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The Forum: The One Thousand and One Nights

The One Thousand and One Nights

30/09/2017

BBC Radio 4 - The Forum, The One Thousand and One Nights

Rajan Datar and guests explore the power of storytelling.

Rajan Datar and guests examine the history and influence of The One Thousand and One Nights, ancient magical tales whose origins stretch from India and Persia to Arabia.

The One Thousand and One Nights are a collection of fantastical stories of flying carpets, magic and genies whose ancient origins go back to the 7th century or earlier. The tales are told by Scheherazade who uses the power of storytelling night after night to stop her Sultan husband from beheading her. These highly influential stories were brought to the West in the 18th century and they have continued to evolve over the centuries. Rajan Datar and guests explore why these stories became so popular around the world and what they mean to us today. 

With Rajan is Wen Chin Ouyang, Professor of Arabic at SOAS in London; Dr Sandra Naddaff, senior lecturer in Comparative Literature at Harvard University; and the Iranian TV producer Shabnam Rezaei.

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