With war-torn Baghdad so much on everyone's minds these days, I thought it would be interesting to have a look at a different Baghdad: a city of caliphs and flying carpets. I'm talking about the Baghdad of the Arabian Nights, as depicted in Neil Gaiman's Sandman #50, "Ramadan."
The Baghdad of "Ramadan" is rich, ornate, and magnificent, and at its center is the marvelous palace of caliph Haroun Al-Raschid. In this comic book's delightfully lush introduction, we discover the palace's hidden treasures and dark secrets, and read about such wonders as the winged horse of glass and the other egg of the phoenix. But even the streets of Baghdad are rich in wonders, and in its marketplace we find apes, exotic birds, and half-human slaves.
The story is about how Haroun Al-Raschid summons up the Lord of Dreams and convinces him to take the Golden Age of Baghdad "into dreams" where it shall last forever. But more than that, "Ramadan" is a story about storytelling. Hints of stories upon stories can be found in nearly every panel of the comic, from the throw-away mention of a doomed hunchback to a pair of plums that is accompanied by a tale left untold. The very last page reveals that the whole tale was being told by an old beggar to a lame little boy, who then limps away through a Baghdad of bombed-out rubble, but with his mind filled with "towers and jewels and djinn, carpets and rings and wild afreets, kings and princes and cities of brass."
And so we are confronted with the question: which is the true Baghdad? The fantastical paradise of the beggar's tale? Or the real-world city torn asunder by war? From there we must then ask, what is the purpose of storytelling anyway? Is it merely an escape from reality? Or does fantasy have an intrinsic value, simply as art? Could it even have insidous uses? (It is possible to view Haroun Al-Raschid as a tyrant who promotes a lavish fantasy of his city to hide the cruelty of his reign hinted at by its dungeons and executions — though I doubt that was Gaiman's intention.)
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
Excellent Flea, thanks very much.
2 - lioness
what a beautiful piece....gives hope for a better day
3 - jake
this info sucks my dick
4 - Eric Olsen
I find that to be a peculiar reaction to this story.
5 - SFC SKI
NIce entry, great tip, it is hard to reconcile the romantic view of the world with the real world, unfortunately.
Lots of thought and comment provoking sentences, but I would have to start with this:
"It's not enough just to be a actor or musician anymore -- one must be associated with a cause like world hunger or AIDS."
I don't agree, I really wish more entertainers would stick to entertaining, and artists let their works speak for themselves.
That being said, once again thanks for a great post.
6 - SFC SKI
The SpamBots are dredging up some worthy threads today, I will have to see if I can find a copy of this novel, and maybe a nice throw rug, too.
7 - Eric Olsen
yeah Flea, where've you been?