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The Thousand and One Nights and Twentieth-Century Fiction
Intertextual Readings
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It is gradually being acknowledged that the Arabic story-collection Thousand and One Nights has had a major influence on European and world literature. This study analyses the influence of Thousand and One Nights, as an intertextual model, on 20th-century prose from all over the world. Works of approximately forty authors are examined: those who were crucial to the development of the main currents in 20th-century fiction, such as modernism, magical realism and post-modernism. The book contains six thematic sections divided into chapters discussing two or three authors/works, each from a narratological perspective and supplemented by references to the cultural and literary context. It is shown how Thousand and One Nights became deeply rooted in modern world literature especially in phases of renewal and experiment.
Richard van Leeuwen, Ph.D. (1992) University of Amsterdam, is senior lecturer in Islamic Studies at that university. He has published widely on the history of the Middle East, Arabic literature, and Islam, and is also a translator of Arabic literature. His publications include Notables and Clergy in Mount Lebanon (Brill 1994); Waqfs and Urban Structures (Brill 1999); (2004; The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, 2 vols. (Santa Barbara 2004; with U. Marzolph); The Thousand and One Nights: space, travel and transformation (2007) and Narratives of Kingship in Eurasian Empires, 1300-1800 (Brill 2017).
Winner of the 2020 Sheikh Zayed Book Award (category: Arabic Culture in Other Languages)
"...this big, notable, stimulating work is a very helpful source of reference indeed not only for students and researchers of literature but also for scholars mastering fields like the philosophy of language, or the philosophy of history." - Stavros Nikolaidis, in: Journal of Oriental and African Studies 28 (2019)
"Van Leeuwenâs Thousand and One Nights and Twentieth-Century Fiction is a smart collection of forty-six different authors of different nationalities from the 19th to the 21st century whose works have one intertextual aspect in common with the Nights. They are major contributors who have shaped the literary backdrop of the twentieth century." - Azra Ghandeharion, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
"Wir können aber doch an der genauen Betrachtung dieser vier deutschsprachigen Fallbeispiele gut erkennen, wie der Autor gearbeitet hat und wie erhellend seine Ergebnisse sind.[â¦] Vor allem aber scharft van Leeuwen unseren Blick dafur, wie Tausendundeine Nacht eben nicht einfach von der âwestlichenâ Literatur vereinnahmt wurde, sondern allmahlich und auf sehr vielen Wegen in sie eingedrungen und so zu einem Kultbuch der Weltliteratur geworden ist.â Claudia Ott in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 115/4â5 (2020), Islam, https://doi.org/10.1515/olzg-2020-0119
"...this big, notable, stimulating work is a very helpful source of reference indeed not only for students and researchers of literature but also for scholars mastering fields like the philosophy of language, or the philosophy of history." - Stavros Nikolaidis, in: Journal of Oriental and African Studies 28 (2019)
"Van Leeuwenâs Thousand and One Nights and Twentieth-Century Fiction is a smart collection of forty-six different authors of different nationalities from the 19th to the 21st century whose works have one intertextual aspect in common with the Nights. They are major contributors who have shaped the literary backdrop of the twentieth century." - Azra Ghandeharion, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
"Wir können aber doch an der genauen Betrachtung dieser vier deutschsprachigen Fallbeispiele gut erkennen, wie der Autor gearbeitet hat und wie erhellend seine Ergebnisse sind.[â¦] Vor allem aber scharft van Leeuwen unseren Blick dafur, wie Tausendundeine Nacht eben nicht einfach von der âwestlichenâ Literatur vereinnahmt wurde, sondern allmahlich und auf sehr vielen Wegen in sie eingedrungen und so zu einem Kultbuch der Weltliteratur geworden ist.â Claudia Ott in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 115/4â5 (2020), Islam, https://doi.org/10.1515/olzg-2020-0119
Acknowledgments
Introduction
