O Livro das mil e uma noites, traduzido por Richard Francis Burton do árabe para o inglês, no séc. XIX, causou um forte impacto na sociedade vitoriana por seu conteúdo erótico. Ao tentar superar as traduções de seus antecessores, Burton reuniu diversos manuscritos e versões impressas, para tentar abarcar o máximo possível de contos, além de acrescentar abundantes notas de rodapé acerca dos costumes da sociedade árabe dos países por onde ele viajou como representante do governo britânico. Sua tradução, constante na biblioteca pessoal de Jorge Luis Borges, inspirou um considerável número de contos desse autor. No âmbito da literatura comparada, as Noites representam um importante hipotexto para a obra borgeana, que reutilizou seus temas, argumentos, imitou seu estilo. Analisar as formas de transcendência textual na obra do autor argentino, através das classificações de Gérard Genette, possibilita uma interpretação das suas relações inter e hipertextual com os contos árabes. Genette procura delimitar com mais precisão termos como paródia, charge, pastiche, sátira, por exemplo, que continuamente são confundidos numa análise mais geral. A obra borgeana tem sido muito genericamente taxada de paródica, mas suas relações intertextuais são muito mais complexas, não apenas com as Mil e uma Noites, mas com todos os autores por ele transformados. Além disso, Borges é o criador de uma nova linguagem, de certos gêneros: como o conto ensaístico e a pseudo-tradução, elencados por Genette, que tem como fonte as Noites. Borges reutiliza o tradicional conto árabe modernizando-o e adaptando-o ao seu próprio estilo e aos tempos modernos, criando formas inteiramente novas de narrativa. / The book of the Thousands Nights and a Night, translated by Richard Francis Burton from Arabic into English, in the century. XIX, caused a strong impact on Victorian society for its erotic content. In trying to overcome the translations of his predecessors, Burton met several manuscripts and printed versions, trying to cover as much of tales, while adding abundant footnotes about the customs of Arab society of the countries through which he traveled as a representative of the British government . His translation, the constant personal library of Jorge Luis Borges, inspired a considerable number of short stories by this author. In the context of comparative literature, the Nights represent an important hypotext to work Borges, who reused their themes, arguments, imitated his style. Analyze textual forms of transcendence in the work of the Argentine author, through the ratings Gérard Genette, provides an interpretation of their relationship with the inter-and hypertextual Arab tales. Genette seeks to define more precisely terms like parody, caricature, pastiche, satire, for example, are continually confounded a more general analysis. Borges\'s work has been very generically labeled as parody, but their intertextual relationships are much more complex, not only with the Thousand and One Nights, but with all the authors he transformed. Moreover, Borges is the creator of a new language, certain genres: the short story as essayistic and pseudo-translation, listed by Genette, whose source the Nights. Borges reuses the traditional Arabic tale modernizing it and adapting it to their own style and modern times, creating entirely new ways of storytelling.

Este estudo compara a mímese poética do mundo árabe-islâmico, especialmente no livro de contos As mil e uma noites, com a mímese poética do mundo hispano-americano na obra literária de Jorge Luis Borges. A obra anônima das Noites tornou-se a principal referência para especular tanto as formas e as estratégias de construção narrativa quanto os conteúdos temáticos na criação poética do escritor argentino. Devido à magnitude da produção literária borgeana, este estudo considerou o livro El Aleph (1946) e três contos de El libro de arena (1975)- El espejo y la máscara, Undr e El disco. O trabalho se propõe afirmar que a poética árabe-islâmica, enquanto acervo da cultura universal constituiu-se num dos elementos vitais para a construção da poética narrativa de Jorge Luis Borges / This study compares the poetic mimesis of the Arabic-Islamic world, specially the book of tales The Arabian Nights, with the poetic mimesis of the American- Hispanic world in Jorge Luis Borges literary production. The anonymous literary composition The Arabian Nights became the main reference to speculate both the form and the narrative construction strategies as well as the thematic contents as a poetic creation of the Argentinian author. Due to the magnitude of the borgesian literary production, this study has only considered the book El Aleph (1946) and three narratives of El libro de arena (1975) El espejo y la máscara, Undr and El disco. As a result, the study proposes to state that the Arabic- Islamic Poetics, albeit a universal cultural patrimony, constituted itself in one of the vital elements to the construction of Jorge Luis Borges Narrative Poetics

