The year 2004 marked the tercentennial anniversary of the Arabian Nights’ translation into French by Antoine Galland. Since then, conferences have taken place and books and encyclopedias have been published on this topic. Papers of the Wolfenbüttel Conference on the Arabian Nights (2004) have been published in special issues in Fabula and Marvels and Tales (2005), and Marzolph’s and van Leeuwen’s The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia (2003), Marzolph’s Arabian Nights Reader, and Marzolph’s Arabian Nights in Transnational Perspective (2007) are important contributions to the study of the Arabian Nights, especially from literary and folkoristic perspectives.
In this vein, Hasan El-Shamy’s long-standing interest, expertise, and superb scholarship in the narrative traditions of the Arab and the Muslim world have resulted in a timely appearance of two important reference works, composing with his earlier publication a trilogy: Folk Traditions of the Arab World: A Guide to Motif Classification (1995), A Motif Index of The Thousand and One Nights (2006), and Types of the Folktale in the Arab World: A Demographically Oriented Tale-Type Index (2004). The materials used in the Motif Index come from the four-volume authentic folk edition of Alf Laylah wa Laylah (Maktabat al-Jumhuriyyh, Cairo), whereas Types includes both published and unpublished sources--from sound tapes and manuscripts in public and private archives, as well as from national books for schoolchildren used during the 1940s and 1950s by the Egyptian government. All this material is important, and it would be nice to have a component showing the continuities in time and space.
Types of the Folktale in the Arab World: A Demographically Oriented Tale-Type Index is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary index of folktales told by the diverse ethnic groups who populate “the Arab World”--the Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia, the Levant Coasts, the Nile Valley of Egypt and Sudan, and the Maghreb. El-Shamy continues the tale-type classification of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson, and also seeks to correct the Eurocentric shortcomings of this system by addressing “folklore as behavior,” bringing psycho-social foundations inherent in the Arab tales into the foreground of his work. He modifies the Aarne Thompson system as required by the material and also in accordance with the “worldview of the indexer” (El–Shamy 2004: xxviii). Cultures adjacent to the Arabian tradition are referenced through tale and motif indices available for the region; the author lists cross-references to related typologies (Arewa 1980, Eberhard and Boratav 1953, Jason 1965 and 1988, Klipple 1992, Marzolph 1984 and 1992, Nowak 1969) which are useful in relocating and revising regional indices.
Alf Laylah wa Laylah (The Thousand and One Nights) has interested many readers in the West, but most of studies of it, until recently, have been conducted without reference to folklore scholarship. Victor Chauvin’s Bibliographie does not provide full references to the Arabian Nights in its entirety (1892-1905). Nikita Elisséeff’s 1949 study of themes and motifs and Ferial Jabouri Ghazoul’s 1980 study of narrative structure dealt with the Arabian Nights mostly from a literary perspective. Hence El-Shamy’s Types is an essential companion for students of Arabic folk narrative, folk culture, and comparative folklore. The publication of the Motif Index is also very timely, as critiques of the international typologies have underscored how they suffer from inaccurate or partial information.
With these two important contributions to motif and type studies, El-Shamy brings accurate guides to Arab folk tradition and narrative, not only through historical and literary perspectives, which have been the ruling principle for the most indices, but also through sociological and psychological approaches. Two concepts should be emphasized in appreciating the organization of these new resources. The first is the “demographically-oriented” rationale; the second is the importance of the “cognitive system,” a notion that can be used in describing the Arab mentality and worldview. Readers might want to revisit the psychology-based argument of El-Shamy (1976, 1999), begun since the publication of his doctoral thesis (1967), in order to grasp the different approaches taken towards cataloging tale types and motifs and also possible remedies to the problem of Eurocentrism in some of the existing catalogues.
In both of the works under review here, El-Shamy devises many signs for data fields, including abbreviations for ethnic, tribal, and geographical origin of the tales. He also expands the range of Thompson’s motifs in the substructure of the indexing system. El-Shamy seeks to remedy the lack of detailed tale types and motifs by adding a section sign (“§”) to the number of the type and a double dagger (“‡”) to introduce a new motif. It does take some time to become familiar with the details of reference style, but a listing of abbreviations is helpfully presented in the introductory pages.
Each tale type is identified, relevance to the regional texts is pointed out, and the “Motif-Spectrum” is presented, after which the occurrences of the tale type are identified in the examined sources. Bibliography and other sources are given, including miscellaneous manuscripts, public and private archives, and El-Shamy’s own collections. Finally, the register of tale types and register of motifs are presented. Here are a few examples of innovative types and motifs:
J20§, Conditioning: effects associated with past experience cause man (animal) to respond accordingly (conditioned response).
J0148.2.1§, ‡One word (phrase, sentence, idea) evokes another associated with it. ("Principle of polarity": stability of syntax, word sequence, word order).
J2218§, The effect of group-opinion: clearly false statement held as true outweighs physical evidence.
K830.1§, ‡Victim induced to develop a pattern of behavior (through rewards), and then attacked.
