The Arabian Nights in America

Speaker: Abdul Sattar Jawad, Duke University

The Thousand and One Nights [alf Layla wa Layla] is the most popular world literature in the West. These Oriental Frame Tales captured the imagination of generations of Western readers and prominent writers in presenting fairy tales, romances, fables, legends, parables, anecdotes, erotica, debates, and exotic adventures. Ali Baba, Sindbad, and Aladdin and his Magic Lamp, hooked the attention of young and adults readers all over the world. The Nights, in their rich and exotic imagination, inspired poets, writers, and artists from medieval European Literature to Postmodernism. Professor Abdul Sattar Jawad will explore how the Arabian Nights inspired leading American writers like Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, and Melville as well as folklore artists.

Professor Sattar Jawad's lecture is presented by the John Hope Franklin Center. A light lunch will be served.