Another Great Thesis Idea

So many ideas, so little money for grad school!

I recently read Arabian Nights. It was a pretty standard translation. It was fairly old and was taken from the French translation. According to the introduction (and wikkipedia) the French translation was the first that put these folk tales into a Western language.

I loved it.

The mysteries were mesmerizing. The stories seemed infinitely more interesting than Hans Christian Anderson's faery tales. Perhaps the translation was just that much better than Anderson's translation.

But really I think the stories themselves were what I loved. I would love to find a long version that didn't skip any of the tales. So many of the mysteries went unsolved in the book I read. And yet I think perhaps they go unsolved on purpose.

So fairy tales. Yeah. Where is the thesis in that?

England and France were bowled over, amazed by these stories. The stories raced across the cultural imaginations like wildfire. They could not get enough of them.

Could they be blamed? Evil Genii, handsome princes, beautiful princesses, magic fountains, talking animals, people who became animals, instant justice for wrong doing. And then there was Sinbad. **sigh**. That Sinbad. He had shipwrecks, desert Islands with mysterious trapdoors, inescapable fate, riches immeasurable, giant deadly monsters.

What, did you say Lost? Indeed, no. I said Sinbad. But therein lies the Thesis, no?

It was clear to me after reading Arabian Nights, that the writers of Lost are a literate bunch with their thumbs on what gets people excited about stories.

I would love to get University credit in a Master's program for comparing and contrasting Lost with Arabian Nights as stories and as Cultural Phenomenon. I would like to learn why people still respond enthusiastically to these stories.

Well that's it. I can't get to it this year, so If you are in grad school looking for something cool to study you are welcome to it. Just send me a copy when you are done. I would love to know what you find out.