List of works influenced by One Thousand and One Nights

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The Middle Eastern story collection One Thousand and One Nights has had a profound impact on culture around the world.

Contents

Literature

The influence of the versions of The Nights on world literature is immense. Writers as diverse as Henry Fielding and Naguib Mahfouz have alluded to the work by name in their own literature. Other writers who have been influenced by The Nights include John Barth, Jorge Luis Borges, Salman Rushdie, Goethe, Walter Scott, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Nodier, Flaubert, Marcel Schwob, Stendhal, Dumas, Gérard de Nerval, Gobineau, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Hofmannsthal, Conan Doyle, W. B. Yeats, H. G. Wells, Cavafy, Calvino, Georges Perec, H. P. Lovecraft, Marcel Proust, A. S. Byatt, Rudyard Kipling and Angela Carter. [1]

This work has been influential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century, first by Antoine Galland. [2] Many imitations were written, especially in France. [3] Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. Part of its popularity may have sprung from the increasing historical and geographical knowledge, so that places of which little was known and so marvels were plausible had to be set further "long ago" or farther "far away"; this is a process that continues, and finally culminate in the fantasy world having little connection, if any, to actual times and places. Several elements from Arabian mythology and Persian mythology are now common in modern fantasy, such as genies, magic carpets, magic lamps, etc. [3] When L. Frank Baum proposed writing a modern fairy tale that banished stereotypical elements, he included the genie as well as the dwarf and the fairy as stereotypes to go. [4]

18th century

The story was first written in Chaldean, which neither you nor I understand. Later it was translated into Arabic to amuse the famous Sultan Ouloug Beg, at the same time that the Arabs and Persians were beginning to write the Thousand-and-one-Nights, the Thousand-and-one-Days etc. Ouloug Beg preferred Zadig, but the Sultanas liked the Thousand-and-One more. 'How is it possible,' said the wise Ouloug, 'that you prefer tales which have neither sense nor reason?' 'That is just why we like them so much,' replied the Sultanas.

Further references to the Arabian Nights are expressed in parallels with the stories of Khudâdâd and His Brothers, 'Alâ' al-Dîn, and the History of the Princess of Daryâbâr. Whereas the Arabian Nights focuses on the narrative themes of providence and destiny, Voltaire substituted the interference of divine power with human intervention.

19th century

20th century

21st century

Japanese literature

The Nights also had an influence on modern Japanese literature. George Fyler Townsend's revised edition of the Arabian Nights was the first "European" literary work to be translated into the Japanese language during the Meiji era, by Nagamine Hideki in 1875. The Japanese translation was entitled Arabiya Monogatari ("Arabian Stories" or literally "Stormy Night Stories"), as part of the monogatari genre. [16] Though the book was intriguing to Japanese readers, who at that time had very little knowledge of Arabic culture or the Middle East in general, the Nights did not gain popularity in Japan until a more Japanified translation, entitled Zensekai Ichidai Kisho (The Most Curious Book in the Whole World), was produced by Inoue Tsutomu in 1888. [17] His translation exerted a great influence on the literature of the Meiji, Taishō and Shōwa periods, with writers and poets such as Hinatsu Kōnosuke, Hakushū Kitahara and Mokutaro Kinoshita citing the work as an influence on their own works. [18] In the early 20th century, other translations from the Lane and Burton editions were also published, [19] including ones from the Lane edition by Kōnosuke and Morita Sōhei, [20] as well a translation of the Andrew Lang edition by Daisui Sugitani, [21] and translations of individual tales by Iwaya Sazanami. [22] In Norwegian Wood , written by Haruki Murakami in 1987, Toru refers to Reiko as a regular Scheherazade when she leaves a story about her past unfinished. Moreover, Murakami wrote a short story entitled "Scheherazade", published in The New Yorker in October 2014 [23] and previously compiled in his short story collection Men Without Women , published in April 2014.

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic is a Japanese fantasy manga written by Shinobu Ohtaka which borrows several elements from the Nights. Each of the three protagonists, Aladdin, Alibaba and Morgiana have several traits in common with their counterparts from the original, with the same occurring with other characters like Sinbad, Cassim and Scheherazade. First released in 2009, it was adapted into an anime series in 2012.

Drama

There have been many adaptations of The Nights for television, cinema and radio.

The atmosphere of The Nights influenced such films as Fritz Lang's 1921 Der müde Tod , the 1924 Hollywood film The Thief of Baghdad starring Douglas Fairbanks, and its 1940 British remake. Several stories served as source material for The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), the oldest surviving feature-length animated film.

In the late 1930s, Fleischer Studios produced three two-reel animated Popeye cartoons in colour for Paramount Pictures. All three cartoons, known also as the Popeye Color Specials (or Features), were adapted from The Nights: Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor , Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves , and Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp .

One of Hollywood's first feature films to be based on The Nights was in 1942, with the movie called Arabian Nights . It starred Maria Montez as Scheherazade, Sabu Dastagir as Ali Ben Ali and Jon Hall as Harun al-Rashid. The storyline bears virtually no resemblance to the traditional version of the book. In the film, Scheherazade is a dancer who attempts to overthrow Caliph Harun al-Rashid and marry his brother. After Scheherazade's initial coup attempt fails and she is sold into slavery, many adventures then ensue. Maria Montez and Jon Hall also starred in the 1944 film Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves .

Columbia Pictures released A Thousand and One Nights , starring Cornel Wilde as Aladdin, in 1945.

In the 1952 Universal Pictures movie The Golden Blade , Harun al-Rashid (Rock Hudson) uses a magical sword that makes him invincible to free Baghdad from the evil vizier Jafar and his son Hadi and win the love of the beautiful princess Khairuzan (Piper Laurie).

The 1955 RKO Pictures film Son of Sinbad combines the Sinbad character with Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (who in this film are all female).

The 1958 movie The 7th Voyage of Sinbad was a Sinbad film produced by the stop-motion animation pioneer Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen also provided the stop-motion effects for The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977).

In 1959, Columbia Pictures released a UPA-produced animated feature starring Mr. Magoo, entitled 1001 Arabian Nights .

Osamu Tezuka worked on two (very loose) feature film adaptations, the children's film Sinbad no Bōken in 1962 and Senya Ichiya Monogatari in 1969, an adult-oriented animated feature film.

Hanna-Barbera had created Shazzan, a powerful genie that comes from a ring in 1967 and the next year premiered a segment on The Banana Splits Show called Arabian Knights, a team of heroes saving their lands from an evil emperor.

In 1982, an X-rated adaptation entitled “A Thousand And One Erotic Nights” was produced, starring Annette Haven as “Scheherezade”.

The most commercially successful movie based on The Nights was Aladdin , the 1992 animated movie by the Walt Disney Company, which starred the voices of Scott Weinger and Robin Williams. The film led to several sequels and a television series of the same name. Scheherazade and her "thousand tales" are referred to in the song "Friend Like Me".

A French animated television series, Princesse Shéhérazade , was originally broadcast from 1996 until 1999.

"The Voyages of Sinbad" has been adapted for television and film several times, most recently in the 2003 animated feature Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas , featuring the voices of Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

A recent well-received television adaptation was the Emmy Award-winning miniseries Arabian Nights , directed by Steve Barron and starring Mili Avital as Scheherazade and Dougray Scott as Shahryar. It was originally shown over two nights on April 30, and May 1, 2000, on ABC in the United States and BBC One in the United Kingdom.

In 2001, the Radio Tales series produced a trilogy of dramas adapted from the Arabian Nights, including the stories of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sindbad.

Other versions of The Nights include the 1974 Italian movie Il fiore delle mille e una notte by Pier Paolo Pasolini and the 1990 French movie Les 1001 nuits, in which Catherine Zeta-Jones made her debut playing Scheherazade.

There are numerous Bollywood movies inspired by the book, including Aladdin and Sinbad. In this version the two heroes meet and share in each other's adventures; the djinn of the lamp is female, and Aladdin marries her rather than the princess. Other Indian films inspired by the book, include Allauddinum Albhutha Vilakkum (1979; Malayalam), Allaudinaum Arputha Vilakkum (1979; Tamil) and Daya (1998; Malayalam).