âThe Thousand and One Nights
âIncorporation into World Literature
This Study
1 Enclosures, Letters, and Destiny: Hugo von Hofmannsthal and André Gide
âHugo von Hofmannsthal, the Kunstmärchen, and Orientalism
âThe Contingency of Fate: André Gideâs Les faux-monnayeurs
2 Going Home: Al-Tayyib Salih and Ibrahim al-Faqih
âSeason of Migration to the North and the Thousand and One Nights
âThe Forbidden Room: The Thousand and One Nights and Ibrahim al-Faqihâs Gardens of the Night
3 Writing and Enclosures: Michel Butor and Abilio Estévez
âThe Portrait of an Author: Michel Butorâs Portrait de lâartiste comme jeune singe
âImprisoned Imagination: Abilio Estévez
âConclusions to Part 1
4 The Return of Time: Marcel Proust and Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
âProust and the Thousand and One Nights
âTimes of Life and Society: Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
5 Narration and Survival: Vladimir Nabokov and Margaret Atwood
âNabokov, the Thousand and One Nights, and Life After Death
âNarrating Against Death: Margaret Atwood
6 Desire Unbound: The Marquis de Sade and Angela Carter
âAngela Carter: The Feminist-Narrative Complex
7 Temporal Dystopias: Botho Strauss and Haruki Murakami
âWar and the Re-invention of Time: Botho Straussâs Der junge Mann
âHaruki Murakami and the Constraints of Time
âConclusions to Part 2
8 The Celebration of Textuality: James Joyce and the Argentine (post-)Modernists
âThe Thousand and One Nights and the Textuality of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake
âTextual Worlds: Fernández, Arlt, Borges, and Piglia
9 Stories Without End: Italo Calvino and Georges Perec
âItalo Calvino and Narration: If on a Winterâs Night a Traveller ⦠and the Thousand and One Nights
âGeorges Perec: The Imperative of Form
10 The Celebration of Hybridity: Abdelkébir Khatibi and Juan Goytisolo
âAbdelkébir Khatibi: Narration and the Body
âJuan Goytisolo: Hybridity as a Refuge
âConclusions to Part 3
11 The Traumas of History: William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, and André Brink
âForm
âHistory
âAbsalom, Absalom! and the Thousand and One Nights
âThe Haunted House: Toni Morrisonâs Beloved and André Brinkâs Imaginings of Sand
12 The Enchantment of History: Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez and Salman Rushdie
âGabriel GarcÃa Márquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude
âSalman Rushdie: History Gone Awry
13 Words Against Death: Roberto Calasso, David Grossman, and Elias Khoury
âRoberto Calasso: The Ruin of Kasch
âDavid Grossman: Fighting the Nazi Beast
âViolence and the Boundaries of Narrativity: Elias Khouryâs Yalo
âConclusions to Part 4
14 Aladdinâs Nightmare: Henrik Pontoppidan and Ernst Jünger
âThe Curse of Aladdin: Henrik Pontoppidan
âThe City of Brass, Aladdin, and the Discontents of Modernity: Ernst Jünger
15 The Sindbad Syndrome: Gyula Krúdy and John Barth
âGyula Krúdy: The Nostalgic Nomad
âThe Intrepid Traveler: John Barth
16 The Mock Caliph: H. G. Wells, Arthur Schnitzler, and Orhan Pamuk
âA Modern Harun al-Rashid: H. G. Wellsâs The Research Magnificent
âArthur Schnitzlerâs Der Traumnovelle
âThe Writer and His Double: Orhan Pamukâs The Black Book
17 The Multiple Faces of Shahrazad: Leïla Sebbar and Waçini Laredj
âLeïla Sebbar: Shérézade
âWaçini Laredj: Les ailes de la reine
âConclusions to Part 5
18 The 1002nd Night: Tawfiq al-Hakim, Taha Husayn, and Naji Mahfuz
âTawfiq al-Hakim: Shahrazad
âTaha Husayn: The Dreams of Shahrazad
âNajib Mahfuz: The Predicament of Shahriyar
19 Fabrications of Power: Hani al-Rahib and Rachid Boudjedra
âThe Curse of Repression: al-Rahibâs Alf layla wa-laylatan
âA False Utopia: Rachid Boudjedra
20 The Secret Lives of Sindbad: Mostafa Nissaboury and Bahram Beyzaï
âMostafa Nissaboury: Shahrazadâs Suffering
âSindbadâs Return: Bahram Beyzaï
âConclusions to Part 6
Conclusion
âThe Narrative Universe of Paul Auster
âThe Framework: The Invention of Solitude
âThe Locked Room
âDoubles
âNarrativity
Bibliography
Introduction
âThe Thousand and One Nights
âIncorporation into World Literature
This Study
Part 1 Enclosures, Journeys, and Texts
1 Enclosures, Letters, and Destiny: Hugo von Hofmannsthal and André Gide
âHugo von Hofmannsthal, the Kunstmärchen, and Orientalism
âThe Contingency of Fate: André Gideâs Les faux-monnayeurs
2 Going Home: Al-Tayyib Salih and Ibrahim al-Faqih
âSeason of Migration to the North and the Thousand and One Nights
