<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" > <channel> <title> Comments on: The Wily Dalilah: Arabian Nights Feminist </title> <atom:link href="http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist</link> <description></description> <lastBuildDate>Sat, 27 Sep 2014 02:02:08 +0000</lastBuildDate> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2</generator> <item> <title> By: Howard </title> <link>http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist#comment-134970</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Howard]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 27 Sep 2014 02:02:08 +0000</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howardandrewjones.com/?p=2639#comment-134970</guid> <description><![CDATA[In reply to <a href="http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist#comment-133407">Kamal S.</a>. A brilliant, thoughtful post, and one I happen to agree with. Well said, sir. (Golf clap.)]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In reply to <a href="http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist#comment-133407">Kamal S.</a>.</p> <p>A brilliant, thoughtful post, and one I happen to agree with. Well said, sir. (Golf clap.)</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title> By: Kamal S. </title> <link>http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist#comment-133407</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Kamal S.]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 26 Sep 2014 06:34:27 +0000</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howardandrewjones.com/?p=2639#comment-133407</guid> <description><![CDATA[The tragedy is that the Arabian Nights all but launched speculative fiction, breathing life into 18th century Romances of the very new, at the time, novel. I did some research into the history of the reception of the 1001 Nights in American and British cultures. One fascinating thing is that up until the mid 20th century it was incredibly influential. For example, it was assigned reading Aleister Crowley foisted on his neophyte would-be mages, H.P. Lovecraft and E.A. Poe both cited the Arabian Nights as very profound influences on their storytelling and writing. I think our culture is uncomfortable with shadows such as sexism, racism, and classism. As if in order to become a more progressive order we banished from the safety of our circle these spectres, but they remain, dark wraiths at the edges of our social perceptions. Our banishing, if you will, were never effective but we lost sight of them. They haunt us and until we grapple with them more directly they will continue to do so. I think the 1001 Nights are brilliant in the way in which the most unpleasant human tendencies sit side by side with the most ethereal and magical, beyond being any sort of early fantasy and speculative fiction, they have a psychological aspect that is very important. An unpleasant magical mirror not just of medieval Islamic society, but of our own also, and of every human society. The 'sexism' of The 1001 Nights is incredibly nuanced, like the 'racism' and 'classism' and somehow people often find it easier to forgive worse in other older Western works. Such as Shakespeare. The Nights features nearly every single permutation of female characters, from Incredibly strong willed and assertive women with agency, ones without, as with male characters also, in the language of the age these stories were drafted in. The hundreds of tales within it really show a spectrum of human tendencies and this is what I find most amazing. The frame of it is a narrating woman who not only outsmarts a psychopathic murderer of a husband, but psychologically transforms him, and conquers him through intelligence and will power. The unstated subtext - that's found in a few manuscripts - is that she and her sister would have tried to kill him if the story ploy didn't work - but it did work, they had in a way more agency, and certainly displayed more intelligence, than the King. And in doing so she psychologically heals the entire Kingdom. In a sense she is the real heroine of the entire story cycle.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The tragedy is that the Arabian Nights all but launched speculative fiction, breathing life into 18th century Romances of the very new, at the time, novel.</p> <p>I did some research into the history of the reception of the 1001 Nights in American and British cultures. One fascinating thing is that up until the mid 20th century it was incredibly influential. For example, it was assigned reading Aleister Crowley foisted on his neophyte would-be mages, H.P. Lovecraft and E.A. Poe both cited the Arabian Nights as very profound influences on their storytelling and writing.</p> <p>I think our culture is uncomfortable with shadows such as sexism, racism, and classism. As if in order to become a more progressive order we banished from the safety of our circle these spectres, but they remain, dark wraiths at the edges of our social perceptions. Our banishing, if you will, were never effective but we lost sight of them. They haunt us and until we grapple with them more directly they will continue to do so.</p> <p>I think the 1001 Nights are brilliant in the way in which the most unpleasant human tendencies sit side by side with the most ethereal and magical, beyond being any sort of early fantasy and speculative fiction, they have a psychological aspect that is very important. An unpleasant magical mirror not just of medieval Islamic society, but of our own also, and of every human society.</p> <p>The ‘sexism’ of The 1001 Nights is incredibly nuanced, like the ‘racism’ and ‘classism’ and somehow people often find it easier to forgive worse in other older Western works. Such as Shakespeare.</p> <p>The Nights features nearly every single permutation of female characters, from Incredibly strong willed and assertive women with agency, ones without, as with male characters also, in the language of the age these stories were drafted in. </p> <p>The hundreds of tales within it really show a spectrum of human tendencies and this is what I find most amazing. The frame of it is a narrating woman who not only outsmarts a psychopathic murderer of a husband, but psychologically transforms him, and conquers him through intelligence and will power. </p> <p>The unstated subtext – that’s found in a few manuscripts – is that she and her sister would have tried to kill him if the story ploy didn’t work – but it did work, they had in a way more agency, and certainly displayed more intelligence, than the King. And in doing so she psychologically heals the entire Kingdom.</p> <p>In a sense she is the real heroine of the entire story cycle.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title> By: Howard </title> <link>http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist#comment-12683</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Howard]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 29 Mar 2014 17:53:10 +0000</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howardandrewjones.com/?p=2639#comment-12683</guid> <description><![CDATA[In reply to <a href="http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist#comment-12636">Megan Hutchins</a>. This one is definitely worth seeking out. Megan, I sometimes think that most people just skim to the most popular of the Arabian Nights stories and don't look further. And I've begun to think that most people aren't particularly familiar with them at all, or their storytelling conventions.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In reply to <a href="http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist#comment-12636">Megan Hutchins</a>.</p> <p>This one is definitely worth seeking out. </p> <p>Megan, I sometimes think that most people just skim to the most popular of the Arabian Nights stories and don’t look further. And I’ve begun to think that most people aren’t particularly familiar with them at all, or their storytelling conventions.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title> By: Megan Hutchins </title> <link>http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist#comment-12636</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Megan Hutchins]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2014 02:37:33 +0000</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howardandrewjones.com/?p=2639#comment-12636</guid> <description><![CDATA[That's too bad that people skip over Arabian Nights on the assumption that it's horribly sexist. I love the range of engaging, proactive female characters in Arabian Nights. I've always really liked Morgiana -- it's like making broth AND single-handedly defeating a band of forty thieves is just in a day's work for her.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>That’s too bad that people skip over Arabian Nights on the assumption that it’s horribly sexist. I love the range of engaging, proactive female characters in Arabian Nights. I’ve always really liked Morgiana — it’s like making broth AND single-handedly defeating a band of forty thieves is just in a day’s work for her.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title> By: Paul Weimer (@princejvstin) </title> <link>http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist#comment-12626</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Paul Weimer (@princejvstin)]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2014 19:48:21 +0000</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howardandrewjones.com/?p=2639#comment-12626</guid> <description><![CDATA[Been too long since I've read the Arabian Nights. Clearly.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Been too long since I’ve read the Arabian Nights. Clearly.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title> By: Keith West </title> <link>http://www.howardandrewjones.com/ancient-arabia/the-wily-dalilah-arabian-nights-feminist#comment-12618</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith West]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:10:45 +0000</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howardandrewjones.com/?p=2639#comment-12618</guid> <description><![CDATA[This sounds like one I would enjoy. I'll have to read it.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This sounds like one I would enjoy. I’ll have to read it.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> </channel> </rss>