One Thousand and One Nights

Hanan Al-Shaykh, 2011

(January 2012)

Framing stories then. Wheels within wheels. Matryoshka dolls, one inside the other inside the other. This is the granddaddy of them all. Grandmother perhaps would be better, with Geoff’s merry pilgrims acting as paterfamilias, ‘cos this is all about the ladies.

My question though is this: did everyone in 12^th Century West Asia have ADHD? Would it hurt so much to finish the story you’re telling before launching off on another one? There’s only so much nesting one person can take. At one point we get a queen telling a story about a vizier telling a story about cook telling a story about a bridegroom telling a story about ragout in order to explain why he won’t eat it in order to plead for his life to a king in order plead for the life of his slave to a caliph in order to gain a stay of execution for one more night from her husband. I make that four levels of narration before we even get down to the actual author.

It’s noticeable that a large number of these stories are told to appease capricious kings, caliphs, viziers and the like. Tell me an amusing story and I’ll spare your life. What barbarism. Also perhaps not so different from a modern day courtroom.

It’s all about the story. It’s always about the story.