Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights (Studies in Arabic Literature, Vol 15)

This work comprises a literary comparison of surviving alternative versions of selected narrative-cycles from the Nights. Pinault draws on the published Arabic editions -- especially Bulaq, MacNaghten, and the fourteenth-century Galland text recently edited by Mahdi -- as well as unpublished Arabic manuscripts from libraries in France and North Africa. The study demonstrates that significantly different versions have survived of some of the most famous tales from the Nights. Pinault notes how individual manuscript redactors employed -- and sometimes modified -- formulaic phrases and traditional narrative topoi in ways consonant with the themes emphasized in particular versions of a tale. He also examines the redactors' modification of earlier sources -- Arabic chronicles and Islamic religious treatises, geographers' accounts and medieval legends -- for specific narrative goals. Comparison of the narrative structure of diverse story-collection also sheds new light on the relationship of the embedded subordinate-narrative to the overarching frame-tale. All cited passages from the Nights and other Arabic story- collections have been fully translated into English. Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 Preface 10 I. An introduction to the Arabian Nights 14 A. A note on the history of the Nights 14 B. Oral performance and literary language in the Arabian Nights 25 C. A description of selected storytelling techniques from the Nights 29 i. Repetitive designation 29 ii. Leitwortstil 31 iii. Thematic patterning and formal patterning 35 iv. Dramatic visualization 38 II. The Fisherman and the Genie/Enchanted Prince cycle 44 i. Introduction 44 ii. The manuscripts 45 iii. The Fisherman and the Genie 48 iv. King Yunan and the Physician Duban 54 v. Inner frames within Yunan and Duban. The Leiden version: The Vizier of King Sindibad/The Jealous Husband and the Parrot 56 vi. Inner frames within Yunan and Duban. The Egyptian version: King Sindibad and His Falcon 58 vii. Return to the frame of Yunan and Duban. The vizier’s tale of The King’s Son and the Ghoul 59 viii. The Fisherman-frame, resumed 64 ix. The function of exempla and Leitwörter in the Fisherman-Duban cycle 66 x. The Tale of the Enchanted Prince. Introduction 75 xi. In the palace of the enchanted prince 77 xii. The prince and the sorceress 82 xiii. The sultan’s stratagem 87 xiv. Conclusion: the narratives united 93 III. Caliphal Pleasures: tales of Hārūn al-Rashīd, his vizier Jaʿfar, and the poet Abū Nuwās 95 A. The historical background 95 B. The Three Apples 99 i. Introduction 99 ii. The mystery of the locked chest 100 iii. Jaʿfar at the gallows: first crisis and resolution 103 iv. The inner frame: the murderer’s tale 107 v. Jaʿfar bids his family farewell: second crisis and resolution 109 vi. A concluding note 112 C. The False Caliph 112 i. The plot at a glance 112 ii. Texts of The False Caliph: B, MN and Paris 3663 113 iii. The interaction of poetry and prose 115 iv. “... Teakwood, inlaid with gleaming gold”: storytellers’ improvisations and the use of formulaic language 120 v. The caliph as Pharaoh: violence viewed in a mirror 127 vi. A chronicler’s aside: Masʿūdī on love and submission 130 vii. Scars of love and the story they disclose 131 viii. A test of love and its consequences 142 a. the inner-frame narrative: B/MN 142 b. the inner-frame narrative: Paris 3663 146 ix. The tale concluded 150 D. Caliphal adventures in unpublished North African manuscripts 152 i. Introduction 152 ii. The tale of the Artisans (Rabat 6152) 153 iii. The madhouse-scene from the tale of Ḥamīd the porter (Rabat 6152) 155 iv. The Tale of a Man Who Claimed to be a Prophet (Tunis 18047) 158 v. Conclusion 159 IV. The City of Brass 161 A. A survey of the texts 161 i. Introduction. An outline of the story and some notes on its historical and legendary antecedents 161 ii. The Būlāq and MacNaghten editions 163 iii. Tunis 04576 and the Hundred and One Nights 165 iv. Paris 3118 and the Habicht edition of the Arabian Nights 170 v. Paris 3651 and 3668 186 vi. Paris 5725 189 vii. In the footsteps of Alexander the Great: geographical and legendary references in The City of Brass 193 B. An analysis of scenes from The City of Brass 199 i. Prefatory comments. A word on method and previous scholarship 199 ii. The opening: Damascus, in the caliph’s court 203 iii. The Black Castle 207 iv. The tale of the imprisoned genie 213 v. In the throne-room of Queen Tadmur 215 vi. The return to Damascus 221 C. The storyteller’s use of sources 223 i. The background: folklore and history 223 ii. Portrait of a courtier 226 iii. A quarrel over plunder: the table of King Solomon 228 iv. On being tempted to throw oneself from the top of a wall: some early geographers’ accounts 229 v. Yāqūt and the queen’s curse 230 vi. The idol by the staircase: a comparison with The Tale of the Second Quest 235 vii. Sapphire fruit, trees of gold: descriptive passages in Qazwīnī and in the tale of Abū Muḥammad the Lazy 236 viii. The emir’s retreat to pious solitude 238 D. Alternative versions of scenes from The City of Brass 239 i. The emir Mūsā as protagonist 239 ii. Tug-of-war: the demons and the shaykh 240 iii. Guardian statues and a king’s treasure 242 iv. A conspectus: tale’s end and the quiet life 243 E. Form and meaning in The City of Brass 244 V. Of demons, hunchbacks, and Barmecide feasts: concluding notes on storytelling techniques in the Arabian Nights 253 Appendix. List of selected manuscripts from libraries in Tunisia and Morocco containing Arabian Nights-analogues and other examples of popular literature 265 Bibliography of works cited 267 Index 273 STUDIES IN ARABIC LITERATURE 276