INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
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A UNIQUE LITERARY WORK OF THE EAST
Astanova Gulnora Aminovna
professor of the department Uzbek linguistics and
Journalism Bukhara State University, Doctor of Philology
tel. (+998)98 2744803, e-mail:
Yarullina-Yildirym Ramilya Askhadullovna
Professor of the Department of Turkish Language and Literature
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Humanities
Inonu University (Türkiye), Doctor of Philology
tel. (+9)05066052760, e-mail:
Annotation:
Years, decades, centuries pass, but the interest of readers, philologists, and
orientalist historians in the outstanding literary work called “A Thousand and One Nights” does
not fade. These tales express with amazing perfection the harmony and extraordinary power of
the colorful, “patterned” fantasy of the peoples of the East: Arabs, Persians, Hindus, and other
peoples.
The article examines scientific ideas about the creation of “A Thousand and One Nights” — a
unique work of oriental literature. Scientific hypotheses of Russian, European, and Uzbek
orientalists about the origin of this masterpiece are presented as a subject of discussion. At the
same time, information about the composition of the work is provided.
Key words:
“A Thousand and One Nights”, historical poetics, sources, craftsmanship, artistic
and visual means.
Аннотация:
Проходят годы, десятилетия, века, но не угасает интерес читателей,
специалистов-филологов, историков-востоковедов к выдающемуся литературному
творению под названием «Тысяча и одна ночь». Эти сказки с изумительным
совершенствованием выражают гармонию и необычайную силу цветистой, «узорчатой»
фантазии народов Востока: арабов, персов, индусов и других народов.
В статье рассматриваются научные представления о создании «Тысячи и одной
ночи» — уникального произведения восточной литературы. Научные гипотезы
российских, европейских и узбекских востоковедов о происхождении этого шедевра
представлены как предмет дискуссий. В то же время приводится информация о
композиции произведения.
Ключевые слова:
«Тысяча и одна ночь», историческая поэтика, источники, мастерство,
художественно-изобразительные средства.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 02,2025
Journal:
https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai
page 457
A medieval Arabic philologist would probably have been extremely surprised if he had
learned that Arabic literature would enter world culture primarily through folk tales and short
stories, which on holidays were told in markets and coffee shops to amuse the crowd and, unlike
court poetry and learned prose, were treated by purist philologists as “low genre”.
Meanwhile, humanity has now recognized that the famous collection of Arabic fairy tales
is one of the most famous monuments of world culture. Shahrezada's story is striking in its
strangeness: by telling her fairy tales and interrupting the story at dawn in the most interesting
place, the resourceful Shahrezada saves her life, forcing her husband to forget about the
execution, because King Shahriyar promised to execute every new wife at the end of the
wedding night.
The book “A Thousand and One Nights” is mentioned in numerous historical chronicles
of the early and late Middle Ages. It was not the creation of any one author. Parts of this amazing
collection of fairy tales were formed and polished over the course of many centuries, and only by
the XVI-XVII centuries did it take shape in the form in which it is known to the modern reader.
The basis of the literary monument, apparently, was the Arabic translation of Indian and
Iranian fairy tales, which were included in the Iranian collection “Hezar Efsane” (“A Thousand
Legends”), the existence of which was reported by Arab sources back in the tenth century. For
almost ten centuries, professional Arab storytellers and scribes have included more and more
stories of local and foreign origin in the capacious framework of the “A Thousand Legends”,
redoing them and arranging them at their discretion, which led to differences in the composition
and composition of the extant manuscripts of this collection.
If we make a brief historical digression, then, apparently, we can make the following
summaries:
1) the primary element and the main core of the "A Thousand and One Nights" is the Arabic
translation of the Persian collection "Hezar Efsane" made in the 9th or 10th century;
2) the book "A Thousand and One Nights" does not have a separate author or compiler; it is an
evolutionary creation of many generations of a long chain of specialists-narrators and scribes.
I think this explains the “disparity” of the language of presentation: in some places it is
almost highly classical, while in others it is almost vernacular.
It should be noted that Western scientists have shown great interest in studying the
collection of fairy tales. The works performed by such researchers as Zotenberg, MacDonald,
Litman, and Chauvin are of great interest. Considering Egypt to be the birthplace of the “A
Thousand and One Nights”, Chauvin argued, for example, that the book of fairy tales had at least
two authors: one of them was an Egyptian, and the other a Jew who converted to Islam. Hence,
in his opinion, the large number of Jews in the collection and the abundance of narratives about
"infidels" who subsequently embarked on the path of true faith. Chauvin even mentions the name
of this Jew, a certain Ibrahim Maimun, who lived around 1518.
