Class Summary 9/15

Today in class, we discussed things that stuck out to us in Robert Irwin’s “The Dark Side of The Arabian Nights.”  Some issues that were brought up relate to racism, sexual content, anonymous authors, and history.  It was pointed out that the translations from British and French authors had heightened racism and sexual content.  As a class, we pondered about this and wondered if the reason behind this was an effort for the authors to get more fame by writing more controversially in an outspoken manner without anyone knowing their true identity.  We also debated whether or not the text is considered historical.  For those in the class who said that it is a historical piece, they supported their reasoning with the Arabian customs being accurate in regards to how things truly were in the past, whether it be social rankings or aspects of their culture.  The other students in the class refuted this by saying that this story is not a historical piece because much of the book’s content is based off generations passing down the stories and more than likely changing them along the way; this is commonly referred to as oral tradition, something which is not fact-based at all due to the fact that it is not documented information being shared with others, rather word passed along verbally to be told to the next generation which would more than likely be modified once again at some point in time.  In conclusion, the main topics discussed were related to the reasoning behind the recurring theme of racism and sex in the novel along with the role history plays in it as well.