Resource Author
Amena MoinfarResource Description
In Sheherazade Goes West, sociologist Fatima Mernissi expresses her amazement and mystification in front of what the West retains of the character Sherazade. From a heroine in the East who saves a whole kingdom thanks to her wisdom and intellect, Sherazade arrives as a sexual creature in the West. The selected texts should enlighten the origin, the deformation and the re-formation of Sherazade.
Texts:
One Thousand and One Nights.
Mernissi, Fatima. Sheherazade Goes West.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade."
Gauthier, Théophile. "The One Thousand and Second Night."
Sebar, Leila.Sherazade, 17, missing.
Films:
Aladdin.
Sinbad.
Les mille et une nuits.
Activities:
•Explore the significance of the character Sherazade in relation to Sebar's. Select an emblematic passage that characterizes your argument, then contrast it with one other passage from either Gauthier or Poe's short stories, and demonstrate how they alter the Sherazade figure.
•Contrast the vision of Sherazade that you have developed through your readings, with Orientalist paintings of your choice.