King, Queen, Master, Slave: The Master/slave Dialectic & the Thousand and One Nights

Author: Beaumont D.

Source: Neophilologus, Volume 82, Number 3, July 1998 , pp. 335-356(22)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Previous critical analyses of the Frame Story of The 1001 Nights, the story of Shahrazad and King Shahriyar, have overlooked the importance of the slave's role in the narrative of betrayal and revenge. This article makes use of Hegel's master/slave dialectic, in particular as that dialectic is reflected in the work of Jacques Lacan, to understand the critical role played by the slave in the story. It shows that the roles of master and slave are not fixed with any characters, but rather are occupied successively by different characters. Shahriyar's crisis is seen as an imaginary deadlock in Lacanian terms. Shahrazad, who refuses the role of the slave, breaks the deadlock and introduces him into the symbolic order. Her means of doing this, her method of narration, may be compared to Freud's Fort/Da game.

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: University of Rochester, Department of Religion and Classics, 430 Rush Rhees Library, Rochester NY 14627, U.S.A.

Publication date: 1998-07-01