Abstract
This paper looks at why "The Arabian Nights" story has remained famous and popular as a significant work in Arab literature. It examines the universal and positive appeal of the tales, their influence in Western literature and specific writers influenced by the Arabian Nights.

From the Paper
""Alf Layla wa Layla" translated as "A Thousand Nights" and also known as "An Arabian Night's Entertainments" has had a remarkable history equal to that of the characters in its tales. Some scholars surmise that these tales originated over years ago in ..."

Tags:Alf Layla wa Layla, Arabian Nights, A Thousand and One Nights

Abstract
In this book review the author starts with a look at the background behind the writing of the book "Karaoke Nights" by Rob Drew. He highlights how Drew was originally drawn to the topic of his book as a research subject only but as he learned more, he elaborated on the karaoke phenomenon. The paper looks at how "Karaoke Nights" is an observation on the external behavior of deejays, performers, and audiences and an intimate portrait of the emotional roller coaster that is the internal life of a karaoke singer. The author also examines how Drew provides an analysis of the varied roles karaoke plays in popular culture and how karaoke can guide to an understanding of local music and culture. The book review concludes with a summary of how karaoke has had a great impact on the American culture at weekends giving people a motive to act out a part and have fun at the same time, as described in "Karaoke Nights".

Table of Contents
Introduction
History of Karaoke
Karaoke Nights
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Another point that Drew make in his book that American culture relies on a good time Saturday nights so that they relax after a hard week's work. And, ten years ago, karaoke caught on in America after being in Japan for many years before. Drew describes this craze from Japan a great way for people get together and live out some of their fears by singing songs in a public place where others could easily make fun of them. However, everyone in that local karaoke bar is feeling the same fears so they respect the person's feelings and not torment them while they are on stage singing out of tune. Most people do sing out of tune as Drew points out but karaoke is all about having fun and doing something some people would not normally do in front of others."

Tags:japan, songs, box, modern, sing, bars, stage

Abstract
Historians have always looked to literature for insight into how a culture functioned, what it valued, and how its people lived. Today, when studying the Middle East, many would not only read the Qu'ran, but also "The Arabian Nights", the folklore. The paper shows that when we read "Arabian Nights" we understand a great deal more of how the Arabic people actually lived. Perhaps the most evident discrepancy between the teachings of the Qu'ran and the "Arabian Nights" tales pertains to the view and treatment of Middle Eastern women.

From the Paper
"This method of seclusion is dramatically illustrated in The Arabian Nights where we hear the story of the demon that locked his wife in a chest and carried her about as if she were his private property. Yet ironically the authors of the Arabian Nights convey in this same story that not even this extreme could prevent a willful woman from knowing other men."

Tags:koran, sha'aban

Abstract
This paper compares and contrasts the two ancient and classical stories of "Ramayana," attributed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and "1001 Arabian Nights," which is a collection of stories collected over many centuries by various authors, translators and scholars in various countries. The paper specifically compares the characters within the stories and the lessons of morality that they teach.

Table of Contents:
Purity and Deceit in Ramayana
Purity and Deceit in 1001 Arabian Nights

From the Paper
"Eventually there are no more virgins and Scheherazade offers herself as the next bride. In order to keep his daughter alive, Scheherazade's father tells Shahryar a story without telling him the conclusion. In order to hear the end, Shahryar must keep Scheherazade alive. The next, Scheherazade finishes the last tale and begins another, only again to stop short of revealing its conclusion. Thus, the 1001 stories of the book are told. Although each of these stories involve their own tales of morals, purity and deceit, in an effort to teach Scheherazade a lesson, this act of telling stories itself is deceitful in that it is done as a method of tricking Scheherazade. However, this act of deceit, like the act of deceit done by Brahman in creating Rama to defeat evil, this act of deceit is also done for the greater good."

Tags:deceit, purity, hero

Abstract
This paper discusses the story of Uns-El-Wujood and El-Ward Fi-L-Akmam from "Arabian Nights" (anonymous), a tale of love, separation and reunion. The author believes that desire and longing create immense physical suffering for El-Ward Fi-L-Akmam and Uns-El-Wujood as if they are not in control of their minds or their bodies once they fall in love and are thwarted from fulfilling their affair. The paper remarks that desire functions in a dual role of poison and cure throughout Chapter 18 of "Arabian Nights."

From the Paper
"As the poison of desire sets into his soul and his body, Uns-El-Wujood describes his affliction in explicitly physical terms. He is obviously depressed, but he feels his depression in his body as well as his mind. First, he cries so much that his eyes become sore. Uns-El-Wujood reiterates his having this symptom throughout the story, as weeping is one of the most constant and consistent side effects of unfulfilled desire. "When my tears flow, I say, my eye is sore," (p. 197). As soon as Uns-El-Wujood discovers that his beloved has been wrested from him, his tears flow freely. "My eyelids are sore from continual weeping," he moans as he searches for his beloved throughout the desert. Moreover, along the way, he creates even more physical pain and tension in his body by being unable to eat, drink, or sleep. The harshness of the landscape, the long duration of his journey, and his depression cause him to waste away. Desire, by forcing him to follow the trail of El-Ward Fi-L-Akmam, creates the conditions for starvation and further physical deprivation. This is depression's secondary action on the physical body. Both Uns-El-Wujood and El-Ward Fi-L-Akmam translate their mental and emotional pain into acute and authentic physical suffering. "Often are our bodies afflicted by our passion," El-Ward Fi-L-Akmam writes to her lover on the eve of their separation."

