Orality, masculinities and narrative strategies in The Arabian Nights

Abstract

This chapter connects classic tales collection, The Arabian Nights, with the emergence of one of the longest-running stand-up comedy shows in Nigeria, Opa Williams’ Nite of a Thousand Laughs, as well as to the stunning narrative artistry of the female Xhosa Ntsomi-performer of South Africa studied by Harold Scheub (1970, 1975, and 1977). The chapter explores the rich, magical tapestry of The Arabian Nights in the context of “verbal art as performance.” It also unravels the elements of masculinities and oral narrative strategies which the heroine of the text Shahrazad manipulates to cast a spell on the vengeful autocrat, Shahrayar, thereby lengthening the nights and postponing her execution, and by extension, saving her gender. The essay concludes that in The Arabian Nights, Shahrazad’s manipulation of the supernatural and the natural as well as the listener’s aesthetic experience is responsible for the ultimate triumph of feminine intelligence and wit over masculine physical prowess and domination. In other words, the female narrator is able to overcome gender binaries by weaponising narrative to appropriate a patriarchal or masculine-esque position of power.