The Turkish television series Binbir Gece (Thousand and one nights) is a modern re-telling of the book. It is about an architect named Şehrazat (Scheherazade) who spends a night with her boss for a money to pay for her son's expensive surgery.

In 2009, the BBC Radio 7 science fiction series Planet B featured an episode set in a virtual world which had merged The Nights with a wargame.

Alif Laila is an Indian TV series based on the stories from The Arabian Nights. It was produced by Sagar Films (Pvt. Ltd.) and aired on DD National.

In the episode "Stan of Arabia (Part II)" of American Dad!, Roger distracts a wealthy sheik with stories from American soap operas to delay consummating their marriage.

Bugs Bunny portrayed a Scheherazade-like character in Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales . Bugs must entertain Sultan Yosemite Sam and his son Prince Abba-Dabba with story after story or else be subject to beheading.

In the third-season episode "The Scheherazade Job" of the TNT series Leverage , Hardison (the "Hacker") has to play the violin solo in a live performance of Scheherazade in order for the crew to successfully rob the story's villain. Ironically, the crew is so captivated by Hardison's playing of the solo in the fourth movement that they stop still during the robbery to listen. While discussing Scheherazade, Sophie says she was the first "grifter", being able to make the king fail to keep his murderous vow and then to make him fall for her.

The Japanese animated film Sinbad: Sora Tobu Hime to Himitsu no Shima is inspired by Arabian Nights. [24]

Sherazade, the untold stories, is a CGI cartoon TV series for children started in 2017. [25]

In season 9, episode 8 of the Cartoon Network series Adventure Time (Elements Part 7: Hero Heart) Ice King and Betty run into Lumpy Space Princess while riding on a magic carpet. Ice King greets her by saying "Check it out, LSP! It's a real, magic, flying carpet! I feel just like Scheherazade."

In 2018, Audible commissioned the retelling of the Scheherazade and Ali Baba stories in an eight-part radio drama penned by Marty Ross and performed by Wireless Theatre Company.

Scheherezade is portrayed by Meredith Stepien in the 2013 Starkid musical Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier (a parody of Disney's 1992 animated feature, Aladdin, with strong influences from the musical Wicked).

Arabbya Rajani (Arabian Nights) is an Indian Bengali-language drama television show. An adaptation of various tales from the collection, it aired on Colors Bangla in 2019. [26]

Music

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Sculpture and visual arts

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Related Research Articles

<i>One Thousand and One Nights</i> Collection of Middle Eastern folk tales

One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English-language edition, which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aladdin</span> Middle-Eastern folk tale

Aladdin is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with One Thousand and One Nights, despite not being part of the original text; it was added by the Frenchman Antoine Galland, based on a folk tale that he heard from the Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinbad the Sailor</span> Fictional sailor

Sinbad the Sailor is a fictional mariner and the hero of a story-cycle. He is described as hailing from Baghdad during the early Abbasid Caliphate. In the course of seven voyages throughout the seas east of Africa and south of Asia, he has fantastic adventures in magical realms, encountering monsters and witnessing supernatural phenomena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scheherazade</span> Character from Arabian Nights

Scheherazade is a major character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the One Thousand and One Nights.

<i>Aladdin and the King of Thieves</i> 1996 animated film

Aladdin and the King of Thieves is a 1996 American direct-to-video animated musical fantasy adventure film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It is the second sequel to Disney's 1992 animated feature film Aladdin, and it serves as the final chapter and installment of the Arabian Nights-inspired Disney franchise beginning with the first film, and continuing with its first direct-to-video sequel The Return of Jafar and the animated television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arabic epic literature</span>

Arabic epic literature encompasses epic poetry and epic fantasy in Arabic literature. Virtually all societies have developed folk tales encompassing tales of heroes. Although many of these are legends, many are based on real events and historical figures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves</span> "Folk tale in One Thousand and One Nights"

"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" is a folk tale in Arabic added to the One Thousand and One Nights in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard it from Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab. As one of the most popular Arabian Nights tales, it has been widely retold and performed in many media across the world, especially for children.