âThe Forbidden Room: The Thousand and One Nights and Ibrahim al-Faqihâs Gardens of the Night
3 Writing and Enclosures: Michel Butor and Abilio Estévez
âThe Portrait of an Author: Michel Butorâs Portrait de lâartiste comme jeune singe
âImprisoned Imagination: Abilio Estévez
âConclusions to Part 1
Part 2 Capturing the Volatility of Time
4 The Return of Time: Marcel Proust and Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
âProust and the Thousand and One Nights
âTimes of Life and Society: Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
5 Narration and Survival: Vladimir Nabokov and Margaret Atwood
âNabokov, the Thousand and One Nights, and Life After Death
âNarrating Against Death: Margaret Atwood
6 Desire Unbound: The Marquis de Sade and Angela Carter
âAngela Carter: The Feminist-Narrative Complex
7 Temporal Dystopias: Botho Strauss and Haruki Murakami
âWar and the Re-invention of Time: Botho Straussâs Der junge Mann
âHaruki Murakami and the Constraints of Time
âConclusions to Part 2
Part 3 The Textual Universe
8 The Celebration of Textuality: James Joyce and the Argentine (post-)Modernists
âThe Thousand and One Nights and the Textuality of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake
âTextual Worlds: Fernández, Arlt, Borges, and Piglia
9 Stories Without End: Italo Calvino and Georges Perec
âItalo Calvino and Narration: If on a Winterâs Night a Traveller ⦠and the Thousand and One Nights
âGeorges Perec: The Imperative of Form
10 The Celebration of Hybridity: Abdelkébir Khatibi and Juan Goytisolo
âAbdelkébir Khatibi: Narration and the Body
âJuan Goytisolo: Hybridity as a Refuge
âConclusions to Part 3
Part 4 Narrating History
11 The Traumas of History: William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, and André Brink
âForm
âHistory
âAbsalom, Absalom! and the Thousand and One Nights
âThe Haunted House: Toni Morrisonâs Beloved and André Brinkâs Imaginings of Sand
12 The Enchantment of History: Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez and Salman Rushdie
âGabriel GarcÃa Márquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude
âSalman Rushdie: History Gone Awry
13 Words Against Death: Roberto Calasso, David Grossman, and Elias Khoury
âRoberto Calasso: The Ruin of Kasch
âDavid Grossman: Fighting the Nazi Beast
âViolence and the Boundaries of Narrativity: Elias Khouryâs Yalo
âConclusions to Part 4
Part 5 Identifications, Impersonations, Doubles: The Discontents of (post-)Modernity
14 Aladdinâs Nightmare: Henrik Pontoppidan and Ernst Jünger
âThe Curse of Aladdin: Henrik Pontoppidan
âThe City of Brass, Aladdin, and the Discontents of Modernity: Ernst Jünger
15 The Sindbad Syndrome: Gyula Krúdy and John Barth
âGyula Krúdy: The Nostalgic Nomad
âThe Intrepid Traveler: John Barth
16 The Mock Caliph: H. G. Wells, Arthur Schnitzler, and Orhan Pamuk
âA Modern Harun al-Rashid: H. G. Wellsâs The Research Magnificent
âArthur Schnitzlerâs Der Traumnovelle
âThe Writer and His Double: Orhan Pamukâs The Black Book
17 The Multiple Faces of Shahrazad: Leïla Sebbar and Waçini Laredj
âLeïla Sebbar: Shérézade
âWaçini Laredj: Les ailes de la reine
âConclusions to Part 5
Part 6 Aftermaths: The Delusions of Politics
18 The 1002nd Night: Tawfiq al-Hakim, Taha Husayn, and Naji Mahfuz
âTawfiq al-Hakim: Shahrazad
âTaha Husayn: The Dreams of Shahrazad
âNajib Mahfuz: The Predicament of Shahriyar
19 Fabrications of Power: Hani al-Rahib and Rachid Boudjedra
âThe Curse of Repression: al-Rahibâs Alf layla wa-laylatan
âA False Utopia: Rachid Boudjedra
20 The Secret Lives of Sindbad: Mostafa Nissaboury and Bahram Beyzaï
âMostafa Nissaboury: Shahrazadâs Suffering
âSindbadâs Return: Bahram Beyzaï
âConclusions to Part 6
Conclusion
âThe Narrative Universe of Paul Auster
âThe Framework: The Invention of Solitude
âThe Locked Room
âDoubles
âNarrativity
Bibliography
All those interested in literary studies and literary history; students and scholars in the fields of literary history, narratology, comparative literature, world literature, on undergraduate and graduate levels; scholars and students in the fields of Arabic, German, Danish, Persian, French, English, Spanish, Turkish, Hungarian, Japanese, South-American, American and Italian literatures, both on graduate and undergraduate levels; scholars and students in the fields of orientalism, cultural exchange, literary transmission.