Throughout literature history, many works have been cited as influential to literature and society. Works such as John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, and The Holy Bible are accredited as influential pieces of literature. These works have drastically changed today’s society. However, Alf Layla Wa-Layla’s The Thousand and One Nights is not thought of as influential literary piece. The revolutionary ideas this story conveys, considering that The Thousand and One Nights was written in the thirteenth century, is simply astounding. Alf Layla Wa-Layla’s The Thousand and One Nights had a resounding impact upon women’s rights and literature throughout the years to this day. In The
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The greatest example of this idea comes through Shahrazad, the vizier’s daughter, who is the hero of The Thousand and One Nights. She becomes the hero because King Shahrayar “is murdering innocent young women for no greater crime than being female” (Clinton 120) believing that “there is not a single chaste woman anywhere on the entire face of the earth” (Wa-Layla 562). Despite her father’s disapproval, she cries out that “[she] would like [him] to marry [her] to King Shahrayar, so that [she] may either succeed in saving the people or perish and die like the rest” (Wa-Layla 562). The complete story is an example of how women can fight for their rights, in this case right to life, against the supposedly superior male. Many scholars agree that the feminist theme in The Thousand and One Nights became an inspiration for the society that would result. University of Sydney, Australia Professor Samar Attar describes The Thousand and One Nights …show more content…
Literature since can be attributed to the story and its type of story telling, the “Arabian Nights Encyclopedia lists the names of almost all the major writers for whom the Nights has been a source of inspiration” (Shafiee-Sabet et. al. 45). The following are some examples of the authors and their works that have been inspired by Wa-Layla’s The Thousand and One Nights. Vladimir Nabokov, a 20th century Russian-American author, was most famous for his novels Speak Memory, Lolita, and Pale Fire. However, “Traces of the Nights can be found in almost all of Nabokov’s major novels” especially in the previously mentioned works of the author (Shafiee-Sabet et. al. 45). Even to Nabokov’s most recognizable classics, the influence Wa-Layla’s work had on him is visible through them. Two other authors are The Brothers Grimm, who created many great tales such as the Children 's and Household Tales which contained many German fairy tales. Bernhard Heller, a Hungarian scholar, had noticed similarities between the famous tales and Wa-Layla’s classic. Heller then created an “elaborate list of connections between the Grimms’ tales and the 1001 Nights” (Marzolph 80). In this list, “Heller’s survey of the contemporary knowledge about connections between the Nights and
The greatest example of this idea comes through Shahrazad, the vizier’s daughter, who is the hero of The Thousand and One Nights. She becomes the hero because King Shahrayar “is murdering innocent young women for no greater crime than being female” (Clinton 120) believing that “there is not a single chaste woman anywhere on the entire face of the earth” (Wa-Layla 562). Despite her father’s disapproval, she cries out that “[she] would like [him] to marry [her] to King Shahrayar, so that [she] may either succeed in saving the people or perish and die like the rest” (Wa-Layla 562). The complete story is an example of how women can fight for their rights, in this case right to life, against the supposedly superior male. Many scholars agree that the feminist theme in The Thousand and One Nights became an inspiration for the society that would result. University of Sydney, Australia Professor Samar Attar describes The Thousand and One Nights …show more content…
Literature since can be attributed to the story and its type of story telling, the “Arabian Nights Encyclopedia lists the names of almost all the major writers for whom the Nights has been a source of inspiration” (Shafiee-Sabet et. al. 45). The following are some examples of the authors and their works that have been inspired by Wa-Layla’s The Thousand and One Nights. Vladimir Nabokov, a 20th century Russian-American author, was most famous for his novels Speak Memory, Lolita, and Pale Fire. However, “Traces of the Nights can be found in almost all of Nabokov’s major novels” especially in the previously mentioned works of the author (Shafiee-Sabet et. al. 45). Even to Nabokov’s most recognizable classics, the influence Wa-Layla’s work had on him is visible through them. Two other authors are The Brothers Grimm, who created many great tales such as the Children 's and Household Tales which contained many German fairy tales. Bernhard Heller, a Hungarian scholar, had noticed similarities between the famous tales and Wa-Layla’s classic. Heller then created an “elaborate list of connections between the Grimms’ tales and the 1001 Nights” (Marzolph 80). In this list, “Heller’s survey of the contemporary knowledge about connections between the Nights and