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The 1001 Arabian Nights (The Arabian Nights or Tales from 1001 Nights)

4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 · rating details · 27,303 ratings · 753 reviews

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally importan...more

Paperback, 564 pages

Published April 30th 2009 by BiblioLife (first published 800)

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Apr 21, 2008 JG (The Introverted Reader) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, anthology, fiction, read_in_2008, reviewed, on_the_screen, 5_stars, own

For those 2 people who don't know, The Arabian Nights is sort of a collection of short stories told in Arabia (which seems to include India and parts of China) waaaaaay back in the day. The framework of the story is about a sultan who caught his wife cheating on him. After he has her killed, he decides to take out his revenge on the entire sex, so he marries a different wife every day and has her killed the next morning. Scheherazade is the Grand Vizier's beautiful, intelligent daughter. She rea...more

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May 17, 2013 [P] rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-life-is-rubbish, bitchin

[P], brow furrowed and with the hint of a tear in his eye, sat on the bed, the bed that was little more than a valley surrounded by mountains of books. He had finished the book he had been reading nearly two weeks ago and was engaged in choosing the next, although, from the outside, it appeared as though he was building himself some kind of fort. Of the high mountainous piles of books around the bed, [P] had read at least 50 pages of each, before abandoning them, Goldilocks-like, as ‘not quite r...more

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Mar 12, 2011 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: 501 Must Read Books; 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Shelves: 1001-core, 501, childrens, classics

Oh, the wonders of literature! While reading this book I could not help but sing the songs or hum the tunes associated with the tales:

♪♫♪ A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we're only dreaming ♪♫♪

I grew up with mostly Filipino komiks around me. Only my father loved reading books and we had very few (compared to what I have now) classics and contemporary books at home. My parents did not read to me when I was young. Those are the reasons why...more Oh, the wonders of literature! While reading this book I could not help but sing the songs or hum the tunes associated with the tales:

♪♫♪ A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we're only dreaming ♪♫♪

I grew up with mostly Filipino komiks around me. Only my father loved reading books and we had very few (compared to what I have now) classics and contemporary books at home. My parents did not read to me when I was young. Those are the reasons why I missed all those children's books. So, reading these Tales from 1001 Nights a.k.a., The Arabian Nights was like going back to the komiks time in the province. You see, the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, although I read it just now, is so popular that we must all have seen it in movies, read in local adaptations as individual children's books or comics or even seen in TV ads. However, if you compare the original story to the Disney-produced movie, the carpet in the book does not fly. Rather, it just covers the distance between the entrance of the King's palace and Alladin's pavilion so that the princess, Lady Badar Al-Budur (maybe the equivalent of Princess Jasmine) will not walk on mud. The story is fantastic. I admire how the magician thinks: cunning and devious. I hate Alladin before he got rich particularly on his laziness and how he treats his old mother.

♪♫♪ A-li-ba-ba... A-li-ba-ba... ♪♫♪

I still remember the theme and my sister used to mimic it. Low key. She marches like a soldier and with eyes wide and scary. The other tale that I liked was Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves. Who would not remember ourselves shouting: Open Se-sa-me! when we saw a closed door when we were kids? Then expecting our mom or playmate to open it for us? Who says that this book treats women badly? In this tale, the maid Morgiana is so smart that she saves his master's (Ali Baba) life several times.

♪♫♪ Sinbad the Sailor
Sailing through the seas... ♪♫♪

I tried looking this up for lyrics but I think that there is a popular Hindi rock song with the same title. I remember the tune and I thought that it is similar to "Popeye the Sailor Man" or maybe as catchy as that. Well, the tale of Sinbad the Sailor is a short one and it talks about is mistake of killing his falcon. It is one of those tales inside another tale.

All of these 70+ (whew!) tales are framed into a story that Scheherazade is telling King Shahryar so that she will not be killed. The king and his brother have philandering wives who they have killed so the King does not want to have a wife anymore so he orders his vizier (assistant) to bring young pretty girls from the village and after one night of sex, the king orders his soldiers to kill the girl. To survive, the wise Scheherazade tells the 1001 tales, part-by-part. The king, so eager to know what comes next, decides not to kill her until all the tales are told.

