Who wrote The Arabian Nights?

The Arabian Nights was not written by one person. It is the crystallization of repeated processing and creation by Arab street storytellers in past dynasties. According to available information, its story first spread in Arabia, around the end of the 8th century. 16th century finalized into a book. The earliest source of his stories is a collection of Persian stories called Hizal Afsana (1000 stories). At the turn of the eighth and ninth centuries, this collection of novels was translated into Arabic. In this regard, ancient Arab historians such as Mesodi (who died in 957) recorded it in his Golden Prairie, and Ibn Nadeem (who died in 995) recorded it in his Index Book. It is generally believed that the stories in this collection are mainly Indian stories.

Besides Khizar Eve Sana 'a, there are many important stories in Arabian Nights, which originated from the flourishing period of Arab Abbasid Dynasty and later Arab Egypt. After the Arabs expanded their territory under the banner of Islam, they established a great Arab empire across Asia, Africa and even Spain. Damascus was the capital of Umayyad Dynasty established in 66 1 year. The focus of Arab politics, economy and culture has shifted from the desert area of Arabian Peninsula to the city. The Abbas dynasty was founded in 750, with Baghdad as its capital. At this time, Arabs have more extensive contacts and exchanges with all ethnic groups with a long civilization tradition. Especially in the period of Harun Rashid caliph and Maimon caliph, culture flourished and academic flourished.

Before Islam came into being, Arabs made great achievements in poetry creation, and later poetry was further developed. Nomadic Arabs have a tradition of telling stories by bonfires at night since ancient times. When they came into contact with Persian and Indian cultures, the story literature that flourished at that time was inherited, absorbed and integrated by them. Pahlavi's translation of the Five Classics of India was translated into Arabic in the 8th century, which appeared under the names of Kale and Dimunai, bringing new varieties and vitality to Arabic literature.

Another important reason for the rise and development of Arab story literature or folk literature is the interest of urban businessmen and citizens. The sea-land trade between the East and the West has promoted Arab economic development. The capital Baghdad was the largest commercial center at that time. Businessmen gather and ten thousand parties gather. With the prosperity of urban commodity economy, businessmen and citizens are on the rise. Urban handicrafts are extremely developed. At that time, folk arts such as shadow play, puppet show and folk artists who made a living by rap came into being.

Most of the stories in Khizar Iverson are short and straightforward. Based on this, storytellers constantly add, delete, process and polish stories, and at the same time absorb new legends and stories. The story produced in Baghdad is the most beautiful and charming story in Arabian Nights. /kloc-in the 20th century, Iraqi He Zhe Xie Yali collected 1000 stories of Arabs, Persians, Indians, Romans and other nationalities from storytellers, and planned to compile them into story collections. He told a complete story in the evening. But he only died on the 480th night. It is generally believed that this is the prototype of Arabian Nights.

1258, Baghdad fell into Mongolian hands. The focus of Arab society has shifted to Egypt. From Fatme Dynasty, Ayoubi Dynasty to the early Mamluk Dynasty, Egypt was a transit point for East-West trade, and the commerce and handicrafts in Cairo and Alexandria were very developed and prosperous. The story of Arabian Nights was not only preserved and told in Egypt, but also produced many new stories in the new environment. It was not until the16th century that the manuscript was finalized.

The process of writing Arabian Nights is the process of constantly absorbing and integrating myths, legends and stories of different regions and nationalities. More importantly, while absorbing and blending, we constantly recreate and produce new stories. The frame structure of The Arabian Nights provides infinite inclusiveness for its inclusiveness. Not only a big story can cover several small stories, but also the story itself can grow and expand. At that time, the big stories that were circulated independently can also be included, and the number of stories can be increased by transplanting, merging and borrowing. Important stories, such as the voyage of Simberta, the story of the king's prince and his generals' concubines, spread independently in the Arab region at that time, and were later included in Arabian Nights, and the former gradually developed into the present scale after being included in Arabian Nights. Hassan, a silversmith in Basra, is based on the love story between Hassan and a girl in a feather suit, which originated in India or China. In Arabian Nights, the story takes place in the center of Baghdad. This is a typical compound story. These famous stories, Alibaba and the Forty Thieves and Aladdin's Magic Lamp, were not even included in the final version of Arabian Nights. Today, they are regarded as the most fascinating stories in The Arabian Nights. The Dyer and the Barber is a late story that was born in the commodity economy environment of Egypt.