“Many of the enchanted things in the book are lamps, carpets, sofas, gems, brass rings. It is a rather different landscape than the fairy tale landscape of the West. Though we have interiors and palaces, we don't have bustling cities, and there isn't the emphasis on the artisan making things. The ambiance from which they were written was an entirely different one. The Arabian Nights comes out of a huge world of markets and trade. Cairo, Basra, Damascus: trades and skills.” WorldBookDifferentNightCitiesWrittenHugeSkillsTradeWestRingsTalesLandscapeFairyFairy TaleInteriorsEmphasisLampsCarpetPalacesGemsEnchantedBrassSofasArtisansArabianCairoArabian NightsAmbiance Author:Marina Warner
“For example, John Law's Mississippi Company venture printed shares, and the money had gone up in smoke when it had been inscribed objects. The inscription made it magic and changed its meaning. That's how objects become charmed in The Arabian Nights, and they are often originally ordinary objects. The carpet is an ordinary, paltry object. The lamp is a rusty old lamp, and the bottles jinns are imprisoned within are old bottles. They are changed by the magic and the jinn's presence, and the jinn's presence is often embodied in the seal or inscription.” MadeLawNightCompanyGoneMagicShareExampleObjectsChangedOrdinaryMade ItSmokeBottlesVentureLampsCarpetPrintedSealsMississippiCharmedInscriptionsArabianJinnArabian Nights Author:Marina Warner
“Our traditional stories are based on an aristocratic model without a middle class, whereas The Arabian Nights reflect people living in cities, traders, merchants, travelers, with a wide range of personalities.” PeopleStoriesNightCitiesClassMiddlePersonalityModelsWideTraditionalRangeMiddle ClassTravelerMerchantsTradersArabianAristocraticLiving In The CityArabian Nights Author:Marina Warner
“Scheherazade, of course, was always in the back of my mind, because she's also a storyteller identified as female who tells a lot of anti-female stories. There's a parade in The Arabian Nights of sorceresses, adulteresses, ghouls, sirens, harridans.” MindStoriesNightCoursesFemaleStorytellerParadesOf My MindGhoulsSirensArabianSorceressArabian Nights Author:Marina Warner
“There are a range of women not represented in the Western fairy tale tradition. Husband-beaters are particularly interesting, as well as male pederasts. Children are often told in The Arabian Nights, "This man likes to abduct boys, be careful of him." These issues are explored through the medium of the stories, but actually the architecture of the book is such that there are many examples of women who are loyal, brave, devoted - especially to their lovers.” MenWellsChildrenBookStoriesNightInterestingBoysIssuesExampleLoversHusbandTraditionBraveWesternMalesCarefulArchitectureLikesTalesMediumsRangeFairyBe CarefulFairy TaleLoyalDevotedArabianArabian Nights Author:Marina Warner
“The other thing about the Nights is that it is quite racist. One parentheses is that I think this is one of the negative things that appeal to people, that The Arabian Nights could be used as a disguise for racism. It suited the West. You could smuggle racism into children's literature, you see. The African magician in the story of Aladdin, he's labeled explicitly as the "African Magician." He's not a character but a stereotype, and a lot of this got into nursery literature in this Oriental disguise.” PeopleThinkingChildrenCharacterStoriesUsedNightLiteratureRacismNegativeWestAppealsRacistDisguiseStereotypeMagicianNurseryChildren's LiteratureArabianParenthesesArabian Nights Author:Marina Warner
“Love can make you turn on yourself, and it can do harmful things to you. It's a deep lesson in human psychology, as with many of the stories. Anyways, that's just an example of one of the most wicked women in the Nights.” HumansStoriesNightTurnsCan DoPsychologyExampleLessonsWickedTurn-on Author:Marina Warner
“There's a whole slew of wonderful speculation of flying in a fanciful way. Gulliver is one of the central examples; Swift has the hum of Arabian Nights in his ear with Gulliver's Travels. The difference is in scale - Gulliver as a kind of Sinbad kind of figure, the way he is picked up and carried. Just to finish up with Scheherazade, I do think that The Arabian Nights could be considered as a great book on women's position in the world.” ThinkingWorldWayKindBookWholeNightDifferencesWonderfulFiguresExamplePositionEarsFlyingScalesSpeculationGreat BookArabianGulliverArabian NightsGulliver's Travels Author:Marina Warner
