Framing Narratives in Premodern Literature: Arabic, Persian, Hebrew

Abstract

The application of the term framing to Arabic texts is commonly confined to the frame tale type of which the Arabic tradition produced one of the most popular works, 'The Thousand and One Nights'. This issue transcends the study of the 'Nights' and the associated story-within-a-story trope, moving toward a reconstitution of the study of the frame tale as part of literary framings more broadly conceived, which include multiple notions and applicabilities. In so doing, 'Framing Narratives' aims to fill in a lacuna both in the study of frame tales in the Arabic and other Middle Eastern traditions such as 'Kalīla and Dimna', 'Barlaam and Josaphat' and the 'Seven Sages' in their different versions and the broadening of the framing category itself.