As Noites [Alf layla wa-layla] foram primeiramente traduzidas e publicadas pelo orientalista francês Antoine Galland, no início do século XVIII. Em sua tradução, Galland não somente seguiu a concepção de sua época de adaptar a obra para o gosto francês como também inseriu novas histórias em sua versão que não pertenciam ao original, de modo que suas Les mille et une nuits não se constituíram como um retrato fiel das Noites árabes. E foi este trabalho que, encontrando um sucesso triunfal desde sua publicação, divulgou as histórias das Noites por todo o Ocidente, e inspirou novas produções literárias. No século XIX, muitos autores românticos buscaram o enriquecimento de sua imaginação nas cores do maravilhoso oriental, entre eles está Charles Nodier, que registrou seu interesse por Les mille et une nuits em seus textos teóricos e literários . Nesse sentido, no âmbito de um estudo comparado, é possível perceber que seu conto intitulado \"Les quatre talismans\" compartilha de determinadas semelhanças com as seguintes histórias de Les mille et une nuits: prólogo-moldura, \"Histoire du pêcheur\", \"Histoire du roi grec et du médecin Douban\", \"Histoire de trois calenders fils de rois et de cinq dames de Bagdad\", \"Histoire du seconde calender\", \"Histoire du petit bossu\", \"Histoire que raconta le marchand chrétien\" - todas elas traduzidas por Galland do manuscrito árabe das Noites -; \"Histoire d\'Aladdin\" e \"Histoire de l\'aveugle Baba-Abdalla\" - ambas ausentes das Noites, correspondendo, portanto, a inserções do orientalista em sua versão. Comparativamente, a análise de elementos, como a técnica narrativa, os temas e os motivos das histórias, atestam não somente as apropriações de Nodier a partir de Les mille et une nuits, mas também a própria originalidade do autor, que transforma o modelo das histórias provindas das Noites e das narrativas inseridas por Galland, criando, assim, um conto peculiar. / Nights [Alf layla wa-layla] were first translated and published by the French orientalist Antoine Galland in the beginning of the XVIII century. In his translation, Galland not only followed the conception of his time to adapt the literary work to the French taste, but also inserted new stories in its version that didn\'t belong to the original, so that his Les mille et une nuits didn\'t constitute a real portrait of the Arabian Nights. And was this literary work that, finding a triumphal success since its publication, disclosed the stories of Nights to the whole West, and inspired new literary productions. In the XIX century, many Romantic writers searched the enrichment of their imagination in the colors of the oriental wonder; among them is Charles Nodier, who registered his interest for Les mille et une nuits in many of his theoretical and literary texts. In this sense, in the field of the compared literature, it is possible to notice that his tale entitled \"Les quatre talismans\" shares some similarities with the following stories of Les mille et une nuits: prologue- frame, \" Histoire du pêcheur\", \"Histoire du roi grec et du médecin Douban\", \" Histoire de trois calenders fils de rois et de cinq dames de Bagdad\", \"Histoire du seconde calender\", \"Histoire du petit bossu\" , \"Histoire que raconta le marchand chrétien\" - all of them translated by Galland from the Arabian manuscript of Nights - \"Histoire d\'Aladdin\" and \"Histoire de l\'aveugle Baba-Abdalla\"- both absent in Nights, corresponding, therefore, insertions from the orientalist in his version. Comparatively, the analyses of elements, such as narrative technique, the themes and the reasons of the stories, certify not only the appropriation of Nodier from Les mille et une nuits, but also the originality of the author itself, that transforms the model of the stories from Nights and from the narratives inserted by Galland, criating, thus, a peculiar tale.

