The Islamicate Short Story and Frame Tale as World Literature Beyond the Arabian Nights

Short stories are in abundant supply in classical Islamicate literatures; and for reasons of both style and substance, they have proved rather easier to circulate than more strictly defined and formulated genres. This chapter discusses the circulation across languages and cultures of several Islamicate collections of short stories, in particular Kalila wa Dimna, which itself is an adaptation of the Sanskrit Pancatantra. This work was also popular in Medieval and early modern Europe, and would not be eclipsed by the Arabian Nights until the 18th century CE. This chapter, among others, traces the reasons for this shift.