I will not tell you if she gets eventually killed in the end.

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Sep 03, 2009 Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of folktales, fairy tales, arabian themes

Shelves: arabian-nights-lore, forced-bride, fairy-tale-collection, folklore, favorites, owned-copy, story-within-a-story

Great book. Not one that can be read in one sitting, though. I really like the form of narrative, with a story leading into or encompassing another story. Most of this book is like onion layers. You really do want to have a bookmark handy if you put this one down. This was Scheherazade's tactic to keep King Shahryar's attention so that he couldn't have her executed the next morning. He was a very insane man who hated women to the degree that he would marry a virgin and have her killed the next m...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Erik rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, has-good-review

I really need a 2.5 stars option, though I would end up using it on three-fourths of everything. As a generic, I can neither recommend nor disavow this book.

Okay so the beloved Arabian Nights, tales from a thousand and one nights. I should start with what this is NOT. This is not a linear story about a princess telling stories to a king. This is not a childrens' read involving genies, magic, and cyclopi (I refuse to spell this any other way, no matter the red line beneath it). This IS a collecti...more I really need a 2.5 stars option, though I would end up using it on three-fourths of everything. As a generic, I can neither recommend nor disavow this book.

Okay so the beloved Arabian Nights, tales from a thousand and one nights. I should start with what this is NOT. This is not a linear story about a princess telling stories to a king. This is not a childrens' read involving genies, magic, and cyclopi (I refuse to spell this any other way, no matter the red line beneath it). This IS a collection of stories (one suspects passed down in the oral tradition) dating back from ancient times.

Taken on their own, many of the stories are quite fascinating. Unfortunately, as a straight through read, I quickly became bored. The stories are, with some notable exceptions, more or less the same.

"There's a beautiful girl whose eyes were like moonbeams, her lips were the color of coral, and as fresh, and she astounded with amazing astoundness all who beheld her. But she had no interest in being married, and her father the king, though he doted on her, could not accept this and so he locked her up. But on the other side of the world, there's a handsome gent whose eyes burned like saucers of the sun, his lips were sweeter than the nectar that camels walked thousands of miles to obtain and carry back, and his hair floated like all the Towers of Babylon. He, also, had no interest in being married, truly he said to HIS father the other king, "I have no interest in being married," and though his father was wroth and consulted his Wazir extensively, no plan was made. Then deus-ex-machina style, there are two omnipotent Djinnis (read: Genies) that somehow decide to compare the two and yadda yadda yadda. They get married." But, says the meta-princess, who is meta-telling the meta-king these stories so she doesn't get mega-decapitated, this story is not more fascinating than the other girl and guy who get screwed over, but fall in love anyway, and so on.

Congrats, you have had the Arabian Nights experience!

In short, this book, quaint translation included (you have no idea how many times you'll read phrases similar to: he joyed with exceeding joyness), is something that you'd have to keep by your bedside for several years. Reading one story a week, lest you get tired of it. Unfortunately it's not good enough to keep by your bedside for several years, so where does that leave it? 2.5 stars, baby.

Get from library. Read a few so you can be edumacated. Write a witty review. Have ten times more fun watching Aladdin.

Oh and I found this particular footnote the best part of what I read: "Four wives are allowed by Moslem law and for this reason. If you marry one wife she holds herself your equal, answers you and "gives herself airs"; two are always quarreling and making a hell of the house; three are "no company" and two of them always combine against the nicest to make her hours bitter. Four are company; they can quarrel and "make it up" amongst themselves, and the husband enjoys comparative peace."(less)

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Nov 30, 2011 Shovelmonkey1 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: djinn, princess, enchanted fish and mermaids everywhere

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: 1001 books list and a love of all things from the orient

Shelves: 1001-books, bookcrossing-books, middle-east, read-in-2011, fantasy-fantastic

Having just re-read this book i'm reminded how the flowery wording and a hint of "eastern promise" manages to white wash over the actual issues of the story. Sheharezade is actually technically being kept hostage with a death penalty hanging over her head, forced to spin yarns to save not only her skin but that of all the other virgins in the vicinty. Her tales touch on marital rape, mass murder, theft, deception, fratricide, regicide, racism and necromancy. And you all thought American Psycho w...more

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Aug 09, 2010 Aaron rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The more I read user reviews of The Arabian Nights, the more convinced I am that people are just posting negative things to be contrary. How can you not love this collection of stories?