Angela Carter (1940-1992) positions herself as a writer in ‘the demythologising business’ (1983b:38). She defines myth in ‘a sort of conventional sense; also in the sense that Roland Barthes uses it in Mythologies’ (in Katsavos 1994:1). Barthes states that ‘the very principle of myth’ is that ‘it transforms history into nature’ (Barthes 1993:129). This process of naturalisation transforms culturally and historically determined fictions into received truths, which are accepted as natural, even sacred. This thesis explores Carter’s demythologising approach in her collection of fairy tales, The Bloody Chamber, and her novel, Nights at the Circus. The readings of these texts are informed by the ideas that Carter discusses in her feminist manifesto The Sadeian Woman: An Exercise in Cultural History, which she describes as ‘a late-twentieth-century interpretation of some of the problems [de Sade] raises about the culturally determined nature of women and of the relations between men and women that result from it’ (1979:1). In The Bloody Chamber and Nights at the Circus, Carter questions the culturally determined roles that patriarchal ideology has ‘palmed off’ on women as ‘the real thing’ (1983b:38), and she scrutinizes the relations between the sexes that have resulted from them. In The Sadeian Woman, the subject-object dichotomy of gendered identity is explored as a predatory hierarchy. The Bloody Chamber explores the same ideological ground, and ‘the distinctions drawn are not so much between males and females as between “tigers” and “lambs”, carnivores and herbivores, those who are preyed upon and those who do the preying’ (Atwood 1994:118). The most discomfiting point that Carter makes in The Bloody Chamber is that patriarchal ideology has traditionally viewed women as herbivores, or ‘meat’, that is, as passive objects of desire and inert objects of exchange. In Nights at the Circus, the subject-object dichotomy is presented in its spectator-spectacle guise. Fevvers, the female protagonist, is a winged aerialiste who articulates an autonomous identity for herself that exists outside of patriarchal prescription. She presents herself as feminine spectacle and, in so doing, becomes simultaneously a spectator, as she ‘turns her own gaze on herself, producing herself as its object’ (Robinson 1991:123). Mary Ann Doane refers to this strategy of self-representation as the masquerade. In ‘flaunting femininity’, Fevvers ‘holds it at a distance’, and in this way womanliness becomes ‘a mask which can be worn or removed’ (Doane 1991:25). Susanne Schmid points out that ‘every act of deconstruction entails a process of reconstructing something else’ (1996:155), and this suggests that Carter, in demythologising, also remythologises. Roland Barthes argues that ‘the best weapon against myth is perhaps to mythify it in its turn, and to produce an artificial myth’ (1993:135). In the characterisation of Fevvers, Carter creates an ‘artificial myth’ that does not present itself as either eternal or immutable. In masquerading as a feminine spectacle, Fevvers temporarily incarnates an archetypal femininity. But this is just a performance, for Fevvers is also an agent of self-representation, and so she is both a real woman and an artificial myth of femininity. / Dissertation (MA (English))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / English / unrestricted

[pt] Na dissertação, busca-se verificar, partindo da trilogia As Mil e Uma Noites – O inquieto (Vol. 1), O desolado (Vol. 2) e O encantado (Vol. 3) –, dirigida pelo cineasta português Miguel Gomes, como a obra trata o processo da montagem para pensar as questões políticas de Portugal. Abordaremos a montagem como uma prática de construção do pensamento – a partir de Didi- Huberman – para além de uma etapa da produção fílmica. Cabe aqui refletir, em que medida, através de elementos heterogêneos como a utilização do livro como dispositivo narrativo, o cenário, a escolha de atores e não-atores e o embaralhamento entre a realidade e a ficção, os filmes produzem o dissenso (no sentido de Jacques Rancière) fazendo pensar as relações entre estética e política. Nossa hipótese é de que esses filmes retomam lugares concretos para reconstruílos de forma inventiva, forjando a possibilidade de um espaço em que a esfera coletiva tenha peso efetivo – tensionando assim as relações de poder estabelecidas. / [en] Having the trilogy As mil e uma Noites: O inquieto (Vol. 1), O desolado (Vol. 2) e O encantado (Vol. 3) [Arabian nights: The restless ones (Vol. 1), The desolate one (Vol. 2) and The enchanted one (Vol.3) directed by the Portuguese movie maker Miguel Gomes as a starting point, this research aims to analyze how his work deals with the editing process as a tool to think over political issues in Portugal. From Didi-Huberman perspective, the editing as a thought-building practice will be dealt as beyond a mere phase of the movie production. At this point, reflections can be made on what extent the usage of heterogeneous elements, such as the use of the book as a narrative device, the setting, the choice of actors and non-actors, and the shuffle between reality and fiction, films can produce dissent (as in Jacques Rancière) and, as a result, leading to reflections about the relationship between aesthetics and politics. The hypothesis is that these pictures have their take on certain concrete places by rebuilding them inventively, thus enabling a modulate space in which the collective sphere has an effective weight able on tensing the established power relations.

INTRODUCTION : Les jeunes de moins de 25 ans constituent le groupe de conducteurs le plus impliqué dans les collisions routières (CR). L’objectif de cette étude est de déterminer l’importance de certains facteurs humains et de l’environnement routier dans les collisions les nuits de la fin de semaine chez les jeunes conducteurs. Les hypothèses postulent des chances plus élevées de CR les nuits de la fin de semaine, comparativement aux CR survenant à d’autres moments de la semaine, en présence d’un seul facteur de risque et de deux facteurs de risque. MÉTHODE : Cette étude transversale porte sur les CR ayant causé des blessures légères, graves ou mortelles au Québec chez les conducteurs âgés de 16 à 24 ans. Les informations sur les 58 478 CR survenus de 2007 à 2011 et les facteurs associés à ces CR proviennent de la banque de données de la Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec. Les CR les nuits de la fin de semaine (vendredi à samedi et samedi à dimanche de 20 h 00 à 04 h 59) sont comparées aux CR survenues aux autres moments de la semaine. L’importance des facteurs humains (p. ex., conduite avec capacités affaiblies) et de l’environnement routier (p. ex., courbes) dans ces CR est évaluée à l’aide d’analyses de régression logistique binaire et multinomiale. RÉSULTATS : Plusieurs facteurs sont liés à une augmentation des chances de CR les nuits de la fin de semaine, comparativement aux autres moments de la semaine. Ces facteurs incluent, par ordre d’importance décroissant : la conduite avec les capacités affaiblies (rapport des cotes ajusté [RCA] = 5,05 et intervalles de confiance à 99 % [IC 99 %] = 4,53‒5,64), la fatigue et le sommeil (RCA = 2,40 ; IC 99 % = 2,12‒2,73), la présence de passagers (RCA = 1,81 ; IC 99 % = 1,69‒1,94), le genre masculin (RCA = 1,36 ; IC 99 % = 1,27‒1,46), les courbes (RCA = 1,21 ; IC 99 % = 1,11‒1,32) et la vitesse (RCA = 1,18 ; IC 99 % = 1,09‒1,28). Les résultats sur la présence de deux de ces facteurs suggèrent l’importance des capacités affaiblies. Les chances de CR sont particulièrement importantes lorsque la présence de capacités affaiblies et d’un autre facteur est comparée à l’absence de ces deux facteurs. Dans ces cas, les chances de CR s’étalent de 5,33 (IC 99 % = 4,40‒6,45) pour la combinaison avec les courbes à 7,68 (IC 99 % = 6,52‒9,05) pour la combinaison avec la présence de passagers. CONCLUSION : Cette étude a permis de déterminer l’importance de plusieurs facteurs de risque, notamment la conduite avec capacités affaiblies, dans l’implication des jeunes conducteurs dans les CR les nuits de la fin de semaine. Les résultats suggèrent diverses stratégies afin de mieux cibler la conduite avec capacités affaiblies, incluant l’accès graduel à la conduite avec de jeunes passagers la nuit après l’obtention du permis de conduire. / Abstract : INTRODUCTION: Young people under 25 represent the group of drivers most involved in motor vehicle crashes (MVC). The aim of this study is to determine the significance of certain human and road environment factors in weekend night crashes involving young drivers. The hypotheses postulate higher odds of crash occurrence on weekend nights, as compared to crashes at other times during the week, when there is the presence of a single risk factor and two risk factors. METHOD: This cross-sectional study examines MVC causing minor, severe or fatal injuries in Quebec drivers aged 16 to 24. The information pertaining to the 58 478 MVC that occurred from 2007 to 2011 and the factors associated with these MVC comes from the databank of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec. Weekend night MVC (Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday from 8:00 p.m. to 4:59 a.m.) are compared to MVC occurring at other times of the week. The significance of human factors (e.g., driving under the influence) and road environment factors (e.g., curves) in these crashes is assessed using binary and multinomial logistic regression analyses. FINDINGS: Several factors are associated with the increased odds of an MVC occurring on weekend nights, as compared to other times of the week. These factors include, by order of decreasing significance: driving under the influence (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 5.05 and 99% confidence interval [99% CI] = 4.53‒5.64), fatigue and sleep (AOR = 2.40; 99% CI = 2.12‒2.73), presence of passengers (AOR = 1.81; 99% CI = 1.69‒1.94), male gender (AOR = 1.36; 99% CI = 1.27‒1.46), curves (AOR = 1.21; 99% CI = 1.11‒1.32), and speed (AOR = 1.18; 99% CI = 1.09‒1.28). The findings on the presence of two of these factors suggest the significance of driving under the influence. The odds of MVC occurrence are particularly high when the presence of driving under the influence and another factor is compared against the absence of these two factors. In such instances, the odds of MVC occurrence range from 5.33 (99% CI = 4.40‒6.45) when curves are also involved to 7.68 (99% CI = 6.52‒9.05) when passengers are also present. CONCLUSION: This study determined the significance of several risk factors, particularly driving under the influence, in young drivers’ involvement in MVC on weekend nights. The findings suggest various strategies to better target driving under the influence, including gradual access to driving with young passengers at night after obtaining a driver’s licence.