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However, this theory was sharply criticized by one of the prominent researchers of “A
Thousand and One Nights”, Estrup, who wrote that Chauvin's conclusion about Ibrahim Maimun
was not worth a damn. [1,204]
In Russia, the study of the collection of fairy tales begins at the beginning of the 20th
century, when such remarkable researchers as I.Y.Krachkovsky, A.E.Krymsky, and later
B.Ya.Shidfar, I.M.Filshtinsky entered the Oriental studies arena. In Uzbekistan, the study of the
book “A Thousand and One Nights” began a long time ago. In 1930, an original translation of
fairy tales into Russian appeared in Tashkent, masterfully executed by M.A.Salye. [2.8t]. The
book was translated into Uzbek more recently in 1912-1913. It was translated by Ahror
Makhdum [3, Vol.1.] and Sidqiya Khandailikiya. [4, in 2t.]
The famous Uzbek scholar of Arabic studies, corresponding member of the Academy of
Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan N. I. Ibragimov in his book “The Arab folk Novel” pays
much attention to the genesis of the “A Thousand and One Nights”, dwells on the question of the
connection of the collection with the folk tradition (novel). [5.256.]
“For a number of reasons,” writes N.I. Ibragimov, it so happened that the book “1001
nights” was widely distributed and still enjoys the greatest popularity among a wide variety of
readership. The reason for this popularity is, first of all, the high skill and artistic flair of
medieval professional storytellers, who, obviously, based on a certain “fabulous” core of the
collection, managed to process and attach to it the most interesting short episodes from a wide
variety of sources – from the Bible and medieval literary Arabic anthologies to individual folk
novels of various kinds. character: heroic epics (“The Story of Umar al-Numan”), fantasy novels
(“The Story of the Queen of Snakes”) and a roguish novel (“Delilah the Cunning and Zainab the
Deceiver”). The establishment of a direct connection between the book “1001 Nights” and the
folk novel should be considered an undoubted merit of modern Arab scholars."
Not only for a specialist historian, but also for any curious reader, the book “A Thousand
and One Nights” is an inexhaustible source of a wide variety of information about the life of
Arab cities during the heyday of the Baghdad caliphate, during the reign of the Mamluk sultans
and Turks in Egypt. The material of the “A Thousand and One Nights” is very diverse in terms
of genre. If a fairy tale and a didactic parable (often a parable about animals) came to the book
from India and Iran, then a household novel, a short anecdote and epic tales are the creation of an
Arab fantasy.
In fairy tales, the world of everyday reality, described carefully, down to the smallest
detail, and the world of fiction are intertwined, coexist, replacing each other. This idea is well
illustrated by the stories about the voyage of Sinbad the sailor, about the journey to the copper
city, while a description of the country of Kaf is given.
In everyday novels and short anecdotes, a whole gallery of types belonging to various
strata of urban society is displayed. Rich merchants and poor artisans, rulers, their ministers:
advisers, officials, judges, pimps and sorcerers, teachers, clever rascals-this is not a complete list
of characters in Shahrezada’s fairy tales. Khalipha Harun ar-Rashid (reigned 786-809), his wife
Zubayda and vizir Jafar are vividly and comprehensively depicted.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 02,2025
Journal:
https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai
page 459
Jinns, ifrits and other fantastic creatures are an important element of the plot in many
fairy tales. At the same time, the will and actions of the “earthly” characters and their fantastic
“helpers” merge so naturally that the magical and real worlds form a kind of organic unity in
which the picture of the life of a medieval Muslim city emerges through a fantastic shell, giving
the narrative a special fascination and poetry.
References:
1. Эструп И. Исследование о 1001 ночи и ее составе, возникновений и развитией. /Пер. с
датского Т. Ланге. -Л.:Изд.во.Лазаревск ин-том.вост.яз., 1904.-204с
2. Тысяча и одна ночь:В 8 т./Пер.с араб.М.А.Салье.Таш.,1992г.
3. АНИВ РУз.Л№77.
4. АНИВ РУз.Л№10551
5. .Ибрагимов Н.И Арабский народный роман.-М.:»Наука»,1984.-с.256.
6.
Astanova, G. A. (2020). A MASTERPIECE OF ARABIAN TALES AND WORLD
LITERATURE. Theoretical & Applied Science, (3), 352-356.
7.
Astanova, G. A. (2020). Historical truth in the images of women in shakhrizad
stories. Scientific reports of Bukhara State University, 4(1), 204-207.
8. Aminovna, A. G. (2021). ETHNO-CULTURAL ISSUES IN “THOUSAND AND ONE
NIGHTS”. Conferencious Online, 84-85.
