100 must-read books for college students

Chapter 24 A Pyramid of Folklore History
Chapter 23 A Pyramid in the History of Folk Literature: "One Thousand and One Nights"

Opening this "One Thousand and One Nights", a magnificent and wonderful world immediately appears in front of us-in terms of genre, it is sometimes childlike.
Words, sometimes fables, sometimes folklore; in terms of characters, sometimes emperors, generals, talented scholars and beautiful women, sometimes carpenters, fishermen, tailors

Farmers; in terms of location, sometimes India, sometimes Baghdad, sometimes the ancient capital of China; in terms of content, sometimes sailing adventures, sometimes

Myths and legends, sometimes love tragedies... It is really colorful and dizzying.These rare and touching, twists and turns bizarre stories

It broadly reflects the social system and customs of the Middle Ages Arab countries, and shows the hard work, bravery, and integrity of the working people.
The excellent qualities of straightness and kindness run through the theme that light and justice must always overcome darkness and evil.

Folktales and literati's manuscripts

"One Thousand and One Nights", also translated "Arabian Nights", is a collection of ancient folk stories of the Arab nation, and also a collection of Arabic literature.

highest achievement.

However, "One Thousand and One Nights" is not the creation of "one person", it is an ancient Arabian

A collection of folk tales.The manuscripts of this book began to circulate in the countries of the Middle East around the middle of the 8th century, and continued until the 16th century.
A gathering of literati, many stories with different themes and genres form an artistic whole, and finally compiled into a book and published, so
, it is the crystallization of the collective wisdom of the Arab people of all nationalities in the Middle Ages.

The first few hundred years of the formation of "Arabian Nights" was also the period when the Great Arabian Empire was finally formed and reached its heyday——Aba

Si dynasty period (750~1258).At this time, the Arab Empire spanned Asia, Africa and Europe, with political, economic, military, religious and
and culture are very prosperous.The inherent cultural traditions of the Arab nation and the influence of the culture of the conquered nation.and India, Greece
The incorporation of positive cultural factors such as Arabian culture has produced an incomparably brilliant new Arab culture, and "Arabian Nights" is exactly its excellent
Results.

"Arabian Nights" Arabic Literature

"One Thousand and One Nights" includes more than 260 stories, big and small.The stories in the book are mainly composed of three parts: one part comes from
The ancient Persian work "A Thousand Stories", which is the main part of the book; part comes from Egypt; part comes from Iraq

, Tell the story of the big food in black.These stories include a wide range of content: there are historical stories, adventure stories, stories of gods and demons, love stories

stories and more.There are so many characters, ranging from kings, nobles, officials, gifted scholars and beauties, down to grooms and servants, fishermen, farmers, woodcutters, tailors, etc.
There are cooks, robbers and thieves, there are bold, cruel, cunning, passionate

, good, foolish, wise, everything is available.The places are sometimes in Egypt, sometimes in France, sometimes in Baghdad, sometimes in India,

in China.

"One Thousand and One Nights" is famous for its broad, rich, magical and colorful content.Story Concentration Exhibition
Middle Ages

It is a real and vivid picture of Arab social life in the early period, vividly depicting the life, customs and customs of people from all walks of life

.Emperors and generals, great merchants and great merchants, woodcutters and fishermen, beggars and slaves, even robbers and grass bandits, witch doctors and craftsmen, three religions and nine streams, all kinds of people

People of color are incorporated into its shots.It reflects the sharp class contradictions, the astonishing disparity between the rich and the poor, the developed navigation industry,

Prosperous commerce and trade, as well as marriage system, religious concepts, ethnic customs and handicrafts, etc., are all-encompassing.it also

Through the imaginary characters and plots such as gods and monsters in the sky and the earth, mage elves, etc., it reflects the social reality refractionally.

"One Thousand and One Nights" is said to be "spotless" on the side of medieval Arab society

of the mirror".

"Arabian Nights" is a true depiction of the complex social life in medieval Arabia.In particular, it depicts the people's
Life reflects people's suffering, likes and dislikes, emotions and aspirations.Therefore, it is a faithful echo of the voice of the people.this is one
"Arabian Nights" is an important symbol of strong people's character.

The most striking part of "One Thousand and One Nights" is the laborers,
They are all portrayed and sung as heroes.Not only are they amazingly intelligent and creative, but
Has a very noble character.They all fought tenaciously, thus defeating the enemy and getting out of the predicament.

"One Thousand and One Nights" has experienced eight long centuries in the process of formation and development. During this period, the ruling class and feudal literati
It is constantly supplemented, transformed, polished, and processed, so many stories reflect the ideology of the ruling class to varying degrees.

There is some feudal dross.Such as advocating the outlook on life and happiness of the exploiting class, advocating the consciousness of male superiority and inferiority, serious
Destiny, etc., these contents should be carefully eliminated.

"Arabian Nights" is full of oriental sentiment and romance.It vividly outlines a picture with gorgeous and colorful brushstrokes.

Another genre painting of Arab social life.Its content is colorful and colorful.There are both court banquets and orchestras
There are scenes of extermination, and there are also desolate and miserable scenes of slaves being flogged;

Dao Zhongluo felt sympathy for being treated coldly.Weddings, funerals, religious ceremonies, living customs, customs, all-encompassing, all-encompassing

have.And all of these are full of strong oriental sentiments: veiled girls, Persian businessmen wearing headbands, colorful jewellery, etc.

Pearl emerald, fragrant musk, worship and awe of Allah...

