The document summarizes the origins and evolution of The Arabian Nights collection of stories. It began as oral folktales from Persia and India that were later written down after moving to Baghdad. The stories were revised, combined, edited and remixed as they were translated to other languages like French and English, becoming more of a European text. A key storytelling technique used in The Arabian Nights is the frame narrative, where an overarching story like that of Shahrazad contains embedded stories she tells to entertain the king and survive each night.

1. T H E A R T O F
S T O RY T E L L I N G
T H E A R A B I A N N I G H T S
www.craigcarey.net/f14wl
@ccareylit
08.25.14

2. Why do we tell
stories?

3. – J O A N D I D E O N
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

4. The region where The Thousand and One Nights
originated as oral tales

5. F R O M O R A L
T O W R I T T E N
• Persian Indian Folktales
(oral stories for 600 years)
• Moved to Baghdad where
they were written down
• Copyists recorded the tales;
translators added their own
touches and stories
• French translation and then
English translation

6. A D A P TAT I O N & T R A N S L AT I O N
S T O R I E S W E R E R E V I S E D , C O M B I N E D , E D I T E D , & R E M I X E D
B E C A M E M O R E O F A E U R O P E A N T E X T

7. – E D WA R D S A I D ( F R O M O R I E N TA L I S M )
“The Orient was almost a European invention, and had been
since antiquity a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting
memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences.”

8. Frame story: a literary technique used to contain an
embedded narrative, a story within a story
Embedded Stories
Stories within
Stories

9. Frame Narrative: “The Story of King Shahrayar and Shahrazad”
Demon with Glass Chest (woman is locked away after wedding night)
"Tale of the Ox and the Donkey"
"The Story of the Merchant and His Wife"
"The Story of the Merchant and the Demon"
"The First Old Man's Tale"
"The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon"
"The Tale of King Yunan and the Sage Duban"
Shahrazad
Shahrazad’s Father
"The Second Old Man's Tale"
"The Third Old Man's Tale" (implied)

10. S H A H R A Z A D ; A L S O K N O W N A S S C H E H E R A Z A D E

11. – Description of Shahrazad, pg. 13, The Arabian Nights
The older daughter, Shahrazad, had read the books of literature, philosophy, and
medicine. She knew the poetry by heart, had studied historical reports, and was
acquainted with the sayings of men and the maxims of sages and kings. She was
intelligent, knowledgeable, wise, and refined. She had read and learned.

12. But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence,
leaving King Shahrayar burning with curiosity to hear the rest of
the story. Then Dinarzad said to her sister Shahrazad, “What a
strange and lovely story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this
compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king
spares me and lets me live? It will be even better and more
entertaining.” The king thought to himself, “I will spare her
until I hear the rest of the story; then I will have her put to death
the next day.”
PA G E 2 3 , T H E A R A B I A N N I G H T S

13. When morning broke, the day dawned, and the sun rose; the
king left to attend to the affairs of the kingdom, and the vizier,
Shahrazad’s father, was amazed and delighted.” King Shahrayar
governed all day and returned home at night to his quarters
and got into bed with Shahrazad. Then Dinarzad said to her
sister Shahrazad, “Please, sister, if you are not sleepy, tell us one
of your lovely little tales to while away the night.” The king
added, “Let it be the conclusion of the story of the demon and
the merchant, for I would like to hear it.” Shahrazad replied,
“With the greatest pleasure, dear, happy King.”
PA G E 2 3 ( C O N T I N U E D ) , T H E A R A B I A N N I G H T S

14. Suspense
Seduction
Deferral
Death
Interruption
Desire
Space
Time
T H E A R T O F S T O RY T E L L I N G

15. This slideshow by Craig Carey is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License