (1913), p. 41-53.
CHRAÏBI, Aboubakr, Galland’s “Ali Baba” and Other Arabic Versions, in U. MARZOLPH (ed.), The Arabian Nights in
Transnational Perspective…, p. 3-15.
ZOTENBERG, H., Histoire d’‘Alâ al-Dîn ou La lampe merveilleuse. Texte arabe publié avec une notice sur quelques
manuscrits des Mille et une Nuits (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1888), 70 & 86 p.
DOUBET, Madame, Aladin et la lampe merveilleuse. Illustrations de J. WORMS (Baume-les-Dames: Éditions Mango,
« Au temps jadis », 1995), [16] p., 2-7404-0470-0. — First published around 1860.
KENNEDY, Kostya (ed.), Aladdin. The Origins and Journey of the World’s Most Magical Tale (New York: Meredith
Corporation, “Life Books, Vol. 19, No 14,” 2019), 96 p.OUYANG, Wen-Chin, Whose Story Is It? Sindbad the Sailor in literature and film, in New Perspectives on [the] Arabian
Nights: Ideological Variations and Narrative Horizons. Ed. by Wen-Chin OUYANG & Geert Jan VAN GELDER
(London - New York: Routledge, 2005), p. 1-15. Essay previously published in Middle Eastern Literature 7,2 (2004),
p. 133-147.
QIṢṢAT AL-SINDIBĀD AL-BAḤRĪ WA MĀ JARĀ LA-HU FĪ L-SAB‘ SAFARĀT (Cairo: al-Maktabat al-mulūkiyya, ± 1905?), 28 p.
HOURANI, George F., Arab Seafaring in the Indian Ocean in Ancient and Early Medieval Times. Revised and expanded
by John CARSWELL (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), xvii & 189 p., 0-691-00032-8.
VILLIERS, Alan, Sons of Sinbad. An Account of Sailing with the Arabs in their Dhows, in the Red Sea, around the Coasts
of Arabia, and to Zanzibar and Tanganyika: Pearling in the Persian Gulf: and the Life of the Shipmasters, the
Mariners and Merchants of Kuwait. Illustrated with Photographs and Charts by the author (New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1940), xv & 429 p.
ALI, Omar H., Islam in the Indian Ocean World. A Brief History with Documents (Boston – New York: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, “The Bedford Series in History and Culture,” xiv & 157 p., 978-1-4576-0977-0.
TIBBETTS, G. R., Arab Navigation in the Indian Ocean before the Coming of the Portuguese, being a translation of
Kitāb al-Fawā’id fī uṣūl al-baḥr wa l-qawā’id of Aḥmad b. Mājid al-Najdī, together with an introduction on the history
of Arab navigation, notes on the navigational techniques and on the topography of the Indian Ocean, and a glossary
of navigational terms. With maps and charts (London: The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland,
“Oriental Translation Fund, New Series, vol. XLII,” 1981), xxvi & 629 p., 978-11-387-4521-6.
AGIUS, Dionisius A., Seafaring in the Arabian Gulf and Oman. The People of the Dhow (New York – London:
Routledge, 2005), (xxiv) & 285 p., 0-7103-0939-2.
BARTH, John, The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1991), 573 p., 0-316-08251-
1.
Reading assignments:
a. ALDERSON, Brian, Scheherazade in the Nursery, in Peter L. CARACCIOLO (ed.), The Arabian Nights in English
Literature (New York: St. Martin’s, 1988), p. 81−94.
b. MANSOUR, Wisam, “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”: An Allusion to Abbasid Organised Crime, in Global Crime
9/1−2 (2008), p. 8-19.
c. HADDAWY, Husain, The Arabian Nights II: Sindbad and Other Popular Stories Translated. – P. 24-33: The Fourth
Voyage of Sindbad.
Class VII. Wednesday June 3, 2020. THE NIGHTS AND ISLAM
Topics: a prism to know Muslims, story-tellers, illustrations in Mss and editions, musique, fetwas,
Mernissi
General references:
MACDONALD, D. B., From the Arabian Nights to Spirit, in The Moslem World (1919), p. 336-348.
AL-MUSAWI, Muhsin J., The Islamic Context of the Thousand and One Nights (New York: Columbia University Press,
2009), X & 334 p., 978-0-231-14634-0.
PERHO, Irmeli, The Arabian Nights as a Source for Daily Life in the Mamluk Period, in Studia Orientalia 85 (Helsinki:
Finnish Oriental Society, 1999), p. 139-162.
REGOURD, Annick, La figure de l’astrologue dans les Mille et une Nuits, in Studia Islamica, 76 (1992), p. 137-150.
IRWIN, Robert, Political Thought in the Thousand and One Nights, in U. MARZOLPH (ed.), The Arabian Nights in
Transnational Perspective…, p. 103-115.
