Description
Book SynopsisIn The Thousand and One Nights and Twentieth-Century Fiction, Richard van Leeuwen challenges conventional perceptions of the development of 20th-century prose by arguing that Thousand and One Nights, as an intertextual model, has been a crucial influence on authors who have contributed to shaping the main literary currents in 20th-century world literature, inspiring new forms and concepts of literature and texts.
Trade ReviewWinner 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 Leeuwen’s 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.[…] Vor allem aber scharft van Leeuwen unseren Blick dafur, wie Tausendundeine Nacht eben nicht einfach von der „westlichen“ Literatur vereinnahmt wurde, sondern allmahlich und auf sehr vielen Wegen in sie eingedrungen und so zu einem Kultbuch der Weltliteratur geworden ist.“ Claudia Ott in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 115/4–5 (2020), Islam, https://doi.org/10.1515/olzg-2020-0119
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction The Thousand and One Nights Incorporation into World Literature This Study Part 1 Enclosures, Journeys, and Texts 1 Enclosures, Letters, and Destiny: Hugo von Hofmannsthal and André Gide Hugo von Hofmannsthal, the Kunstmärchen, and Orientalism The Contingency of Fate: André Gide’s Les faux-monnayeurs 2 Going Home: Al-Tayyib Salih and Ibrahim al-Faqih Season of Migration to the North and the Thousand and One Nights The Forbidden Room: The Thousand and One Nights and Ibrahim al-Faqih’s Gardens of the Night 3 Writing and Enclosures: Michel Butor and Abilio Estévez The Portrait of an Author: Michel Butor’s Portrait de l’artiste comme jeune singe Imprisoned Imagination: Abilio Estévez Conclusions to Part 1 Part 2 Capturing the Volatility of Time 4 The Return of Time: Marcel Proust and Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar Proust and the Thousand and One Nights Times of Life and Society: Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar 5 Narration and Survival: Vladimir Nabokov and Margaret Atwood Nabokov, the Thousand and One Nights, and Life After Death Narrating Against Death: Margaret Atwood 6 Desire Unbound: The Marquis de Sade and Angela Carter Angela Carter: The Feminist-Narrative Complex 7 Temporal Dystopias: Botho Strauss and Haruki Murakami War and the Re-invention of Time: Botho Strauss’s Der junge Mann Haruki Murakami and the Constraints of Time Conclusions to Part 2 Part 3 The Textual Universe 8 The Celebration of Textuality: James Joyce and the Argentine (post-)Modernists The Thousand and One Nights and the Textuality of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake Textual Worlds: Fernández, Arlt, Borges, and Piglia 9 Stories Without End: Italo Calvino and Georges Perec Italo Calvino and Narration: If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller … and the Thousand and One Nights Georges Perec: The Imperative of Form 10 The Celebration of Hybridity: Abdelkébir Khatibi and Juan Goytisolo Abdelkébir Khatibi: Narration and the Body Juan Goytisolo: Hybridity as a Refuge Conclusions to Part 3 Part 4 Narrating History 11 The Traumas of History: William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, and André Brink Form History Absalom, Absalom! and the Thousand and One Nights The Haunted House: Toni Morrison’s Beloved and André Brink’s Imaginings of Sand 12 The Enchantment of History: Gabriel García Márquez and Salman Rushdie Gabriel García Márquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude Salman Rushdie: History Gone Awry 13 Words Against Death: Roberto Calasso, David Grossman, and Elias Khoury Roberto Calasso: The Ruin of Kasch David Grossman: Fighting the Nazi Beast Violence and the Boundaries of Narrativity: Elias Khoury’s Yalo Conclusions to Part 4 Part 5 Identifications, Impersonations, Doubles: The Discontents of (post-)Modernity 14 Aladdin’s Nightmare: Henrik Pontoppidan and Ernst Jünger The Curse of Aladdin: Henrik Pontoppidan The City of Brass, Aladdin, and the Discontents of Modernity: Ernst Jünger 15 The Sindbad Syndrome: Gyula Krúdy and John Barth Gyula Krúdy: The Nostalgic Nomad The Intrepid Traveler: John Barth 16 The Mock Caliph: H. G. Wells, Arthur Schnitzler, and Orhan Pamuk A Modern Harun al-Rashid: H. G. Wells’s The Research Magnificent Arthur Schnitzler’s Der Traumnovelle The Writer and His Double: Orhan Pamuk’s The Black Book 17 The Multiple Faces of Shahrazad: Leïla Sebbar and Waçini Laredj Leïla Sebbar: Shérézade Waçini Laredj: Les ailes de la reine Conclusions to Part 5 Part 6 Aftermaths: The Delusions of Politics 18 The 1002nd Night: Tawfiq al-Hakim, Taha Husayn, and Naji Mahfuz Tawfiq al-Hakim: Shahrazad Taha Husayn: The Dreams of Shahrazad Najib Mahfuz: The Predicament of Shahriyar 19 Fabrications of Power: Hani al-Rahib and Rachid Boudjedra The Curse of Repression: al-Rahib’s Alf layla wa-laylatan A False Utopia: Rachid Boudjedra 20 The Secret Lives of Sindbad: Mostafa Nissaboury and Bahram Beyzaï Mostafa Nissaboury: Shahrazad’s Suffering Sindbad’s Return: Bahram Beyzaï Conclusions to Part 6 Conclusion The Narrative Universe of Paul Auster The Framework: The Invention of Solitude The Locked Room Doubles Narrativity Bibliography
