Posted: 6/18/2018
Some time ago, I first became aware of this lady referred to as Scheherazade, because Rimsky-Korsakov composed a symphonic suite by the same name (eponymous). Then, I also knew of Sergei Prokofiev’s Fantasia on Scheherazade. Always wondered who is this mysterious woman by the name of Scheherazade … I probably had totally forgotten that the famous story of 1001 Arabian Nights was told from the perspective of this woman.
Very recently, I watched this documentary video: Great Myths and Legends: The Arabian Nights: Medieval Fantasy and Modern Forgery (A Penn Museum lecture series talk). Recommendable, but Prof. Cobb is way too glib. His open disdain for Richard Francis Burton goes way too far.
How is it possible that a woman (Sherazade, the protagonist, in this case of 1,001 Arabian Nights fame, which was possibly created in the 10th or 11th century and whose oral story possibly goes back much further) was able to fool a male king for 1,000 nights by telling him incredible, fascinating stories of mostly everyday life to prevent him from killing/beheading her the next morning as was the king’s law (the king would kill a virgin the next morning)? Not only that, she was actively helped by her sister (not by a male), i.e. Dunyazade.
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