In Arabian Nights
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- £1.99
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- £1.99
Publisher Description
Shortly after the 2005 London bombings, Tahir Shah was thrown into a Pakistani prison on suspicion of spying for Al-Qaeda. What sustained him during his terrifying, weeks-long ordeal were the stories his father told him as a child in Morocco.
Inspired by this, on his return to his adopted homeland he embarked on an adventure worthy of the mythical Arabian Nights, going in search of the stories and storytellers that have nourished this most alluring of countries for centuries. Wandering through the medinas of Fez and Marrakech, criss-crossing the Saharan sands and tasting the hospitality of ordinary Moroccans, he collected a treasury of traditional stories recounted by a vivid and eccentric cast of characters: from master masons who work only at night to Sufi wise men who write for soap operas and Tuareg guides addicted to reality TV. Himself a link in the chain of scholars and teachers who have passed such tales down from father to son, mother to daughter, Shah reveals a world and a way of thinking that most visitors to Morocco barely know exist.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shah continues the story he began in his acclaimed memoir The Caliph's House, the tale of his family's move to Morocco, this time focusing on the traditional wisdom stories of Arabia, best known in the West through A Thousand and One Nights. Inspired by his family's long tradition of storytelling ("We have this gift," says his father, "Protect it and it will protect you"), Shah frames his search for identity with traditional Arabian tales, but also with the stories of the men who tell them. As such, he creates a bright patchwork quilt of stories old and new, including his own childhood memories, held together by an engaging cross-country travelogue. Shah's habit of frequently and abruptly switching between plotlines, though it keeps the story moving, can be aggravating, and his picaresque style makes it hard to tell where the real adventures end and the tall tales begin. In addition, women are conspicuously underrepresented, especially for audiences recalling Scheherazade. Still, his characters often prove charming, and his stories are steeped in feeling and a palpable sense of tradition. Illustrations.
