This article aims to explain the history of translation of Arabian Nights into European languages throughout 18-19th centuries and its influences on modern Europeans’ images about the Muslim world. With the appearance of the Islamic civilization in the late of 6th century, Europeans found themselves confronted by a powerful and threatening rival. During the Middle Ages, Islamic civilization was far ahead of its Christian rival in all areas such as literature, philosophy, science as well as military. Therefore Christian Europe developed negative images about the Muslim world. And Europeans’ fear of the Muslim world has reached its climax in 1453, when Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine Empire, fell to the Ottoman Turks. In the course of seventeenth century, however, the European view of the “other”, like the European view of the “self”, began to change. In this period, Europe has experienced tremendous developments in commerce, industry, and science. Europe, for the first time, overwhelmed the Muslim world in power. At last the Muslim world ceased to be a threat politically, and the West began to develop a new views that portrayed the orient as a romantic territory. In the 17th century there were many French travel writers, such as Tavernier, Chardin, Thévenot, who had visited Turkey, Persia, and Arabia. They have recorded in detail customs, religions, traditions, and institutions of the orient. The interest in the orient increased in England also. The number of English scholars specialising in Arabic studies increased in the 17th century. Men such as William Bedwell, Edmund Castell, John Greaves and Edward Pococke were among the scholars who established Arabic studies in the universities of England. Throughout the eighteenth century and subsequent generations, the most important book, which has influenced on European attitudes toward Arabs and the Middle East in general, was the Arabian Nights. Antoine Galland(1646-1715), a French orientalist, was the first European translator of the Arabian Nights. He published the first two volumes of Les Mille et une nuits in 1704 and the twelfth and final volume in 1717. The Arabian Nights appeared in the English language in England in 1712, having been translated from Galland’s French version. After its publications, the book made a deep and lasting impression on European literature and sensibilities. The fantasy world of the Arabian Tales, with its genies, magic, flying horses and supernatural birds changed the Europeans’ images toward Muslim world. Thus, in the eighteenth century, the image of Arabs in Europe began to acquire new themes of exotic and erotic qualities. Especially, many sexual themes found in the Arabian Nights, such as incest, adultery, sadism, and so on, made Europeans think that the Muslim world is the “free region of adultery.” And the scenes of harem found in the Arabian Nights inspired painters of the 19th century to draw oriental women’s nudes. Paris was flooded with orientalist paintings where the odalisque had become the symbol of exotic and erotic splendor. The Romantic painters, such as Ingre and Gérome, preferred to express the bath scenes and other aspects of harem life in their works. And they formed erotic images toward the orient in contemporary Europeans’ mind.

This article aims to explain the history of translation of Arabian Nights into European languages throughout 18-19th centuries and its influences on modern Europeans’ images about the Muslim world. With the appearance of the Islamic civilization in the late of 6th century, Europeans found themselves confronted by a powerful and threatening rival. During the Middle Ages, Islamic civilization was far ahead of its Christian rival in all areas such as literature, philosophy, science as well as military. Therefore Christian Europe developed negative images about the Muslim world. And Europeans’ fear of the Muslim world has reached its climax in 1453, when Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine Empire, fell to the Ottoman Turks. In the course of seventeenth century, however, the European view of the “other”, like the European view of the “self”, began to change. In this period, Europe has experienced tremendous developments in commerce, industry, and science. Europe, for the first time, overwhelmed the Muslim world in power. At last the Muslim world ceased to be a threat politically, and the West began to develop a new views that portrayed the orient as a romantic territory. In the 17th century there were many French travel writers, such as Tavernier, Chardin, Thévenot, who had visited Turkey, Persia, and Arabia. They have recorded in detail customs, religions, traditions, and institutions of the orient. The interest in the orient increased in England also. The number of English scholars specialising in Arabic studies increased in the 17th century. Men such as William Bedwell, Edmund Castell, John Greaves and Edward Pococke were among the scholars who established Arabic studies in the universities of England. Throughout the eighteenth century and subsequent generations, the most important book, which has influenced on European attitudes toward Arabs and the Middle East in general, was the Arabian Nights. Antoine Galland(1646-1715), a French orientalist, was the first European translator of the Arabian Nights. He published the first two volumes of Les Mille et une nuits in 1704 and the twelfth and final volume in 1717. The Arabian Nights appeared in the English language in England in 1712, having been translated from Galland’s French version. After its publications, the book made a deep and lasting impression on European literature and sensibilities. The fantasy world of the Arabian Tales, with its genies, magic, flying horses and supernatural birds changed the Europeans’ images toward Muslim world. Thus, in the eighteenth century, the image of Arabs in Europe began to acquire new themes of exotic and erotic qualities. Especially, many sexual themes found in the Arabian Nights, such as incest, adultery, sadism, and so on, made Europeans think that the Muslim world is the “free region of adultery.” And the scenes of harem found in the Arabian Nights inspired painters of the 19th century to draw oriental women’s nudes. Paris was flooded with orientalist paintings where the odalisque had become the symbol of exotic and erotic splendor. The Romantic painters, such as Ingre and Gérome, preferred to express the bath scenes and other aspects of harem life in their works. And they formed erotic images toward the orient in contemporary Europeans’ mind.

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천일야화, 오리엔탈리즘, 앙트완 갈랑, 에드워드 윌리엄 레인, 리처드 버턴, 낭만주의, 에로틱 환상