<i>Arabian Nights</i> (miniseries) 2000 multi-national TV series or program

Arabian Nights is a two-part 2000 miniseries, adapted by Peter Barnes from Sir Richard Francis Burton's translation of the medieval epic One Thousand and One Nights. Mili Avital and Dougray Scott star as Scheherazade and Shahryar respectively. Produced by Dyson Lovell and directed by Steve Barron, the serial was produced by Hallmark Entertainment and originally broadcast over two nights on 30 April and 1 May 2000 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and ABC in the United States.

Arabian Nights is a commonly used English title for One Thousand and One Nights, a Middle-Eastern folk tale collection.

<i>Arabian Nights</i> (1942 film) 1942 film

Arabian Nights is a 1942 adventure film directed by John Rawlins and starring Jon Hall, Maria Montez, Sabu and Leif Erikson. The film is derived from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights but owes more to the imagination of Universal Pictures than the original Arabian stories. Unlike The Thief of Bagdad (1940) and other films in the genre, it features no monsters or supernatural elements.

<i>Alif Laila</i> Indian television series from 1993 to 2002

Alif Laila is an Indian television series based on the One Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights. It was produced by Sagar Arts. It was made in two seasons. The series from 1993 to 2002 for 303 episodes on DD National and later on SAB TV.

<i>Arabian Nights: Sinbads Adventures</i> Japanese anime television series

Arabian Nights: Sinbad's Adventures is a 52-episode anime series directed by Fumio Kurokawa and produced by Nippon Animation which was first aired in 1975. The story is based on the children's story "Sinbad the Sailor".

<i>Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves</i> (1971 film) 1971 Japanese film

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is a 1971 anime film by Toei Animation, retelling the evergreen story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from the Arabian Nights, or One Thousand and One Nights.

<i>1001 Nights</i> (TV series) 2011 Canadian TV series or program

1001 Nights is a Canadian animated television series developed and produced at Big Bad Boo Studios in Vancouver, based on stories from One Thousand and One Nights. The show is created and co-directed by Shabnam Rezaei and Aly Jetha.

<i>1001 Nights</i> (1990 film) 1990 French film

Les 1001 Nuits is a French-Italian fantasy film loosely based on the ancient Arabic legend One Thousand and One Nights. It is directed by Philippe de Broca and stars Catherine Zeta-Jones as Sheherazade, who has married a king, who desires to have many virgin wives, but only one at a time. As soon as the King has consummated his relationship with a new wife, he has her put to death at sunrise. Sheherazade delays this unfortunate ending by putting off the connubial event for a thousand and one nights, telling irresistible stories that are unfinished when the sun rises. In this version, Sheherazade finds a magical lamp that holds the genie Jimmy Genius who is from the 20th century. Jimmy helps Sheherazade by providing her with 20th-century technology including a parachute that is used to drop a nude Sheherazade into a man's lap.

<i>Les mille et une nuits</i>

Les mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français, published in 12 volumes between 1704 and 1717, was the first European version of The Thousand and One Nights tales.

<i>1001 Arabian Nights</i> (1959 film) 1959 film

1001 Arabian Nights is a 1959 American animated comedy film produced by United Productions of America (UPA) and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Released to theaters on December 1, 1959, the film is a loose adaptation of the Arab folktale of "Aladdin" from One Thousand and One Nights, albeit with the addition of UPA's star cartoon character, Mr. Magoo, to the story as Aladdin's uncle, "Abdul Azziz Magoo". It is the first animated feature to be released by Columbia Pictures.

Translations of One Thousand and One Nights have been made into most of the world's major languages. They include the French translation by Antoine Galland. Galland's translation was essentially based on a medieval Arabic manuscript of Syrian origin, supplemented by oral tales recorded by him in Paris from Hanna Diyab, a Maronite Arab from Aleppo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanna Diyab</span> Syrian writer and storyteller in the 18th century

Antun Yusuf Hanna Diyab was a Syrian Maronite writer and storyteller. He originated the best-known versions of the tales of Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves which have been added to the One Thousand and One Nights since French orientalist Antoine Galland translated and included them, after which they soon became popular across the West.

References

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