The Therapeutic Function of Story telling: The Arabian Nights Vs. Franz Kafka?s Animal Stories

Story telling in the book of A Thousand and One Nights , functions as a way sublimating Shahrayar?s desire for murdering Sharazad and releasing it through catharsis. i.e. the stories function as a therapy for Sharayar and as a brain-washing mechanism through which Shahrazad hopes to cure Sharayar from his murderous desire that has led to the deaths of many women because of his wife?s act of infidelity. In this article, I will highlight the similarities between some of the stories in the book of A Thousand and One Nights which focus on ingratitude and metamorphosis as dominant themes and some of Franz Kafka?s animal stories (The Metamorphosis , A Hunger Artist, and A Report to An Academy) which share the aforementioned themes. By doing so, I hope to prove that there is a good reason to assume that Kafka was, at least indirectly, influenced by the book of A Thousand and One Nights which, to the best of my knowledge, is something that haven?t been done before.