الجهود العربية والاستشراقية في تحقيق مخطوطات (ألف ليلة وليلة) و ترجمتها

Abstract

The significance of this study lies in its focus on a deeply rooted narrative purpose that has had a profound
impact on modern global storytelling. The Arabian Nights, famously known as One Thousand and One Nights,
played a pivotal role in laying the foundation of narrative art and inspired a vast body of storytelling among
writers both in the East and the West. The research aims to explore both Arab and Orientalist efforts related to
the editing and translation of One Thousand and One Nights, efforts which contributed to its widespread
recognition and helped elevate it into one of the greatest narrative collections—not only in Arabic literature but
in world literature as a whole. The research methodology is based on the historical approach, presenting an
overview of the work and tracing key editorial and translation efforts. It begins with the French orientalist
Antoine Galland, who was the first to print and translate the Nights in France at the start of the 18th century,
and follows the wave of translations that continued through the late 18th and 19th centuries, culminating in the
early 20th century when One Thousand and One Nights had been translated into most European languages. The
main findings reveal the significant influence of the Nights, beginning in France where nearly 700 French novels
were written during that period, inspired by its narrative structure or directly borrowing from its stories. Among
these influenced authors was the philosopher and novelist Voltaire. The study also highlights its impact on
German writer Goethe—especially in his major dramatic work Faust and his final novel Italian Journey—as
well as on the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy