The Arabian Nights by Husain Haddawy begins with the mention of an adulterous woman, promptly followed by her murder. The set up provides us with context for an entire collection of parables, with the moral being that women are manipulative cheaters who use men for their own means and pleasure.
The book has multiple explicit sexual scenes, going beyond just a description of sexual intercourse. Most of these scenes involve some sort of morally deviant behavior, especially considering that the stories revolve around Muslim people and attempt to preach lessons following the teachings of Islam, a religion that condemns premarital relationships as haram.
The portrayal of women, sex and relationships between men and women are problematic to say the least- which is exactly why I think its important that we read The Nights. Being that the class is about the Orientalist view that the East is subjected to, from the people to the literature, its notable that the book we’re using is a translation.
The discussions the class facilitates through our reading of The Nights often include dissection of the misogyny everpresent in every story, as well as the role of the female protagonist as a representation of feminism in a book inherently loaded with chauvinism.
I think its important to read books like this, to learn to critically analyze literature as well as develop the ability to separate our opinions from that of the author. It helps us realise the complexity of the dissemination of ideas and morals and forces us to ponder the origin of the misogyny and racism in the books: was it the original authors or the translators or a combination of both?
