What "Nights"? Expert Knowledge vs. Lay Perception of the World's Most Famous Story Collection

Abstract

Since their introduction into world literature, the "Thousand and One Nights," better known in English as the "Arabian Nights," have become the world's most influential collection of stories. The general public is well acquainted with a few of the collection's more popular tales, in particular those of Sindbad, Aladdin and Ali Baba. Meanwhile, after two centuries of studying the collection's historical growth, expert scholars are still struggling to comprehend and convey to the lay public its complexity and the diversity of sources exploited by the various authors, scribes, and translators that collaborated in shaping the way the collection is perceived today.