One Thousand and One Nights

The introduction to this work is composed by its translator, N.J. Dawood. Dawood notes that these stories are a collection of folk tales produced in the Abbasid period. They incorporate elements of Arab, Indian, and Persian culture. Dawood notes that readers should consider the tales as an “expression of the lay and secular imagination” and “the spontaneous products of untutored minds” (7). In other words, in their time, the tales were not considered as works of high, classical literature but as entertainment for the general public. For that reason, they are written in a simple and colloquial style and meant to be consumed, and sometimes told orally, as short stories. Despite the plethora of classical Arabic literature, Dawood draws our attention to the fact that Tales from the Thousand and One Nights has become the most recognizable throughout the world and can now be considered a universal classic. Despite the tales’ focus on the supernatural, Dawood emphasizes that they reflect everyday life throughout the medieval Islamic world. He also discusses the influence of Indian and Persian fairytales on the tales and how professional storytellers in the Arabian Peninsula adapted these tales.