« Histoire et sagesse d’Aḥiqar l’Assyrien » est un texte d’exception puisqu’il plonge ses racines dans les temps lointains de la Mésopotamie antique. Son héros, Aḥiqar, est un Sage, un Ummānu, conseiller des rois d’Assyrie ; il fait l’objet d’une vile machination, ourdie par son neveu que le Sage avait pourtant élevé comme s’il était son propre fils ; après avoir frôlé la mort, Aḥiqar est réhabilité, puis envoyé en Egypte, afin d’affronter les énigmes et défis que le Pharaon a lancés contre son roi, tandis que son neveu est puni de mort. Notre corpus regroupe sept versions de « Histoire et sagesse d’Aḥiqar l’Assyrien », s’échelonnant de 500 avant notre ère jusqu’au XVIIIe siècle, et composées en araméen, syriaque, guèze, arabe et grec. Dans une comparaison menée en traduction française, à travers les versions dont nous disposons et au fil des différents épisodes du récit, nous étudierons tout d’abord la trajectoire dramatique de la vie d’Aḥiqar. Puis nous examinerons les énigmes et défis résolus par ce héros expert en langage face au Pharaon avant d’analyser les deux longues séries de maximes, d’abord éducatives puis punitives, qu’il administre à son neveu. Nous aborderons également les modalités du réemploi, ou comment l’histoire araméenne d’Aḥiqar a pu se trouver refonctionnalisée dans la Bible au « Livre de Tobie », dans la « Vie d’Ésope le Phrygien », célèbre fabuliste grec, et dans l’univers des « Mille et Une Nuits » avec le conte intitulé « Sinkarib et ses deux vizirs ». Enfin nous conclurons sur l’intérêt de cette grande figure de l’Ummānu ou conseiller du roi – héros ni guerrier ni saint mais homme de langage – pour l’histoire de la Rhétorique. / “History and wisdom Aḥiqar the Assyrian” is an exception text since its roots goes in the ancient times of ancient Mesopotamia. His hero, Ahiqar is a Sage, a Ummānu, advise the kings of Assyria, and he is the subject of a vile plot, hatched by his nephew that the Sage had yet raised as if he were her own son ; from the brink of death, Ahiqar is rehabilitated and sent to Egypt to confront the puzzles and the challenges that the Pharaoh launched against his king, while his nephew is punished by death. Our text corpus has seven versions of “History and wisdom Ahiqar the Assyrian,” ranging from 500 BC until the eighteenth century, and composed in Aramaic, in Syriac, in Ge’ez, in Arabic and in Greek. In a comparison conducted in French translation, through the versions we have and all along the different episodes of the story, we first study the dramatic trajectory of life Ahiqar. We then examine the puzzles and challenges addressed by this expert hero of language against Pharaoh before analyzing the two long series of maxims, first educational and punitive, that it administers to his nephew. We also discuss the terms of re-use, or how the history of Aramaic Ahiqar could be re-used, with more or less success, in the Bible, the “Book of Tobit” in the “Life of Aesop the Phrygian” famous Greek fabulist, and the world of “Arabian Nights” with the tale entitled “Sinkarib and two viziers.” Finally, we conclude on the interest of this great figure of Ummānu or advise the king - nor a warrior hero, nor a saint hero, but a language man - for the history of rhetoric.

