Michael Lundell's "Pasolini's Splendid Infidelities"

I humbly announce the publication of my article "Pasolini's Splendid Infidelities:  Un/Faithful Film Versions of The Thousand and One Nights" in the Journal Adaptation:  The Journal of Literature On Screen Studies.

Here is a link to the article:  http://adaptation.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/aps022?ijkey=KzP5cPrkMEUQBZA&keytype=ref

And here is the abstract:

"This article argues that Pasolini’s 1974 film Il fiore delle mille e una notte seems to be the most faithful adaptation, in its emphasis on sexuality, of The 1001 Nights in its oldest form. This success is surprising and possibly inadvertent but it presents a potentially measurable connection between the written and filmic Nights. By comparing Il fiore’s ending with three other potential ‘Nights films’ the article suggests a more flexible approach to adaptation studies, posits the existence of a fundamental identity of the Nights, and places Pasolini’s emphasis on sexuality into the context of the oldest manuscript of the Nights."

Thanks so much to everyone who was a part of this creation, in particular my chair and mentor Alain J.-J. Cohen at UCSD.

Sinbad (SKY 1 - 2012) Coming to the USA

Many thanks to Paul for keeping me up to date with Sinbad, the SKY 1 (though AdWeek says it's also BBC Worldwide owned - who can keep track) series which he has been watching up in Canada but which I, across the border down south, have been sorely missing out on.

Until now!

The Sci Fi channel, now known as Syfy, (as an aside - my undergraduate house had the tv on for about 24 hrs with the countdown to the launch of this channel, I think Star Wars (the real one, episode IV) was the first thing they showed, and their countdown was tantalizing to us (hey it was the 90s we didn't have much to do) and thanks to wikipedia that day was September 24, 1992!), is set to launch the series in the USA.

Unfortunately it won't air until next April (2013) though, I suppose they have to have meetings about things for a year first? Or Americanize it?

 It stars Naveen Andrews of Lost fame.

Here's the news from AdWeek:  http://www.adweek.com/news/television/bbc-worldwide-americas-sinbad-says-open-sesame-syfy-143421

"Finally, a show with the word "Sinbad" in the title that won't make you think of Jingle All the Way. BBC Worldwide America's Arabian Nights riff Sinbad is coming to NBCUniversal's cable network Syfy in April of next year. The 12-segment series stars Elliot Knight as the eponymous sailor and follows him on his voyages as he evades bad guy Lord Akbari (Naveen Andrews, of Lost) along with the rest of the crew aboard the Providence."

Here is the trailer:



 Here is wikipedia on the show:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinbad_%28TV_series%29

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

Magi:  The Labyrinth of Magic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magi_%28manga%29) has been a long running manga series by Shinobu Ohtaka being released as an anime series beginning next month.  It has a Nights theme and bases itself on several Nights-esque tales (via the unique frame of manga).

And here is the commercial for the series:

Paul Nurse reviews Marina Warner

The Globe and Mail has recently published a new review of Marina Warner's Nights book Stranger Magic.  The review is written by Paul Nurse, author of Eastern Dreams:  How the Arabian Nights Came to the World, a fine history of the Nights.

Here is the link to the review, excerpts are pasted below: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/why-has-the-arabian-nights-proved-so-enduring/article4480676/

"Review: Non-fiction

Why has The Arabian Nights proved so enduring?

Reviewed by Paul McMichael Nurse

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published Tuesday, Aug. 14 2012, 2:59 PM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, Aug. 14 2012, 3:04 PM EDT

Like a literary phoenix, the One Thousand and One Nights – first printed in English, in 1706, as The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment – has surpassed time, culture, changing fashion and even controversy to maintain a position among the world’s premier imaginative works. A compendium of stories from India, Persia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Turkey and possibly even Greece and Rome, some tales date back at least 1,100 years, others are of relatively recent vintage, but all are tied together by a simple framing device in which a young woman recites stories to ransom her life and the lives of other women from the misogyny of a disturbed eastern king. In the end, she restores the king’s sanity, saving herself and her countrywomen.

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But what is it about the Nights that has proved so enduring when other popular works have come and gone? Even given the famous Enlightenment preoccupation with oriental modes and themes, the Nights continues to project the image of a mythical medieval world well into the third millennium. British writer and mythographer Marina Warner believes that the presence of magic in many of these tales is key to understanding the collection’s appeal. Of course, not every story in the Nights has an element of the supernatural about it, but enough tales revolve around magical elements that The Arabian Nights’ world has become synonymous with an alternative reality; in Warner’s words, a place “packed with wonders, elastic in handling time and space, and plotted according to the different laws of fate and magic.”

Certainly there is hardly an aspect of western culture that hasn’t been affected by the Nights. With so much material to work from, Warner is obliged to pick and choose her discussion areas. She retells 15 stories in 20 chapters as springboards for an examination of the myriad aspects of the work – considerations of the One Thousand and One Nights in history, pastiche, theatre, dance, film or what-have-you. Throw in bits of personal biography, a nod to the two Gulf Wars and the Arab Spring, and the result is a text that is largely comprehensive, even if it sometimes careens from subject to subject like a runaway magic carpet.

My chief complaint is that, despite Warner’s wide-ranging perspective, there remains a lopsided approach to Stranger Magic that means some significant expressions of the Arabian Nights receive short shrift. Since her chief concern is with cultural history via magical representations, the reader cannot be too critical of her choices, but some omissions remain curious. German animator Lotte Reiniger’s admittedly charming silhouette film The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) receives an entire chapter, and the possibly bogus pastiche story Aladdin almost as many pages, but the Nights’ thorny history in the Arab world – many would like it banned – receives little attention.

Likewise, the symbolic meaning of the beautiful eastern carpet draped on Sigmund Freud’s couch (yes, that couch) is discussed at length, but not enough consideration beyond “name” writers like William Beckford and Voltaire is given to the celebrated “Oriental Tale” genre of the 18th and early 19th centuries – hundreds upon hundreds of works that suffused western literature with faux-eastern stories, influencing European letters for more than 150 years.

In such a terrifically expansive subject, however, this might be considered nitpicking. Poised midway between a dense academic text and a broadly selective overview of a timeless literary treasure, Warner’s massive work remains a powerful testimony to the enduring appeal of the 1,001 Nights. Complex, frequently subtle and sometimes unwieldy, her book will reward readers with sophisticated insights into the cultural exchange between West and East – a bit like The Arabian Nights itself.

Paul McMichael Nurse is the author of Eastern Dreams, a popular history of One Thousand and One Nights."