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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 June 2000 Issue No. 487 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 June 2000 Issue No. 487
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Focus Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The sources of dreams
Besides the Qur'an, heroic epics formed my literary style. I remember reading Antara, Hamza Al-Bahlawan and other stories at an early age. Then I read the stories of the pre-Islamic Arabs and their wars. I was greatly affected by them. Then the Thousand and One Nights, with their unparalleled richness, density of detail and the sheer brilliance of the plot are undoubtedly among the most important narratives in human literature. Although their effect extended to European and other literature, their effect on us was greater because they emerged from this land and are infused with our Arab heritage.
Still, the Thousand and One Nights have a bad reputation. When we were young, we only read abridged versions -- all the explicit scenes were censored. I later read the complete version. The tales express all the dreams that humans beings share, yet some people have given themselves the right to confiscate parts of these dreams.
When Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novels were described in terms of magical realism, I immediately thought how appropriate that was to the Thousand and One Nights. That is where we must look to find the beginnings of magical realism. The stories combine reality and fantasy, truth and invention as no other narrative had done before them. Perhaps none has been so successful since, either. And perhaps Latin American writers, among whom the school is so popular, were affected by the Nights, because the majority acknowledge the work's great artistic value.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