Common complaints:

1)It's racist -- Yes, the work itself, by today's standards, could probably be considered racist. This work was originally written many thousands of years ago. Keep that in mind and get off your high horse.

2) It's misogynistic-- I disagree. That which would be considered misogynistic falls into...more

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Oct 23, 2007 Destiny rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: by-poc, fiction

This edition is a translation of the first 271 nights from the "1001 Nights" cycle.

One of my favorite aspects of this work is the role of Shahrazad. While many people discuss that she is telling the stories to save her own life, what people fail to recognize many times is that, really, she volunteers to be placed in the position in order to save her kingdom. She's a great literary heroine--saving the world through storytelling.

It also provides a great lens into a world that today is depicted i...more

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Nov 08, 2008 Terry rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Shahrazad turned to King Shahrayar and said, ‘May I have your permission to tell a story?’ He replied, ‘Yes,’ and Shahrazad was very happy and said, “Listen”:

Of all of the world’s story collections, surely The Arabian Nights has the best framing device—the best fictional pretext by which to justify the telling of the other stories. I mean the story of Shahrazad (as this text transliterates her name), the daughter of the vizier to King Shahrayar. Bitter over his first wife’s betrayal, Shahrayar...more “Shahrazad turned to King Shahrayar and said, ‘May I have your permission to tell a story?’ He replied, ‘Yes,’ and Shahrazad was very happy and said, “Listen”:

Of all of the world’s story collections, surely The Arabian Nights has the best framing device—the best fictional pretext by which to justify the telling of the other stories. I mean the story of Shahrazad (as this text transliterates her name), the daughter of the vizier to King Shahrayar. Bitter over his first wife’s betrayal, Shahrayar decides that he will avenge himself on womankind by marrying a different woman every night and having her killed in the morning. As the tally of victims rises, the vizier, who has been charged with procuring these wives from among the daughters of the kingdom’s princes, becomes more and more desperate until one day Shahrazad herself volunteers to marry the king and stubbornly refuses to be dissuaded by her father. On the night of her nuptials, Shahrazad begins to tell Shahrayar a story to while away the hours until dawn when she will be killed. When the sun rises before she can complete the tale, the king decides to spare her until the next night so that he can find out whether a demon kills the merchant against whom he has raised his sword. And so begins the endless series of narrative delays and nesting of tales by which the storyteller manages to make herself indispensable to the tyrannical king—and so too begins the tyrannical king’s education in empathy as he listens to tales of justice and injustice, of fidelity and betrayal, of statecraft and misrule. Some of the tales have more artistry than others.

Some are sentimental. Some seem intended merely to titillate. To my mind, no single tale lives up to the best of Chaucer, whose Canterbury Tales are roughly contemporary to these. Still, the power of the Nights is cumulative in the way of good refrains. Again and again, we are told, “But morning overcame Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence”—only to have the tale taken up again the next night. These lapses and interruptions invest even the silliest tales with gravity, reminding us that all art is an appeal against our common death sentence, a plucky assertion of the meaningfulness of human experience against the overwhelming evidence that we are powerless and disposable. What could possibly have motivated Shahrazad, the safest of all the kingdom’s virgins, to put her body in the tyrant’s bed? One can only call it love, terrifying as it is to invoke that word: love for the victims that led her to love their killer and to gamble her life on the humanity of his heart.

