History & Heritage
2.4.2023
This Frenchman without whom we would never have known Aladdin
The Thousand and One Nights is a collection of spellbinding tales that plunge readers into a world of fantasy. Among the most famous stories in this masterpiece of Arab literature is “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp”. However, few people know the man who brought this story to the West: Antoine Galland.
East meets West
Antoine Galland was an 18th century French orientalist, famous for his influential translation of the Arabian Nights. Born in 1646 in Rollot in northern France, Galland was an erudite who spoke several languages, including Arabic, Persian and Turkish. He spent many years traveling to the East, studying the local cultures and traditions of the region and discovering its literature. It was during these journeys that he first heard the story of Aladdin, told by Hanna Diyab, a Maronite storyteller from Aleppo, Syria. Charmed by the story, Galland decided to include it in his French translation of The Thousand and One Nights.
In 1704, Galland published the first part of his translation, which included Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. This story tells of the adventures of a poor young man, Aladdin, who is tricked by a sorcerer into looking for a magic lamp in a mysterious cave. When Aladdin rubs the lamp, a genie appears and grants him three wishes. Aladdin uses his wishes to become rich, marry a princess and defeat the sorcerer.
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A world-literature classic
Galland’s work is both a literal translation of the original stories as well as a personal work that adds a special and more dramatic touch to these tales. His translation brought the stories to a wider Western audience and contributed to the growing popularity of the Arabian Nights in France and Europe Moreover, the tale took on a life of its own outside of its Eastern origins and became a classic of world literature.
Antoine Galland (1646-1715)
Over the years, the story of Aladdin has been the subject of numerous adaptations. One of the most famous is the Disney animated film released in 1992, which was a huge commercial and critical success. There have also been numerous musical adaptations of Aladdin, including Broadway and West End productions. Each of these adaptations adds a new dimension to the story of Aladdin, sealing its status as a world literature classic.
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