Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Arabian Nights

Dry Bones cartoon -From 1001 Arabian Nights to 1001 Arabian Nightmares.

It seems like each day we wake to another blood-curdling story of torture, slaughter, kidnapping, genocidal hatred and Islamic fatricide coming out of Baghdad. The Thief of Baghdad has become the grief of Baghdad.

But the Mideast (and Baghdad especially) was once multicultural, with various communities and ethnic groups living side by side and interacting with each other. We can see that lost world in the incredible, mind-blowing collection of interlocking stories that are revealed in a stream of narrative that feels like some fantastic psychedelic rant. And like the news out of today's Baghdad, there's a new and more unbelievable story each morning.


"The Arabian Nights can be viewed as a valuable source of Middle Eastern social history, being composed of the most extensive and intimate recordings of the medieval Islamic period. Generations of Arabic readers have appreciated the versatile and imaginative use of Arabic and the mixture of the classical and colloquial language in many of the stories, a style which helped diversify the characters from the narrative." -more


You can read the Arabian Nights online here.

Is there a Jewish component to the Arabian Nights?
You bet there is.
Just click here.

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