YAMANAKA, Yuriko, Alexander in the Thousand and One Nights and the Ghazālī Connection, in YAMANAKA, Yuriko,
& NISHIO, Tetsuo, The Arabian Nights and Orientalism. Perspectives from East & West (London - New York: Tauris,
2006), xvii & 269 p., 978-85043-768-8 – P. 93-115.
TALMON, A., Tawaddud – The Story of a Majlis, in H. LAZARUS-YAFEH, M. R. COHEN, S. SOMEKH, S. H. GRIFFITH
(eds), The Majlis. Interreligious Encounters in Medieval Islam (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, “Studies in Arabic
Language and Literature, 4,” 1999), p. 120-127.
BONEBAKKER, Seeger A., Nihil obstat in storytelling?, in Richard G. HOVANNISIAN & Georges SABAGH (eds), The
Thousand and One Nights in Arabic literature and society…, p. 56-77.
SABOURI, Hossein & KARIMZADEH, Abdollah, The Orientalist Readings of The Arabian Nights, in Ferdowsi Review, I,4,
(Mashhad, Fall 2011), p. 123-132.
MAḤFŪẒ, Najīb, Layālī alf layla (Cairo, Maktabat Miṣr, 1979), 271 p.
MERNISSI, Fatema, Scheherazade Goes West. Different Cultures, Different Harems (New York: Washington Square
Press, 2001), ix & 228 p., 0-7434-1242-7.Reading assignments:
a. MATAR, Nabil, Christians in The Arabian Nights, in MAKDISI, Saree & NUSSBAUM, Felicity (eds), The Arabian
Nights in Historical Context. Between East and West…, p. 131-151.
b. PAYNE, John, The book of the Thousand Nights and One Night. — Vol. IV, p. 324-351: Aboulhusn and his slave-girl
Taweddud.
Class VIII. Thursday June 4, 2020. THE NIGHTS, EAST & WEST
Topics: Turqueries & Belle époque, illustrated editions & comics, musique, films
General references:
NANCE, Susan, How the Arabian Nights Inspired the American Dream, 1790-1935 (Chapel Hill: The University of
North Carolina Press, 2009), xiii & 344 p., 978-14696-1495-3.
EDWARDS, Holly, A Million and One Nights: Orientalism in America, 1870-1930, in H. EDWARDS (ed.), Noble Dreams,
Wicked Pleasures: Orientalism in America, 1870-1930 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), p. 11-57.
LOPEZ, Antonio, Tales from the Thousand and One Nights (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, Publishers, 1985), 144
p., 0-941434-73-7.
YAMANAKA, Yuriko, & NISHIO, Tetsuo, The Arabian Nights and Orientalism. Perspectives from East & West (London -
New York: Tauris, 2006), xvii & 269 p., 978-85043-768-8.
AL-TAEE, Nasser, Under the Spell of Magic: The Oriental Tale in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade, in MAKDISI, Saree
& NUSSBAUM, Felicity (eds), The Arabian Nights in Historical Context. Between East and West…, p. 265-295.
OUYANG, Wen-Chin, Metamorphoses of Scheherazade in Literature and Film, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and
African Studies 66,3 (2003), p. 402-418.
IRWIN, Robert, Visions of the Jinn: Illustrators of the Arabian Nights (London: The Arcadian Library in association with
Oxford University Press, 2010).
—, A Thousand and One Nights at the Movies, in OUYANG, Wen-Chin, & Geert Jan VAN GELDER (eds.), New
Perspectives on [the] Arabian Nights: Ideological Variations and Narrative Horizons (London - New York:
Routledge, 2005), xv & 143 p., 0-415-36698-4, p. 103-114.
KOBAYASHI, Kazue, The Evolution of the Arabian Nights Illustrations. An Art Historical Review, in YAMANAKA,
Yuriko, & NISHIO, Tetsuo, The Arabian Nights and Orientalism. Perspectives from East & West (London - New York:
Tauris, 2006), xvii & 269 p., 978-85043-768-8, p. 171-193.
UNNO, Hiroshi, A Thousand and One Nights. The Art of Folklore, Literature, Poetry, Fashion & Book Design of the
Islamic World (Tokyo: PIE International Inc., 2016), 296 p., 978-4-7562-4816-9.
MACLEOD, Dianne Sachko, The Politics of Vision: Disney, Aladdin, and the Gulf War, in The Emperor’s Old Grove:
Decolonizing Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Ed. by Brenda AYRES (New York: Peter Lang, 2003), p. 179-192.
Web ressources
https://1001nightsatbu.wordpress.com/
Reading assignments:
a. NANCE, Susan, How the Arabian Nights Inspired the American Dream, 1790-1935 (Chapel Hill: The University of
North Carolina Press, 2009), xiii & 344 p., 978-14696-1495-3. — Chapter 1: Capitalism and the Arabian Nights,
1790-1892, p. 19-50.
b. BURTON, Richard F., A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments. — Vol. I, p. 255-262:
The Hunchback’s Tale.
Class IX. Friday June 5, 2020. STUDENTS’ PRESENTATIONSYou can also read
