Thread by @QifaNabki

Published today! “The Book of Travels” by Hanna Diyab 🧵

The remarkable 18th-century account of a young Syrian man's journey from his hometown of Aleppo to Paris and back again, a voyage that played a fascinating role in the history of the 1001 Nights. @LibraryArabLit

Diyab, a Maronite Christian, served as an interpreter for the French naturalist and antiquarian Paul Lucas. Between 1706 and 1709, Diyab traveled by foot, ship, donkey, horse, and carriage through Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Egypt, Tripolitania, Tunis, Italy, France, and Turkey.

His memoir offers a glimpse of the Ottoman Empire and Europe in the early 18th century, a world of consuls and traders, pilgrims and tourists, pirates and dragomans. Diyab has much to say about food, clothing, monastic life, and the differences between East & West.

Paul Lucas, Diyab’s employer, was on a mission to collect antiquities for Louis XIV’s Royal Library. Everywhere he traveled, he acquired old coins, manuscripts, gems, and even a mummy, paying for them with medical services. New lamps for old lamps?

In Paris, Diyab met and became friends with the great orientalist Antoine Galland, who added several tales related by Diyab to his wildly popular translation of the 1001 Nights. These included “Aladdin” and “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.”

During his stay in France, Diyab toured Versailles with Lucas, where he met Louis XIV and various members of the royal court. He describes the Machine de Marly, the wonders of Versailles’ gardens, and the French craze for Syrian coffee.

In Paris, Diyab also went the opera, accompanying a visiting Ottoman ambassador and his entourage. He recounts in detail what seems to have been a production of Sémélé, which premiered at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal on April 9, 1709 and was performed 25 times that spring.

A wonderful aspect of Diyab's memoir is that it is written in a hybrid of his Levantine vernacular and the standard Arabic of his time. Here, he expresses his shock at seeing unveiled Cypriot women selling wine and pork in the streets of Nicosia.

The subject of women's clothing, in fact, is a recurring theme in Diyab's memoir. He constantly remarks on the lack of veils in the lands of the Christians. It's a source of fascination to him, and he's sort of triggered every time he sees it.

Producing this two-volume work has been the labor of love of many individuals, including Johannes Stephan, Michael Cooperson, @yasmineseale , Paolo Horta, and myself. It is being published by the @LibraryArabLit.

If you're interested in hearing more about Hanna Diyab while you're waiting for your books to arrive, I'm giving a little talk at @Stanford this afternoon (2:30PM ET). dlcl.stanford.edu/events/path-wh…

@Stanford If you *don't* want to hear more about Hanna Diyab but *do* want to hear some funk music, then I've got you covered... youtube.com/channel/UCr0Lu…