MovieChat Forums > Arabian Nights (2000) Discussion > Who is the original author?

Who is the original author?


Does anyone know who the original author and what time period it was written in, and if it was a real story or not? Thx.

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Sir Richard Burton did a compilation.

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There is no original author. These are folk tales. Sir Richard Burton made the most famous English translation, but there are many others.

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In part, you're right - there is no 'original' author, other than the story tellers from ancient Arabia. Here is part of a synopsis of one of the "Arabian Nights" books on Barnes & Noble's website:

"Husain Haddawy's rapturously received translation of The Arabian Nights is based on a landmark reconstruction of the earliest extant manuscript version. These stories (and stories within stories, and stories within stories within stories), told by the Princess Shahrazad under the threat of death if she ceases to amuse, first reached the West around 1700. They fired in the European imagination an appetite for the mysterious and exotic which has never left it. Collected over centuries from India, Persia, and Arabia, and ranging from vivacious erotica, animal fables, and adventure fantasies to pointed Sufi tales, the stories of The Arabian Nights provided the daily entertainment of the medieval Islamic world at the height of its glory."

Hope that clears it up for you...

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WikiPedia's answer:

Ali Baba (Arabic: علي بابا) is a fictional character based in Ancient Arabia. He is described in the adventure tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, part of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights). Some critics believe that this story was added to The Book of One Thousand and One Nights by one of its European transcribers, Antoine Galland, an 18th-century French orientalist who may have heard it in oral form from an Arab story-teller from Aleppo. However, Richard F. Burton claimed it to be part of the original Book of One Thousand and One Nights. This story has also been used as a popular pantomime plot—perhaps most famously in the pantomime/musical Chu Chin Chow (1916

~The red sun rises, blood has been spilled this night~

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Actually, the thousand and one nights, or "alf layla wa layla" is considered to be one of the main classic literary works of the Arabic language (the other two probably being the Qur'an and the courtly and pre-Islamic poetic traditions). The work exists in a number of different versions, and probably always has, but in some form or another it forms a key component of the Arabic literary canon and is treasured by Arab readers now as much as ever. I believe (if my memory of what my Arabic professors have told me serves me correctly) that the first existant manuscript of it dates back to the eleventh century AD, and the story always begins with the famous opening lines known to pretty much anyone who speaks arabic "kaana ma kaan fi qadim al-zamaan," a sort of rhyming and catchy version of "once upon a time" meaning approximately "there was - or maybe there wasn't - in the time of old..." and is used to this day when people tell stories that have a fairy-tale-like quality.

Interestingly, despite the definitive language of the work being Arabic, and its great importance within the traditions of the Arab world, the stories themselves are extremely eclectic, and probably most of them are from non-Arab sources, especially Persian ones. Shahryar and Shahrazad, for instance, are both distinctly persian names, and so the story is actually set among Persians rather than Arabs (though of course the language it was written in was Arabic.) The sources of the stories are indeed very far flung, and although many of them come from greater Persia and its story-telling tradition, some of them come from such places as hindu and Greek mythology, Chinese and Turkic folktales, and the Abrahamic religious Tradition.

A final note, that while the stories are often sold in the West as sort of escapist fairy tales, which of course is an aspect of the stories, I would suggest that actually this only captures part of the original meaning. While many of the stories include fantastic content with genies, witches, magic lamps, and flying carpets - which we can suggest are more purely intended for entertainment - the stories also contain everything from pious anecdotes about the Prophet Muhammad, his companions, and other major religious figures of the Judeo-Christian tradition, to extremely eloquent poetry on all manner of topics (love, religion, war, etc.), to stories about Islamic law, to legends about the miraculous abilities of saintly Muslims, and, of course, to tales taken out of ancient or recent history.

Within the tradition of Islamic Persia, especially, a wide variety of stories and little anecdotes are very frequently used to explain or illustrate proper moral conduct, historical principles, and even deep spiritual truths. In particular, the Islamic Mystical tradition of Sufism has long been especially fond of such anecdotes, which often form a central part of Sufi texts from the middle ages (with such figures are Rumi) down through the present day. Also, however, such works as the "book of governance," written in Baghdad around 1072 by the grand Vizier Nizam al-Mulk, use similar collections of such amusing stories for the totally different purpose of advising a monarch how best to rule his kingdom.
In any case, my point is that the Arabian nights were written both to be entertaining and to impart important moral teachings, historical facts, and poetic styles, in a manner that might be more fun than, say, reading a book on Islamic legal theory or of ancient history.

Yes, in case you can't tell, I'm getting my PhD in Islamic Studies... I hope that answers your question.

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What an eloquent and comprehensive overview Catus.
Yes- I thought you were taking Islamic Studies when I read your post.

Thank you for taking the time to post this repy.

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While I also enjoyed and appreciated your insight, Catus, I was told that the story "Arabian Nights" was put together by a westerner who had been traveling in the middle east. Supposedly, during the night, his guides (who were locals, many of them Arabs, Persians, and so forth) would share stories around the campfires in the evening.

Again (remember, this is just a story I heard), the collection of stories he heard were actual local stories from the regions which were collected and written down and then published in the western world. The stories were not made up by the European, and they had existed for hundreds of years, but he took them back and published them, getting westerners excited about them.

The character of the Storyteller in the movie was also very important to me, because he not only showed how to help the Sultana, but he also seemed to really be showing some insight into storytelling in general. I have been told that the Arab world in general puts a tremendous ammount of value in "storytelling" as opposed to many westerners who don't value the full nuances of being able to read their audience, and tailor a story to the audiences wants and needs (as was communicated in the movie itself).

While I believe that the stories came from the time periods and cultures suggested by Catus, I am also wondering if there is any actual truth to the rumor. I read the old book of "Arabian Nights" in elementary school and noticed that it had prints in the copy of book made with wood cuts. The prints showed Aladin as Chinese (as it did in the movie, not the middle eastern look that I was expecting). There were also various shots in the actual movie that looked like they were taken directly from the pictures... a little too close, in my opinion. I wondered if the directors had seen that copy of the book and possibly used it for reference as it looked like a very old copy, even when I had read it.

Does anyone know if that rumor is true or not? About the European bringing the stories to western world? Just curious...

peace
joe

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ok so im currently reading "tales from 1001 nights" published by penguin classics and in it is an introductory essay written by Robert Irwin. he says that the "...core of the Arabic story collection Alf Layla wa-layla (The Thousand and One Nights), originated in a fairly brief and simple form in ancient India".
He then goes on to say "but the Thousand and One Nights in the from we have it today, with its elaborate frame story about King Shahriyar and the storyteller Shahrazad, was compiled much later. The oldest substantially surviving manuscript of the Nights seems to date from the late 15th century."

so there you have it the Nights were originally Indian written in Sanskrit which was translated into Persian and then Arabic. Much later this was translated into French by Antoine Galland and as popularity grew was translated into other languages with Richard Burton's English translation being the most elaborate (there were other English translations by others but not so complete).

All in all they are all a collection of oral folk tales (which were written down), and other stories were "artfully composed by skilled, if anonymous, authors."

(all information from Tales from essay by Robert Irwin from 1001 Nights translated by Malcolm Lyons Penguin Classics 2010)

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I have no idea why everybody's mentioning Richard Burton. The Frenchman Antoine Galland collected these stories from different Arabic sources and introduced them to the West in the 18th century. He took much artistic license, though, to the point of adding stories that were not originally included or perhaps even invented by himself (like Aladdin).

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