1001 Nights of the Archive
Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2002 6:03 pm
I was looking at my two most recent posts to the Nonfiction Board, and realized that together they formed the basis for a series of ten to twenty (or more) short, but interconnected stories.
The model for such a series would be the first literary work which I ever read that had eunuchs as characters, Sir Richard Burton's translation of "The Thousand Nights and a Night" (usually known as "The Arabian Nights") which I read while I was still in elementary school. The "Tale of Ghanim bin Ayub, The Distraught, The Thrall O' Love" reaches a point where three eunuchs have completed one task and are resting before starting the next. One then says, "So let us rest here two or three hours, then rise and do the job. Meanwhile each of us shall tell how he came to be castrated and all that befell him from first to last, the better to pass away our time while we take our rest." Then follow the "Tale of the First Eunuch, Bukhayt," and the "Tale of the Second Eunuch, Kafur." The third eunuch, Sawab, begs off, saying that his tale would take too long to tell, though he outlines its main features.
The posting "Eunuchs and Sacred Space in Islam" talks about the use of eunuchs to guard and maintain the tombs of the wealthy and powerful. Once the tomb was completed, a number of eunuchs from the deceased's retinue would be freed and set to the task of maintaining it. An endowment would purchase new eunuchs as the old ones died. Interred in the tomb would be the central individual and any of his sons who died before puberty. "The Slaves of Islam" provides sources and routes for the eunuchs to arrive in the service of the deceased.
What I envision from a far more competent writer than myself (which means MOST of you), is the ten or twelve eunuchs of the tomb of Sultan Hasan in Cairo deciding to while away their evening hours with each, in turn, telling the story of his castration and/or a story about his service to the deceased and his family.
We can have the story of a Turkish slave kidnapped by a slaver while guarding the family herd and castrated in Samarkand; a Slavic eunuch captured in a Viking slave raid in central Europe and castrated in Prague before being sent through Venice to Cairo; an English eunuch kidnapped off the beach at Dover as a small boy and castrated in Verdun; a Soninke eunuch sold by his family to pay off debts to the landlord, castrated in Wadai before the caravan trip across the Sahara; etc. There can be tales of life with the women of the harem; tales of the explorations of the adolescent boys of the household; etc. You would be limited only by your imagination of scenarios. The eunuchs and their tales could be a mixture of both gay and straight (as would be true for the period). This could produce an almost endless series of very brief stories, each ending with a teaser leading to the next in 1001 Nights fashion. One author could even begin the series, setting the scene and providing tales from the first eunuch or two. Other writers could then fill in the voices of the others.
Any takers? Pueros? Nathan? Kortpeel? Anyone else?
The model for such a series would be the first literary work which I ever read that had eunuchs as characters, Sir Richard Burton's translation of "The Thousand Nights and a Night" (usually known as "The Arabian Nights") which I read while I was still in elementary school. The "Tale of Ghanim bin Ayub, The Distraught, The Thrall O' Love" reaches a point where three eunuchs have completed one task and are resting before starting the next. One then says, "So let us rest here two or three hours, then rise and do the job. Meanwhile each of us shall tell how he came to be castrated and all that befell him from first to last, the better to pass away our time while we take our rest." Then follow the "Tale of the First Eunuch, Bukhayt," and the "Tale of the Second Eunuch, Kafur." The third eunuch, Sawab, begs off, saying that his tale would take too long to tell, though he outlines its main features.
The posting "Eunuchs and Sacred Space in Islam" talks about the use of eunuchs to guard and maintain the tombs of the wealthy and powerful. Once the tomb was completed, a number of eunuchs from the deceased's retinue would be freed and set to the task of maintaining it. An endowment would purchase new eunuchs as the old ones died. Interred in the tomb would be the central individual and any of his sons who died before puberty. "The Slaves of Islam" provides sources and routes for the eunuchs to arrive in the service of the deceased.
What I envision from a far more competent writer than myself (which means MOST of you), is the ten or twelve eunuchs of the tomb of Sultan Hasan in Cairo deciding to while away their evening hours with each, in turn, telling the story of his castration and/or a story about his service to the deceased and his family.
We can have the story of a Turkish slave kidnapped by a slaver while guarding the family herd and castrated in Samarkand; a Slavic eunuch captured in a Viking slave raid in central Europe and castrated in Prague before being sent through Venice to Cairo; an English eunuch kidnapped off the beach at Dover as a small boy and castrated in Verdun; a Soninke eunuch sold by his family to pay off debts to the landlord, castrated in Wadai before the caravan trip across the Sahara; etc. There can be tales of life with the women of the harem; tales of the explorations of the adolescent boys of the household; etc. You would be limited only by your imagination of scenarios. The eunuchs and their tales could be a mixture of both gay and straight (as would be true for the period). This could produce an almost endless series of very brief stories, each ending with a teaser leading to the next in 1001 Nights fashion. One author could even begin the series, setting the scene and providing tales from the first eunuch or two. Other writers could then fill in the voices of the others.
Any takers? Pueros? Nathan? Kortpeel? Anyone else?