Approaches to Teaching the Thousand and One Nights
Edited by Paulo Lemos Horta · Modern Language Association, 2023
Horta wrote the preface, the materials section and the introduction to the essays, and contributed “‘Ali Baba’ and ‘Aladdin’ as Modern World Literature.”
Conceived as a guide for teachers of the Thousand and One Nights, from “Aladdin” in middle school to the original Arabic core in graduate school, the volume has been embraced as useful not only for teaching a classic but, in light of today’s most contentious debates over controversial historical legacies, for its ways of tackling uncomfortable subject matter; one reviewer recommends its essays on such topics to graduate students learning how to teach. In Horta’s preface, “This volume makes the further case for inclusion of the Nights in courses on identity and critical race theory.”
“A highly original publication that will occupy a welcome place among the vast array of academic texts devoted to one of the most influential works in world literature … The elegance of Horta’s writing guides the reader with confidence and precise know-how through the various editions, translations, silent movies and contemporary wide-screen adaptations from around the world (Germany, Poland, Japan, Italy, India, and of course the USA).”
“Teaching this beast of a text can seem as perilous as trying to survive in one of its stories, and thus this new slim edited collection of essays offers beleaguered teachers hope in the form of concrete lesson plans and essential background information.”
“[I]t could be helpful to assign some of the essays with an explicit focus on pedagogical strategies for handling uncomfortable topics … to graduate students learning how to teach.”
- Journal of Arabic Literature 56.3–4 (2025), Ada Barbaro
- The Medieval Review 25.04.05 (2025), Arianna D’Ottone
- Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies 39.1 (2025), Jeana Jorgensen