Profile
Photos
Comments
Lebanon and the 1001 Arabian Nights
Tantalus, Global Voices
makes an analogy between the dialogue’s attempt to save Lebanon and the “1001 Arabian Nights†in which Shahrazad, representing Lebanon, saves herself from being beheaded by Shahrayar, representing the world, by telling him a story every night:
This whole farce called “National Unity Dialogue†taking place in Qatar just reminds me of the 1,001 Arabian Nights.
Tradition has it that the evil king Shahrayar would take a virgin to be his wife every night. The next day, he would send her to be beheaded. That's until he met Shahrazad.
To keep herself from getting beheaded, Shahrazad tricks the king into listening to her story. Every night she would recite part of the story, make up characters, and invent intricate plots, twists and turns, until the king fell asleep. The next day, he wouldn't send her to her death because he wants to hear the rest of the story.
In that way, Shahrazad saved her life by…talking. Dialogue!
In the case of the National Unity Blabber, your beloved Lebanon is Shahrazad, who is trying to save her hide by talking and talking and talking nonstop; making up stories, picking fights, having civil wars and whatnot.
The Arabs and the rest of the world are Shahrayar, the one who just wants the story to be over in order to kill Sharazad and get on with it.
Needless to say it's not a coincidence that the 1,001 Arabian Nights is a Persian tradition.