Yluos Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I still haven't found that book (it seems
> downright nonexistent so far), but here is a truly
> folkloristic essay on the history of ghouls.
> Whether or not it's accurate I can't say for sure,
> because Arabic history has never been my prime
> interest, but at least it's written with greater
> depth and with more references to other sources,
> and it even comes with a critical response from
> another scholar. I assume you'll know better than
> I; perhaps you even know most of this already, but
> at least it might interest some people here with
> less ghoul knowledge.
>
> [
www.ocf.berkeley.edu]
> ume8/vol8_article3.html
In case the link stops working, this refers to "The Mythical Ghoul in Arabic Culture", by Ahmed Al-Rawi.
The article contains what I suppose must be a decent survey of ghoul-references in ancient Arabic literature. Apart from that, I don't think much of it.
Firstly, he obviously assumes that ghouls must be Arabic in order to be genuine, and never mentions Persia or Syria at all. But ghouls are as much Persian monster as they are an Arabic monster, and
1001 Nights is, in origin at least, as much a Persian text as an Arabic one.
Then Al-Rawi goes on to assume that anything not recorded in his brief survey of ancient Arabic sources cannot be authentic; and concludes from this that Galland must have made up the
Sidi Nouman tale.
But this is pure nonsense. Folkore is a predominently oral phenomenon. Very little of it gets written down, and I suppose very little of what does get written down ends up being preserved for future generations. The idea of writing down and preserving folk legends for posterity, seems to be a mainly European idea, and Galland might be considered one of the pioneers of that field. Even the
1001 Nights was not particularly respected in Arab culture, AFAIK. It is probably not a co-incidence that the oldest surviving text of the
1001 Nights is the copy obtained by Galland, and now preserved in a Paris library.
Toward the end of the 19th century, the German folklorist Hans Stummer collected a set of folk-tales from North Africa, which he published in Arabic and German. These included at least 2 tales about ghouls (
Udea and her Brothers; and
The Story of Halfman). These tales also have their own unique elements and details about ghouls, which are likewise unreflected in Al-Rawi's survey of older Arabic literature, and some of which might be regional. Must I assume that these stories are also fraudulent? According to Al-Rawi's logic, they must be.
Al-Rawi actually mentions Hanna Diab, but seeks to downplay Diab's role, saying Diab may have "inspired" those parts of
The Tale of Sidi Nouman that might be authentic. What parts, if not the whole thing? Then, having belatedly credited Diab, he feels compelled to label Diab an "Arab", which is sort-of true, but which is rather like calling Sinead O'Connor an "Englishwoman" merely because she speaks English. But what should matter is that Diab (a Syriac-Christian from the Arabic-speaking city of Aleppo in Syria) is a native of those regions from whence ghoul legends come.
Al-Rawi accuses Galland of making ghouls male, in contrast to Arabic ghouls who tended to be female. Where does he get this from? There are only 2 ghouls in Galland's text, and both are female. The first is explicitly female, and the mother of a brood of little ghouls; and the other, Amina's goule-friend, is strongly implied to be female by the genders used in Galland's French text. Nor does Galland ever tell his readers that goules are "male monsters", as Al-Rawi claims. Rather Galland tells his readers that goules may be of either sex. Which is surely accurate enough.
I did however enjoy some of the anecdotes, such as the fellows who killed a "ghoul" which on examination by the less ignorant turned out to be a hyena; and also the fellow who consulted the Prophet Mohammed about the ghouls who were breaking into his storehouse and eating his dates. It is perhaps worth mentioning that striped hyenas like to supplement their carrion diet with fruit. Al-Rawi may be on to something when he suggests these particular ghoul anecdotes are more "authentic". But his article purports to be about the "mythical ghoul"; not the "authentic" ghoul who is probably a hyena.