Though a translator’s note informs us that “tradition has it” Shahrazad bears Shahrayar three children and somewhere along the way earns enough trust to have her death sentence lifted, the tales where never finished by their original author—whoever that may have been. Later editors have felt free to add material, including many of the tales we most commonly associate with the Nights: Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, Ali Babba and the Forty Thieves. Husain Haddawy leaves these out of his translation, following the editorial choices of Muhsin Mahdi, whose fourteenth-century Syrian manuscript is the earliest one we have. The fascinating history of the text and of its translation into Western languages is thoroughly documented in Haddawy’s introduction—convincingly enough to persuade me that I’m in the hands of a good translator as I read.
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Feb 12, 2010 Craig rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, favorites

Very entertaining and clever in the set up and framing of the stories. Some very funny and others devilishly wry, with only a one that just did not pull me in. I noticed two main themes among many others: 1. Men are constructed as the focus for most of the stories (yes, I know that Shahrazad is bold and takes a huge risk and a few female witches rear their crafty heads). Their pride and arrogance in their positions of power pretty much are the set up for the stories; and 2. The value of the stor...more

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Jun 13, 2012 D.G. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, classics, reviewed, great-narrator, the-narrator-made-me-listen

I've had the hots for Toby Stephens ever since I saw his portrayal of Rochester description

in the 2006 BBC version of Jane Eyre. So when I realized he was narrating this book, I jumped at the chance to listen to it.

This is an abridged version of the "One Thousand and One Nights" so it only contains 4 of the most known tales (Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sinbad, etc.) I've never read the stories and was a bit surprised that they were not AT ALL like their Disney counterpart (don't know why I should have been!) The ch...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a very sad book, in the sense that it makes you think, "What the hell happened to Baghdad?". Here, Baghdad is pretty much the most magical city in the world, and most of the Arabian Nights takes place in or around it. The world of the Arabian Nights is amazingly liberal compared to Europe of the same period (which is roughly the 13th century), especially when it comes to women. From the storytelling heroine Scheherazade on down, most of the women of the Arabian Nights are well-educated a...more

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Nov 28, 2012 Aussiescribbler Aussiescribbler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fairy-stories

This is not a complete version of the Arabian Nights' stories. The full version runs to several volumes. Andrew Lang (who produced many anthologies of fairy stories) doesn't include any of the spicy tales here. But I very much enjoyed this selection.

It was watching Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad movies which whet my appetite to read some of the original stories. And the seven voyages of Sinbad are included here as is the story of Aladdin and his lamp.

These old tales are written very differently from m...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Marina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-eastern-studies

I originally bought this edition of The Thousand and One Nights on the sony e book store for my sony e-reader. Why did I buy it? I already read other editions and translation of The Arabian Nights but I bought this edition for several reasons:

a- it was translated from Arabic with explanatory footnotes by the famous Brit Orientalist Sir Richard Francis Burton. Burton gives readers a really good example of what classical Arabic sounds like when translated into Formal English. Every word, every sen...more I originally bought this edition of The Thousand and One Nights on the sony e book store for my sony e-reader. Why did I buy it? I already read other editions and translation of The Arabian Nights but I bought this edition for several reasons:

a- it was translated from Arabic with explanatory footnotes by the famous Brit Orientalist Sir Richard Francis Burton. Burton gives readers a really good example of what classical Arabic sounds like when translated into Formal English. Every word, every sentence is in rhymed prose. There are many archaic words that are not used in English anymore: fain, viands, sweetmeats, and so on. When I read passages out loud the story sounded really eloquent.

b- it was perfect for me to continue my study of the Islamic world and Islamic mores in the Medieval Era. Everything is in this book: racism, religious observances, daily life, and the actually very sexist treatment of women.

c- it's the only edition I have come across that has all 1001 nights. It's a very long book, but it is so worth it because it has an introduction and sometimes very long footnotes written to explain some part of the story by a 19th century Brit adventurer who know the middle east very well: Sir Richard Francis Burton.

Burton was a bad-ass geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, cartographer, spy and linguist who according to legend knew 29 languages and who was famous for in disguise making the pilgrimage to Mecca.

So why did I give it only three stars? Originally, I actually gave it two. I'll be blunt: how women were treated in these stories really made me angry. Women were raped and then ordered to marry their rapists, women who showed independence were beaten, women who were unfaithful to their partners were killed in the middle eastern/badawi practice of honour killings. I gave it two stars out of disgust.

But were women treated much better anywhere else in the Middle Ages?
Maybe in some places, but not much better as feminism was not a popular concept for Medieval people generally speaking.

