Arabian Nights and Its Implications Across Culture and Linguistic Boundaries
The stories in the Arabian Nights have gripped the world’s imagination now for more than 1000 years. From at least the 9th century part of the repertoire of storytellers in India, China, Iran, Turkey and the Arab world that is why this paper aims not only to give a suffice background of one of the most celebrated tales of the millennia but also explore the cultural treasury it has brought world that serves a fertile material ready to discover—The Arabian Nights. It delves in most cultural elements hugely various like lands it come from. It further supports information which gives a bird’s-eye-view of the cultural resource developing from early times up to the present; and devotes itself primarily on the cultural implications it has given across cultures and linguistic boundaries through time.
The tales which are orally transmitted and composed over the course of several centuries, are mainly of Asian and Arabic origin, they have become an inextricable part of the Western cultural heritage as well. The stories of Princess Scheherazade,
Aladdin, Sinbad the sailor, and Ali Baba, for example, are firmly established in the Western imagination. The original collection, comprised of legends, fairytales, romances, and anecdotes, stems from a number of folk traditions and contains motifs and fables from various geographical areas and historical periods. Since the eighteenth century, when it reached Western audiences, The Arabian Nights has been one of the most popular works of world literature, spawning numerous adaptations, imitations, and tributes from writers.
The Arabian Nights, known as Alf Layla wa Layla in Arabic, although one of the most famous and influential works in English literature, is never regarded by Arabic scholars as a work of literary worth. As cited by Joseph Campbell in his introduction to The Portable Arabian Nights, condemned the stories, saying "I have seen the complete work more than once, and it is indeed a vulgar, insipid book" (48). The tales
The tales which are orally transmitted and composed over the course of several centuries, are mainly of Asian and Arabic origin, they have become an inextricable part of the Western cultural heritage as well. The stories of Princess Scheherazade,
Aladdin, Sinbad the sailor, and Ali Baba, for example, are firmly established in the Western imagination. The original collection, comprised of legends, fairytales, romances, and anecdotes, stems from a number of folk traditions and contains motifs and fables from various geographical areas and historical periods. Since the eighteenth century, when it reached Western audiences, The Arabian Nights has been one of the most popular works of world literature, spawning numerous adaptations, imitations, and tributes from writers.
The Arabian Nights, known as Alf Layla wa Layla in Arabic, although one of the most famous and influential works in English literature, is never regarded by Arabic scholars as a work of literary worth. As cited by Joseph Campbell in his introduction to The Portable Arabian Nights, condemned the stories, saying "I have seen the complete work more than once, and it is indeed a vulgar, insipid book" (48). The tales