Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights by David Pinault

Review by: J. R. Smart

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Jul., 1993), pp. 271-273
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain
and Ireland
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 Reviews of Books 271

describes function as means of dividing segments into units. (The Kharshana

roughly proportional
-
poem, for example, falls, with some variation towards the end, where it anticipates closure
chiefly
-
into five-line segments.)
The second area which deserves more attention is the nastb, and its relationship to the poem as a

whole. Hamori deliberately refrains from the nastbs of the poems analysed; in some cases
discussing
this does not do them full justice. The most outstanding instance is the Kharshana poem: its nastb

attacks the envious blamers who the poet's beloved, incorporates a rahtl his
reproach describing
isolation, and concludes with an in which the boast above is followed
"ego-passage" quoted by:
"Do not be amazed: there are many swords, but today there is the one Sword of the Dynasty"

(p. 64). The contrast between envious slander of one of noble character and praise of such nobility
is recapitulated at various points in the madih (for example, the noble Sayf al-Dawla is loved even

is clearly meant to provide a

by his enemies) and in the final line. The nastb backdrop against which
to read the praise, and to imply criticism of those who might blame Sayf al-Dawla for the failure
of his campaign (or the poet for commemorating this non-event in panegyric terms).
illustrate the need for further has made an admirable
Such problems study. Hamori and invaluable
contribution to our knowledge of the sophisticated compositional techniques employed by Arabic
poets; let us hope for more such efforts, by himself and by others.

J. S. Meisami

Story-telling techniques in the Arabian Nights. David Pinault. in Arabic

By (Studies
Literature, Vol. xv.) pp. xi, 262. Leiden etc., E.J. Brill, 1992. Dfl. 115, US $65.75.

This work has more of a tale to tell than its title implies. In fact it might be said that it is when
he is specifically dealing with storytelling techniques that the author is at his least convincing.

Chapter I, section C (pp. 16-25) is devoted to a general description of what Mr Pinault refers to
"
as "selected story telling these LeitwortstiV\
techniques", being "Repetitive designation",
"Thematic patterning and formal patterning" and "Dramatic visualisation", and these measures are

applied to selected tales fromthe Nights throughout the book.

Now, I know that such criteria are the very stuff of literary criticism, but I think Pinault gets rather
over excited at times in applying them, the Leitworter idea. For instance, can the use of
especially
various derivatives of the Arabic root h-s-d "envy" occurring four times within the space of three
lines (p. 43) really be regarded as significant when the story is talking about envy anyway? What
else is it meant to say ? Still, other analyses based on this technique are more for instance
convincing,
the use of root s-kh-t in the sub-tale The Magian City (pp. 19-21), where there is some pleasurable
on ?
sensation of semantic spread and connotation. The play '-b-r, mainly in the forms 'ibrah
? "
"warning" and the VII from i'tabara to take in the Brass in
warning" City of (fully analysed
chapter 4) is also more productive, though again the author may be open to the charge of going too
far.
?
The question of whether these are Leitworter defined, Buber, on page 18 as aids enabling
quoting
" - or
one to decipher or grasp ameaning of the text" words in discussing
simply inevitably repeated
a certain at various of a given
subject (e.g. h-s-d above), words hinting connotations root (s-kh-t),
or mere word to the Arab ear, eye or cultural a tricky one.
plays appealing subconscious ('-b-r) is
For instance, how would one deal with the heavy of such occurrences in the Maqdmdt of
onslaught
al-HamadhanT and al-HarTrT (which Pinault does not get round to mentioning until p. 234) ? Since
can be to have set the ? or
these works said ideal standard for Arabic rather
prose saf used where
use plain -
other languages would prose for a thousand years, is it too much to suppose that their
influence would penetrate all levels of the language culture, even folk literature ?However, it is a
somewhat subjective matter, for a European, to decide whether or not this is
especially technique

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 272 Reviews of Books

intended to provide a (if recited, as or visual (if read)

merely pleasurable auditory originally),
sensation.

Pinault also brings in the formulaic theories of Parry and Lord (already much aired in connection
with Classical Arabic poetry by Zwettler and others), but can these be applied to prose? The
really
as was concerned with the
theory originally expounded mainly (apparently) spontaneous
?
composition/recitation of narrative poetry where on the culture ? the had
depending performer
a metrical scheme to maintain. The formulae were, then, to put it at its crudest, mere
and/or rhyme
"
"assemblies (to borrow a mechanical term) installed in the greater of the verse-line with the
engine
purpose of the poet-reciter in sustaining his were thus not
assisting performance. They essentially
thematic. I do not think that, for instance, the function of the standard formulae used at the

and endings of the nights of the Nights 116?17) fulfil the same function. And I also
beginnings (pp.
fail to grasp the supposed formulaic significances of qala, especially qala plus al-rawT or some similar

word for "the narrator" (pp. 172-3), except at the base level. Arabic literature of all kinds shows

this feature.
There are, however, true formulae. These are the standard e.g. of the youth
saf descriptions,
66-7), which were trotted out as cliches to give the narrator space, while
(pp. clearly breathing
- -
keeping his audience entertained. These and the verse citations mentioned below would also have

provided for the listening audience another pleasurable sensation, that of recognition and familiarity.

A at almost any medieval Arabic work of imaginative literature is enough to show that,
glance
whether or not we Europeans like it, this feature most certainly appealed to the contemporary Arab

audience.