So then I gave it three stars for the eloquence of its language, the rich wealth of knowledge it offers to cultural ethnographers of the middle east, and the fact that I really enjoyed famous stories like the seven voyages of Sinbad and The porter and the three ladies of Baghdad.

One more caveat: I repeat again that this an unexpurgated version of the Nights. There is violence and misogyny, explicit sex scenes, and racism. Africans are the frequent villains in some stories, are referred to with the racist term "blackmoor" and the wives of muslims frequently cheat on their husbands with "blackmoors". The point is that you should think twice before giving this version of The Arabian Nights to children.

I know this is a long and rambling review, but it reflects my mixed reaction toward this book.

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Sep 28, 2011 Book Elf rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Book Elf by: the book called The Children of the Lamp

Shelves: ebooks

When I read the book "Children of the Lamp, The Curse of Akhenaten", I was curious with the story of Arabian Nights as it was mentioned in the book and encouraged to read. I now understood why. Part of the story of the Children of the Lamp was taken from the Arabian Nights tale. I soon immersed myself in the curious magical world of Arabian Nights and indeed, it was cleverly done. I liked the premise these stories were weaved as a collection of short tales. And I wonder why it got a poor review....more

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Aug 02, 2011 Scot Quaranda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The timing of this book coming into my life could not have been better. I picked it up on a whim at a used bookstore while on vacation and shortly after I returned home, the US started its war with Iraq. People of the Muslim faith were greatly misunderstood and images coming back from Baghdad and Mosul and Fallujah were of a bombed out seemingly third world country. Arabian Nights portrayed a much different civilization, one of culture, class, great faith, and a very advanced society. Ever exten...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Jim Coughenour rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arabia, armchairtravel, art, greatfiction

A couple years ago I read the Husain Haddawy translation of these tales wih my reading group at Symposium - which I truly enjoyed. At the same time I was reading Robert Irwin's beguiling introduction to the tales. And just as everything was wrapping up, I discovered that Penguin was scheduled to publish a much fuller version around Christmas, so I promptly ordered the "wonderful three-volume, luxury, limited edition boxset" for my Christmas present. Now, stimulated by Codrescu's retelling, I've...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Lindsey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Lindsey by: Whitney Olsen

Shelves: i-own, cover-lust, reviewed

Note--I am an utter novice in the realm of Eastern or Islamic culture and thinking. What I have learned since I started this book, I've picked up in snatches from Joseph Campbell, BYU's wonderful "Beauty and Belief" Museum of Art exhibit, and this book. If any of you on here are more familiar with this culture, please, set me straight, enlighten me. I am truly interested in understanding more.

Phew!!! Not the easiest book in the world to get through.

I had no idea that the real story of Aladdin w...more Note--I am an utter novice in the realm of Eastern or Islamic culture and thinking. What I have learned since I started this book, I've picked up in snatches from Joseph Campbell, BYU's wonderful "Beauty and Belief" Museum of Art exhibit, and this book. If any of you on here are more familiar with this culture, please, set me straight, enlighten me. I am truly interested in understanding more.

Phew!!! Not the easiest book in the world to get through.

I had no idea that the real story of Aladdin was: so long; so intricate; so fascinating; so funny! It's practically a book all on its own, but if you read nothing else from the Arabian Nights, read that one. (Although many of the ones that come after it are not to be missed, either--"Crafty Dalilah" and "Mercury Ali" are also very entertaining.)

Being a Western reader and accustomed to fairly short, concise Grimm-style folklore, getting into The Arabian Nights took quite a bit of mental adjustment. For one thing, there's so much lavish detail! Menus, fabrics, treasure troves, very polite conversations with effusive complimenting and self-deprecating. In every tale you are well assured that all the correct forms are observed, and that this palace is far finer and more exquisite and well-appointed than any other in the world--except, of course, for the next one. (Oh, and every maiden is "like the moon"--I guess in a place like Saudi Arabia the moon is a more lovely and welcome object than the harsh sun.)

Not only that, but the structure of the tales is also somewhat different, less to-the-point-and-carry-on-soldier. Just when you think the story is approaching resolution, there's a new twist in it, which makes it sometimes difficult for me to follow.

