Between the Nights and the Ass: frame narrative and embedding-framing structure

Abstract

In Metamorphoses better known as The Golden Ass, Apuleius narrates the transformation of Lucius into an ass and composes his work by compiling a string of tales. Apuleius intricately weaves popular tales in his narrative. Lucius is the narrator through whom the different tales are introduced: the tales are either witnessed by Lucius or are transmitted through what he has heard in his journey. Yet, the embedded stories and the frame story entwine together to create an oscillating relationship that punctuates and reflects the various narrative techniques, themes, subjects, messages and even philosophical approaches Apuleius aims to address in his narrative. Mi’at laylah wa-laylah or One Hundred and One Nights is a collection of tales whose motifs and themes are drawn out of various cultures. This book opens with Shaykh Fihras, a philosopher who was called out to the court of King Darim to narrate the tales of The Hundred and One Nights. Following this first frame, there is the introduction of the second narrator, Shahrazad, who narrates these different stories to her King. In this collection, a number of embedded tales were included which consequently reveal a set of techniques, themes, subjects, and messages that are woven into the narrative. The Golden Ass and One Hundred and One Nights remain two different narratives, with remarkable similitudes and coincidences, yet they share one important form: framing-embedding structure. Both books unfold through the adoption of the frame narrative, and the relationship between the frame and enframed stories.