The Arabian Nights and Orientalism —— Perspectives from East and West

----- 天方夜谭与东方研究

ISBN: 9781850437680 出版年：2006 页码：288 Tetsuo Nishio Yuriko Yamanaka Bloomsbury Publishing

The Arabian Nights and Orientalism was inspired by the tercentenary of the first Western edition of The Arabian Nights. Yuriko Yamanaka and Tetsuo Nishio marry Eastern and Western perspectives to provide a fascinating study of how this literary phenomenon brought about such a unique and rich cross-cultural fertilization. The Arabian Nights and Orientalism examines the tales' narrative motifs, and relates them to other cultures, traditions, and forms of representation. The authors situate the work for the first time firmly in the context of world literatures, for as Robert Irwin points out in his though-provoking introduction, the 'Nights' has for too long been overshadowed by the great Orientalism debate, with the stories either being portrayed as the embodiment of the West's fantasy of the Orient or as the authentic essence of the East. By introducing Japanese perspective on the 'Nights' for the first time, Yamanka and Nishio move beyond the restrictive categories of East and West and offer a more sophisticated appreciation of the tales. The stories are placed in a stimulating new range of contexts, from 19th century British feminism to ancient Greek romance. Yamanka and Nishio show how the Nights have picked up on, and reproduced themes which resonate across a wide spectrum of eras and cultures, from medieval Europe to Meiji Japan. Extensively illustrated throughout, The Arabian Nights and Orientalism will be of interest to scholars of the Middle East as well as anyone who has ever fallen under the spell of Scheherazade's stories.