P522.0.2§, ‡Religious laws: jurisprudence based on sacred dogma (sharia, sharî¿ah).
P522.0.2.1.1§, Four judges (courts) for the Four Islamic Schools of Jurisprudence--(varying interpretations of sharia).
P798.1.0.5§, Triads revolving around brother and sister as unbalanced (Sethian syndrome).
U300§, Relativity of perception: Adaptation level (judgment depends on circumstances, objects of comparison, frame of reference, or context).
W256.1§, Stereotyping: ethnic and national traits.
W256.2§, Stereotyping: social class.
W256.5§, Stereotyping: racial traits.
W256.6§, Stereotyping: gender (sex) traits.
Z55.1§, ‡Biological process carried to its climax.
Z55.3§, ‡Social (interactional) process carried to its climax.
Eurocentrism is an important issue here, even though folklorists consistently voice criticisms of the earlier typologies. Neither Thompson’s Types of the Folktale nor Aarne-Thompson’s Motif-Index adequately addressed Arabic and/or Islamic materials. Even the last edition of the type index, The Types of International Folktales, does not give much attention to Islam and thus still evinces a Eurocentric worldview. Without a doubt, El-Shamy’s work arrives to help correct this problem. A Motif Index of The Thousand and One Nights offers inclusive analysis of the themes constituting this classical literary work, thus bridging the gap between printed text and oral folklore. The question arises: which version or versions of the Arabian Nights should be employed? This methodological question is answered by El-Shamy who prefers “the most authentic” (2006: 2-3) version which he finds in the Alf Laylah wa Laylah (The Thousand and One Nights) as opposed to the European Arabian Nights.
Remarkably, El-Shamy has completed this ambitious work by himself, without the aid of a group of researchers. Jenny El-Shamy, the author’s daughter, produced the final jacket covers for these two books. These books are crucial resources for folklore scholars, folk narrative researchers, literary folktale scholars, and students of Asian, African, and Middle Eastern narrative traditions. Today, it is possible to obtain a grasp of folk narratives of the Arab world through these complementary reference tools. It is also timely to show the richness of narrative traditions in the Islamic world when Islamophobic reactions in the West have been on the rise. El-Shamy brings to the world of international folklore and folktale scholarship these books shedding light on cultural, social, and religious elements in the rich and lively tale tradition of the Middle East.
References Cited
Arewa, E. Ojo. A Classification of Folktales of the Northern East African Cattle Area by Type. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
Chauvin, Victor. Bibliographie des ouvrages arabes ou relatifs aux Arabes publiés dans l’Europe chrétienne de 1810 à 1885, Les mille et une nuits. 4-7. Liége: Vaillant-Carmanne, 1892-1905.
Eberhard, Wolfram, and Pertev Naili Boratav. Typen türkischer Volksmärchen. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1953.
Elisséeff, Nikita. Thèmes et motifs de Mille et une nuits: essai de classification. Beirut: Institut français de Damas, 1949
El-Shamy, Hasan. Tales Arab Women Tell and the Behavioral Patterns They Portray. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.
--------------------- “Psychologically-based Criteria for Classification by Motif and Tale-Type,” Journal of Folklore Research, 1997, 34/3: 233-43.
---------------------Folk Traditions of the Arab World: A Guide to Motif Classification. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.
--------------------- “Behaviorism and the Text,” in Folklore Today: A Festschrift for Richard M. Dorson, edited by Linda Dégh, Henry Glassie, and Felix Oinas. Bloomington: Research Center for Language and Semiotic Studies, Indiana University, 1976, p.145-160.
---------------------Folkloric Behavior: A Theory for the Study of the Dynamics of Traditional Culture (A case study of the stability and change in the lore of the Egyptian community in Brooklyn, NY). Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1967.
Ghazoul, Ferial Jabour. The Arabian Nights: A Structural Analysis. Cairo: Cairo Associated Institution for the Study and Presentation of Arab Cultural Values, 1980.
Jason, Heda. “Types of Jewish Oriental Tales,” Fabula 1965, 7: 115-224.
-------------- Folktales of the Jews of Iraq: Tale-Types and Genres. Or Yehuda: Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center, Research Institute of Iraqi Jewry, 1988.
Klipple, May Augusta. African Folktales with Foreign Analogues. New York: Garland, 1992.
Marzolph, Ulrich. ed. The Arabian Nights in Transnational Perspective. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2007.
----------------------- The Arabian Nights Reader. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2006.
------------------------ Arabia Ridens: die humoristische Kurzprosa der frühen adab-Literatur im internationalen Traditionsgeflecht. Frankfurt am Main: V. Klostermann, 1992.
------------------------ Typologie des persischen Volksmärchens. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1984.
Marzolph, Ulrich, and Richard van Leeuwen. The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, 2 vols. Oxford: ABC-CLIO, 2003.
Uther, Hans-Jörg. The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography, 3 vols. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2004.
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[Review length: 1635 words • Review posted on September 12, 2007]