From Myth to Cultural Diplomacy: Repositioning Arab Identity through the Transcultural Journey of Hikayat Alfu Lailah wa Lailah in European Literary Discourse

Abstract

This study examines the transformation of Hikayat Alfu Lailah wa Lailah from an Arabic narrative tradition into a transcultural literary text that profoundly shaped European literary imagination. Using a qualitative narrative-cultural approach, the research combines cultural reception theory and Carl Thompson’s symbolic myth framework to analyze the narratives of Shahrazad and The Merchant and the Ifrit. Cultural reception theory is employed to explore how European readers, translators, and literary institutions reconstructed Arabic narratives through exoticization, adaptation, and ideological negotiation, thereby reshaping their meanings within European literary discourse. Meanwhile, Thompson’s framework identifies symbolic journeys, heroic archetypes, supernatural encounters, and moral-symbolic structures embedded in the narratives. The findings reveal that the text functions not only as entertainment literature but also as a symbolic instrument of cultural diplomacy that repositions Arab identity within European literary discourse. Three major findings emerge: first, mythological symbols construct heroic and civilizational journeys that mediate intercultural understanding; second, Shahrazad’s storytelling strategy represents intellectual resistance and social transformation within patriarchal and colonial structures; and third, European reception reflects transcultural reinterpretation that simultaneously exoticized and legitimized Arabic literary heritage within world literature, strengthening literary decolonization discourse and the concept of cultural diplomacy narrative.

Keywords: cultural diplomacy; imaginative journey; mythological journey; symbolic mythology; transculturalization

Kajian ini mengkaji transformasi hikayat One Thousand and One Nights daripada tradisi naratif Arab kepada teks sastera transkultural yang membentuk imaginasi sastera Eropah dengan mendalam. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan naratif-budaya kualitatif, penyelidikan ini menggabungkan teori penerimaan budaya dan rangka kerja mitos simbolik Carl Thompson untuk menganalisis naratif Shahrazad dan The Merchant and the Ifrit. Teori penerimaan budaya digunakan untuk meneroka bagaimana pembaca, penterjemah, dan institusi sastera Eropah membina semula naratif Arab melalui eksotisisasi, penyesuaian, dan tawar-menawar ideologi, sekaligus membentuk semula maknanya dalam wacana sastera Eropah. Sementara itu, rangka kerja Thompson mengenal pasti perjalanan simbolik, arketip wira, pertemuan ghaib, dan struktur moral-simbolik yang terdapat dalam naratif tersebut. Dapatan menunjukkan bahawa teks ini berfungsi bukan sahaja sebagai hiburan sastera tetapi juga sebagai alat simbolik diplomasi budaya yang menyusun semula kedudukan identiti Arab dalam wacana sastera Eropah. Tiga dapatan utama timbul: pertama, simbol mitologi membina perjalanan heroik dan tamadun yang memudahkan pemahaman antara budaya; kedua, strategi penceritaan Shahrazad mewakili rintangan intelektual dan transformasi sosial dalam struktur patriarki dan penjajahan; dan ketiga, penerimaan Eropah mencerminkan penafsiran lintas budaya yang pada masa sama menonjolkan keunikan dan mengiktiraf warisan sastera Arab dalam sastera dunia, sambil memperkukuh wacana penyahpenjajahan sastera dan konsep naratif diplomasi budaya.

Kata Kunci: diplomasi budaya; pengembaraan imaginatif; pengembaraan mitologi; mitologi simbolik; transkulturalisasi