What the book introduces us is not only a real society, but also a world intertwined with fantastic fantasy.
A world full of romance.The author's rich imagination and fantasy are running freely.

Everything that exists only in fantasy exists in stories, and all fantasy miracles are realized here
.These bold exaggerations and rich imaginations are deeply rooted in the soil of reality.Magnificent fantasy and vivid
The combination of descriptions expresses people's good wishes to conquer nature, transform society, and pursue happiness.In short, in the works, use

The writing style of romanticism and realism organically unifies the fantasy world and the real world, which is a major feature of this book.

The structure is flexible and simple, and the plot is bizarre and tortuous is another feature of "Arabian Nights".

The many stories in "One Thousand and One Nights" are organized together in a flexible and simple way, that is, with Shan Ruzod giving the king
Storytelling is the general structural clue of the whole book, organizing all independent stories into this big framework.in Taigu
Things contain some small stories, and small stories sometimes contain stories, and one story leads to another.every story

They are relatively independent and closely connected, so that they echo from the beginning to the end and link up and down to form a continuous whole.This structure, then

It is good for preserving old stories and adding new ones.

These stories reflect the social system, cultural beliefs, and customs of the Middle East and Near East countries in the Middle Ages, especially Egypt.

At the same time, it shows a vivid picture of life in the Middle East, and it also deeply reflects the greed, cruelty, and stupidity of the rulers.

and poor
hardships of people's lives.

At the same time, "Arabian Nights" demonstrates the wisdom and bravery of the working people in many ways.If you are brave and resourceful
Mijana ("Alibaba and the Forty Thieves"), the calm and witty fisherman ("The Fisherman's Tale");
The king, the governor, the prime minister, and the judge who tried to occupy her all made a fool of themselves and suffered a lot of common women ("Women and Hers").

The Tale of Five Suitors of "Arabian Nights" also has many stories that reflect the marriage and love of men and women, and reflect the life of businessmen.
Stories, as well as many myths, fables, and fairy tales, interspersed with many clear lyric poems.

The content of life reflected in "Arabian Nights" is very broad.The biggest feature in art is the rich and beautiful imagination, strong
romanticism.The story is vivid with twists and turns, but full of legend, and the language is colloquial, concise and clear, which is conducive to spreading.

Therefore, from this point of view, if a folk tale can be passed on orally, it must have a plot that firmly grasps the hearts of the people. "one thousand and One
Almost every story in Night

There are thrilling and bizarre scenes and unpredictable plots.Sometimes strange peaks protrude, and sometimes branches grow wildly.

And the willows are dark and the flowers are bright.The joys and sorrows of Hassan and Senuoyu are full of twists and turns;

The fisherman catches a copper vase containing the devil when he fishes, and he is almost poisoned and subdues the devil.stories

Fantastic, weird, ever-changing, and interesting.

The book "Arabian Nights" uses sharp contrasting descriptions to portray the characters.true story,

good,

The image of beauty always forms a very strong contrast with its opposites false, ugly and evil.The fisherman and the devil, the silversmith and the daemon,

Aladdin and the African mage contrast each other, so that the more beautiful and radiant the more beautiful, the more ugly and despicable the ugly.

In a story, there are often comparisons of multiple character relationships, such as the industrious in "The Story of Alibaba and the Forty Robbers".
The contrast between Alibaba, who is honest, loyal, and smart, and his elder brother Gao Ximu, who is vicious, greedy, and jealous;
The contrast between the wife and Gao Ximu's cunning and greedy wife;

Than wait.In a variety of contrasting descriptions, the characters are made more vivid and prominent, which in turn shows the author's praise and respect for the characters.
The strong tendency of derogation, love and hatred clearly reflects the workers' concept of good and evil and simple aesthetics.

Art Treasure Wenyuan Pearl

"One Thousand and One Nights" is the creative crystallization of the artistic talents of the Arab people.With its great artistic charm, how many years
widely attracts readers from all over the world.

"Arabian Nights" is not only a bright superstar in the history of Arabic literature, but also has a positive impact on modern world literature and art.

Influence.During the Crusades, this book was brought back to Europe and translated into many languages, winning the love and appreciation of readers from all over the world.

"The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", "The Story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp", "The Story of the Fisherman" and so on all over the world

Widespread.

Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" and Italy's Boccaccio's "Ten Days Talk", both in terms of writing and content
, are obviously influenced by "Arabian Nights".French university scholar Voltaire said that after reading "Arabian Nights" four times

, It can be regarded as a taste of story-style literary and artistic works.The great writer Stendhal even hoped that God would make him forget the plot in the book,
So that when he reads it again, he can regain the pleasure that the wonderful story gave him.Famous writers of the Renaissance era Dante, Bo
The creations of Gaccio, Cervantes, Shakespeare, etc., are directly or indirectly influenced by "Thousands" in terms of materials or artistic techniques.

Under the influence of Zero One Night, many European composers and painters have created many beautiful, moving and interesting works based on the stories in the book.
Natural operas and illustrations.The great writer Gorky once praised "Arabian Nights" as "the most magnificent" in the history of world folk literature.
"A monument to the world", "perfectly expressing the astonishing power of the colorful fantasy of the peoples of the East. "

In short, "Arabian Nights" can be said to be an encyclopedia of Arab social life in the Middle Ages. Now, the stories in this book

Some things have been put on the screen, and some have been selected as teaching materials, still glowing with dazzling and charming brilliance.

"Arabian Nights" is not only a treasure of Arabic art, but also a dazzling pearl in the world literature.

(End of this chapter)