Tags:separation, reunion, desire, suffering, poison

Abstract
The paper shows how the fundamental structure of "The Arabian Nights" by Sir Richard Francis Burton, consists of frame texts, or stories within stories, with "The Story of King Shahrayar and Shahrazad" as the outermost tale. The stories possess common didactic lessons, or morals, that connect them to one another. The paper examines how the morals are not often initially stated but rather revealed or re-emphasized from one tale to another, and they all possess a common feature that relate them back to the outermost tale?"The Story of King Shahrayar and Shahrazad". The paper shows that the organizing guidelines of the fables in The Arabian Nights are the particular moral, or lesson, they each portray.

From the Paper
"The Tale of the Fisherman and the Demon divulges into The Tale of the Enchanted King. This tale, like The Tale of the King's Son and the She-Ghoul, displays the consequences of returning good with good. The king saves the enchanted king from spending his life as half man, half stone and gains his companionship as a result. Even more importantly, the tale connect back to the The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon because the fisherman "was the cause of saving the young man and the city" (66). The moral, therefore, is not only re-emphasized but connected with the previous tales."

Tags:analysis, literary, vizier, Fisherman, and, the, Demon, Yunan, Duban

Abstract
This paper explains that "Tales" consists of a thousand tales narrated over a thousand nights by a woman named Sharazad in order to divert King Shahriyar's attention from exploiting and killing more virgin women. The author stresses that three important tales best illustrate the status of women as both empowered and oppressed members of the society: "The Introduction or Prologue;" "The Tale of Bakbook," the Barber's First Brother;" and "The Tale of Al-Haddar," the Barber's Second Brother." The paper summarizes that these tales depict the life of men and women in Islam, how an intolerant Islamic society illustrates, through the tales narrative, the unfair treatment of women in regard to men, and vice versa, and how these conflicts are resolved with religious undertones, with forgiveness and mercy as the main values illustrated and used as the moral for each story.

From the Paper
"The first tale, that of Sharazad, the protagonist of the main story in the Tales, illustrates the origin of the conflict that would be reflected throughout the story (with the tales). King Shahriyar is portrayed as the king with insatiable desire for women virgins, and mercilessly kills them after exploiting these virgins, primarily due to the betrayal of his wife, who had an affair with their Negro slave. A similar experience has also happened to his brother, King Shah-Zeman, who has witnessed how his own wife, too, has betrayed him by having an extra-marital affair with a black slave also. Because of their unfortunate experiences, the two kings began avenging against women by exploiting and killing them for three years. It was only in the event when after a "scarcity" of virgins occurred, mainly because most of them had been killed or had fled their kingdoms, when Sharazad, Wezir's daughter, took the responsibility of entertaining the King with her different tales for a thousand nights in order to stop the rampage that he started years ago."

Tags:diversion, sharazad, virgin, brother, islam

Abstract
This paper examines how the notion of telling a story of deception that reflects one?s current situation seems counter-intuitive due to the possibility that, in telling the story, the deceived may become aware of the secret intention. It uses as an example ?The Arabian Nights? and examines how Shahrazad?s life depends on every story she narrates, on both a momentary and permanent levels. It shows how a series of entertaining stories may allow Shahrazad to delay her execution, but never eliminate its certainty. To live, Shahrazad strives to reform King Shahrayar?s view of women as unfaithful, and she accomplishes this endeavor by means of suggesting that anger renders irrational conclusions, like those of the caliph, and multiple repetition of this theme serve only to further propound the message.

From the Paper
"The caliph prematurely assumes that his vizier's incompetence in governing the kingdom directly or indirectly causes the young woman's murder. As previously stated, coincidence indirectly causes the girl's death. With that in mind, the young man's story exposes the vizier's innocence. Within that frame, the son's story reveals the mother's innocence. The importance of such situational repetition conveys the theme that Shahrazad aims to suggest, that solutions derived without reason or logic may never be adequate. This implication indicates a high degree of courage on Shahrazad's part. Effectively, in correlating this theme to King Shahrayar's life, she accuses the king of being wrong. The insinuation that a "king of the world" (11) is wrong seemingly harms Shahrazad's reformation of the king based considering that despots usually do not tolerate contradiction."

Tags:apples, caliph, shahrazad

Abstract
This paper discusses the stories of "Arabian Nights". The writer illustrates how the stories within the main story are told with the purpose of teaching lessons about life in the Islamic culture and religion.

From the Paper
"The stories of "Arabian Nights" vary as much as the lands they originate from. However, all the stories have a spiritual message and a message about values during life. The stories talk about life and how to live it, based on the Islamic culture and religion. Each story gives the reader a vivid image of life in Islamic culture."

Tags:shahrayar, shahzaman, jinni, shahrazad, dinarzad

Abstract
This paper analyzes the films of writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson. It explores common themes in his films, "Hard Eight," "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia" and "Punch-Drunk Love." It discusses Anderson's cinematic techniques bold camera work and superior scripts. The paper also includes biographical information on Anderson.

From the Paper
"With only four feature films to his credit, Paul Thomas Anderson has established himself as one of Hollywood's most gifted contemporary authors. As writer and director and sometimes producer of his movies Anderson not only maintains artistic control he brings ..."

Tags:Films, Movies, Anderson, Magnolia, Sandler, Writer, Director, Valley, Cruise