The Thousand and One Nights of the Books
The Night of the Books was held yesterday at the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, with an intergenerational programme that bets on the encounter around literature as a space of coexistence, reflection and safe culture. The main reason for this new edition of La Noche de los Libros, promoted by the Community of Madrid, is that each book contains a possible world, with which to enter the unexplored.
Bookstores, libraries and institutions such as the Foundation for Islamic Culture and Religious Tolerance joined forces so that this year, despite the circumstances we are facing, Madrid will be a beacon of the coast of a celebration that is, at the same time, an opportunity to share the love of books. Dialogues, conferences, round tables, music or theatre gave shape to an extraordinary day where the Thousand and One Nights, was the protagonist.
The programme included Salvador Peña Martín, professor at the University of Granada and winner of the National Translation Prize for his adaptation of this literary classic into Spanish. And with the renowned narrator Héctor Urién, who has presented the Thousand and One Nights in numerous theatres over the last few years, offering a story of the play that allowed the audience to delve into it through a new and surprising proposal.
"Reality has to cure the madness produced by books, or vice versa, books have to cure the madness produced by reality", according to Salvador Peña Martín
The participation was supported by the general director, Jumaa al Kaab, of the foundation For Islamic Culture and Religious Tolerance, in this important cultural event, which took place entirely at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, divided into two activities around the Thousand and One Nights. Probably few books are as well known worldwide as The Thousand and One Nights, a collection of stories from the medieval East narrated by Sherezade. The exotic atmosphere created by the places and the oriental culture made this comic series a real success that captivated both children and adults.
During the afternoon of 13 November, a workshop was held on this work for children and young people between 8 and 12 years old, in which those attending were immersed with Beatriz de la Flor in this classic of literature through the creation of models and the representation of the wonderful stories contained in The Thousand and One Nights, where both children and adults could appreciate and learn about the cultural background of this work.
One legend recounts the existence of a sultan who, in revenge for the betrayal of his first wife, married a different woman every night and had her beheaded the next day. In order not to suffer the same fate, Sherezade decided to entertain the sultan throughout the night by telling a story and postponing the end until the arrival of dawn. In this way, the sultan had to spare her life for one more night to find out how her story ended. With this ingenious trick, Sherezade managed to survive for a thousand and one nights and thus ended up becoming queen.
According to Salvador Peña Martín "it is the first great work where excessive praise is given to books, showing absolute faith in books and in the capacity of books to transform reality".