La plupart du temps, la littérature dite de l’immigration en Allemagne a fait l’objet d’études générales regroupant plusieurs auteurs. Ce travail, entièrement consacrée à l’œuvre de l’auteur germanophone d’origine syrienne Rafik Schami (né en 1946) entend réindividualiser l’œuvre de cet auteur et l’aborder dans son historicité et son évolution. Jouant sur ses origines ‘orientales’ et les mettant sans cesse en scène tout en écrivant en allemand, Rafik Schami s'inscrit dans la tradition d’un discours sur l’Orient et sa réception occidentale. A partir d’une double approche – l’une sociopoétique, l’autre relevant d'une analyse littéraire interne des textes – nous interrogeons d’une part les postures ‘interculturelles’ de l’auteur et ses rapports avec la tradition orale, entre Orient et Occident, et d’autre part, nous entendons démontrer comment son oeuvre met en question les rapports de pouvoir inhérents au couple que forment le centre et la périphérie. A la frontière entre une littérature populaire aux visées mercantiles et une littérature exigeante, les fictions interculturelles de Rafik Schami sont une tentative, parfois équivoque du fait des stratégies employées, de faire découvrir au lecteur occidental un 'ailleurs'. Que cet ailleurs soit le monde du travailleur étranger ou de l’immigré en Allemagne, un monde arabe vaguement délimité et mis en scène en tant qu’une « Arabie », ou encore la Syrie, Damas et ses environs, cet ailleurs est au cœur d’un projet culturel et politique qui voudrait sensibiliser le plus grand nombre aux destins des minorités et des sans-voix. / Often times, German so called ‘literature of migration’ has been the subject of general studies which regroup several authors. This work, exclusively dedicated to the work of the Syrian-born (1946) German-speaking author Rafik Schami, intends to reindividualize the work of this author and to consider it in its historicity and evolution. Building his work largely upon his 'Oriental' origins all-whilst writing in German, Schami instrumentalizes his prose, intertextual references and his own public and literary persona to connect himself to a certain lineage of discourse on the Orient and the Western reception responding to that discourse. From a dual approach – one socio-poetical, and the other text-analytical –, we examine on one hand the many postures of Schami's 'intercultural' authorship as they relate to storytelling between the East and the West, and on the other hand consider his work as an inquiry of power relations inherent to the interplay between the center and the periphery. Somewhere between popular literature and belles-lettres, the intercultural fictions of Rafik Schami are an attempt, even at times ambiguous, to introduce the Western reader an ‘elsewhere’. This 'elsewhere', sometimes portrayed as the world of the worker or the immigrant in Germany, some others as an Arab world vaguely defined and staged as an "Arabia", and most frequently as Syria, or Damascus and its surroundings in particular, forms the core of Rafik Schami's work. It is through the 'elsewhere' that Schami aspires to raise cultural awareness in his readers, and aims to interest them in the lives of the minorities and of the unvoiced groups and individuals whose stories he tells.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de faire découvrir le personnage d’Ahmad al-Rabbât al-Halabî, un libraire syrien qui a vécu entre la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle et la première moitié du XIXe siècle, de répertorier et présenter ses manuscrits et d’enquêter sur les utilisateurs « lecteurs » de cette archive culturelle : ce qui peut permettre d’apporter des réponses concrètes à certaines questions sur la littérature arabe, la création et la circulation des textes. Les recherches ont conduit à identifier environ 240 volumes, dispersés un peu partout dans le monde, de la bibliothèque initiale d’al-Rabbât. Les marges de ces manuscrits contiennent un grand nombre de certificats de lecture rédigés par plusieurs générations de lecteurs. Le travail sur les sources manuscrites a aussi donné la possibilité de créer une base de données sur les copistes, les propriétaires et les lecteurs des manuscrits, de déterminer le rôle qu’ont joué les voyageurs occidentaux et les agents consulaires dans la vie de ces documents. / The aim of this thesis is to bring to light the unknown figure of Ahmad al-Rabbât al-Halabî, a Syrian bookseller, who lived between the second half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century, to catalog and present his manuscripts and to investigate the users « readers » of this cultural archive: it can provide concrete answers to questions raised in the Arabic literature, the creation and circulation of texts. The research led to identify about 240 volumes, scattered around the world, from the initial library of al-Rabbât. The margins of these manuscripts contain a large number of reading certificates written by many generations of readers.The work on the manuscript sources also presented an opportunity to create a database of the copyists, the owners and the readers of manuscripts, and to determine the role played by Western travelers and consular agents in the production and the history of the manuscripts.