This me on to the related of poetry in the tales. Pinault devotes considerable space
brings question
to this problem (e.g. pp. H9ff.), and quotes the opinions of other scholars (Horovitz, Littmann,
Gerhardt et al.) on the matter. One side flatly denies that the poetic citations contribute at
anything
all to the narratives, while Pinault himself seeks to integrate them, on the Leitwort basis. The
partly
answer is probably, as cited
(p. 120) from Moyle and Page, that the verse insertions simply "add to

the audience's "vary and the pace and rhythm of narration". Much further
listening pleasure"
research needs to be done into this feature, again common to many genres of Arabic literature, but

there seems little doubt that it is to do with the aural nature of Arabic writing. Pinault
rightly picks
up the similar but more intense effect of virtuoso (as opposed to the formulaic
saf performances

descriptive passages mentioned in the previous paragraph), e.g. the sermon in al-Harm's Samarqand
maqama (p. 234).
The parts of Pinault's book notdirectly concerned with the formal aspects of narrative techniques
can be dealt with more His of such matters as the historical or legendary
briefly. handling
of the Nights (mainly in his excellent chapter IV, which is an exhaustive and mainly
background
convincing account of the tale The City of Brass), analogue manuscripts of stories and other such

material the history and evolution of the collection are generally excellently presented
concerning
and Pinault is at his best here, and his accounts not only make fascinating reading in
argued.
themselves, but constitute a solid contribution to Nights studies. For instance, I found his account (pp.

I57ff.) of Habicht's alleged falsifications of the records, in which he follows up D. B. MacDonald's

earlier research, possessed all of the features of both excellent scholarship and the art of the detective

story. The author's attempts to relate the tales in the Nights with legend and history (pp. 210-31)
also make sense and compulsive This avenue, or at least developed by Pinault,
good reading. opened
deserves further work, as it has the potential to shed a great deal of from a new on the
light angle

Nights tales and their origin and development.

The book is, then, recommended, with some reservations which reflect rather on the
highly
apparatus and methodology of literary criticism than on the author himself.

Pinault occasionally uses odd words or expressions, e.g. the owner/operator of a rowing boat on

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 Reviews of Books 273

the Tigris is elevated to the rank of "skipper" (p. 104), and I was irritated by his use of
for even the Shorter Oxford Dictionary assures us that this is
"provenience" "provenance", though
"common in U.S.". I append the usual selection of errata, most of them, inevitably, in the

transliterations from the Arabic: jalisa for jalasa all over the place (e.g. pp. 159 and 178, cf. jalasat,
p. 108); "kiling" for "killing" (p. 40; also there is no real reason for the clumsy translation "what

sort of kil[l]ing I should kill you with"); hadah for hddhdand dalika for dhdlika (p. 45); ta'dlib in the
text, but correct tha'alib in the footnote (p. 71); both hajah and the correct hajah in footnote 45,

p. 102; "a a veil" for "as a..." (p. 105); umum for umam in several (pp. no and 112; the
places
correct form on p. 174); ndss for nds (p. 115); JumadT for Jumada (p. 154); tiqan for tiqdn (p. 178) and
"Iram of the Colums" (p. 211). I am also a bit worried by SalTma (woman's name, p. 134), and
'ArTsha (man's name, p. 145).

J. R. Smart

sources for early Babi doctrine and history: a survey.

The By Denis MacEoin. pp. ix, 274,
7 reproductions of manuscript pages. Leiden etc., E.J. Brill, 1992. Dfl. 125, US $71.50.

Those of us working in the field of studies of the BabT and Baha'T faiths have long been familiar

with Dr MacEoin's excellent survey of the sources for BabT doctrine and history, which has
early

perforce circulated in photocopied form for many years since it was first produced in 1976 during

the course of the author's doctoral research. E. J. Brill has therefore a great service in
performed

publishing this book.

The first half of the book contains a survey of the sources for BabT doctrine. The works of the

Bab himself and his are considered and the location of manuscripts in the
leading disciples briefly
collections noted. MacEoin has done a great deal of valuable work in categorising the Bab's
leading
major works according to the period in which they were written. There is also a section on anti

BabT which can however only be considered a preliminary survey. The second part of the
polemic,
book with a lengthy account of the Nuqtatu'l-Kdfi a of the
begins problematic early history
movement. MacEoin has done much to unravel the complicated thread of the history of this work.

There are then brief notes on other histories. Particularly useful among the appendices is the index
of the first lines of the Bab's major works. At the very end of the book, after the index, are
seven pages from various manuscripts of BabT works. These appear to have been added
reproduced
to the book as an afterthought, since there is no reference to them in the text of the book whatever
?
not even in the Table of Contents.
The style is clear and concise The organisation of the work is, however, at times a
throughout.
little puzzling. Why, for example, have the bogus memoirs of Dolgorukov in the section on "BabT
Sources"? MacEoin is of course correct in stating that this was a work concocted in the 1940s. It
should therefore come in the section on "Later Histories" (or better still in a section or an
surely
on its own). To have it listed as an early is to give it a spurious The
appendix history authenticity.
have also made a few errors, the most of which is the repetition of lines on pages
publishers glaring
99 and 100.

My principal criticism of this work is the rather high-handed, "orientalist" tone which MacEoin

takes with respect to his subject. One is surprised to find him writing of the Bab's disciple,
principal
Quddus, that "we are, perhaps, fortunate in not having much of BarfurushT's unintelligible
to read" more
outpourings (p. 107). Even high-handed is his criticism of the translations produced
by Shoghi Effendi and the Baha'T Universal House of Justice for "the virtual absence of notes, and
the failure to indicate condition, and location of manuscripts used."
identity, provenance, (pp. 4?5
and n.). One wonders why the head of a religion producing books for the followers of that religion
should be expected to conform to academic standards. Indeed, MacEoin's evident dislike of the

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