Lastly, coming from a culture where faith is kept quietly under the lid, whether out of respect for something we hold sacred, or from fear that others will find us self-righteous and pushy, or be offended, it was an unusual experience encountering a literary style that emphasizes praise and devotion in every common communication.

All culture-shock aside, I really did enjoy it, and it was definitely a broadening experience. My complaint with this edition (the illustrations and design are lovely) was the inordinate number of typos. I found these distracting and often confusing in a text where I already to follow a great deal of theeing and thouing and ambergris and Bawadis and so forth. (less)

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Aug 24, 2012 Ahmad rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, classic, literature, short-stories, legende, culture

996. The Thousand And One Nights, Anonymous

در بارهء اصل «هزار و یک شب» که از شناختهترین کتابهای جهان است و تقریبا به همهء زبانهای زندهء دنیا ترجمه شده، سخن بسیار گفتهاند و از معتبرترین نوشتهها در این باب یکی مطلبی است که مسعودی (متوفی بهسال 346 هجری قمری) در مروجالذهب آورده، و دیگر قول ابنندیم (متوفی بهسال 385 هجری قمری) در الفهرست، از سخنان این دو چنین برمیآید، که کتاب ایرانی «هزار افسانه» بیتردید اصل «الف لیلة ولیله» بوده است. اما ممکن است، و احتمال زیاد هم دارد، که خود هزار افسانهء...more 996. The Thousand And One Nights, Anonymous

در بارهء اصل «هزار و یک شب» که از شناختهترین کتابهای جهان است و تقریبا به همهء زبانهای زندهء دنیا ترجمه شده، سخن بسیار گفتهاند و از معتبرترین نوشتهها در این باب یکی مطلبی است که مسعودی (متوفی بهسال 346 هجری قمری) در مروجالذهب آورده، و دیگر قول ابنندیم (متوفی بهسال 385 هجری قمری) در الفهرست، از سخنان این دو چنین برمیآید، که کتاب ایرانی «هزار افسانه» بیتردید اصل «الف لیلة ولیله» بوده است. اما ممکن است، و احتمال زیاد هم دارد، که خود هزار افسانهء پهلوی و یا چارچوبهء «داستان شهرزاد و شهریار» و برخی از داستانهای آن، از منابع هندی گرفته شده، و از روی سرمشق و الگویی هندی در ایران پدید آمده، و «الف لیل» میراث هند و فرس باشد. چون علاوه بر مشابهتهای دقیقی که میان بعضی داستانهای قدیمی هزارویک شب و کتابهای هندی کهن، که در تقدم تاریخی آنها بر هزارویک شب، حرفی نیست، میتوان یافت؛ به ویژه شیوهء نقل و روایت داستانهای پیاپی و تودرتو، و درج قصه در قصه، برای مانع شدن از انجام یافتن کاری شتابزده و نسنجیده و بهدستکردن مهلت نظیر کتاب «طوطینامه»، شگرد خاص هندیان است و در ادبیات دیگر ملل جهان بینظیر است و یا کمتر مانند دارد. بههرحال چه هزارافسانه از کتاب هندی اقتباس شده باشد، و چه زادهء طبع ایرانیان باشد، تردیدی نیست که همین هزار افسانهء پهلوی در عصر خلفای عباسی به عربی ترجمه شده و «الف لیلة ولیله» هزارویک شب نام گرفته است. اما هزار افسانهء اصلی بخش مختصری از هزارویک شب کنونی را که کتابی پرحجم است، تشکیل میدهد، چون هزارویک شب امروزی به مرور فراهم آمده و بدین حجم رسیده و در روزگاران مختلف داستانهای گوناکون از منابع ایرانی، هندی، یونانی، یهود، عربی و اسلامی بر آن افزودهاند، و بنابراین کتاب، چون مجموعهای که پیوسته آن را تکمیل کردهاند به دست ما رسیده است، اما این جمله در مدت زمانی دراز، رنگوبوی اسلامی یافته، یعنی راویان و ناقلان مختلف، قصههای غیراسلامی را تا آنجا که توانستهاند به رنگونگار اسلام درآوردهاند و بدین علت در حال حاضر کتاب، که قسمت عمدهء آن رنگ اسلامی و عربی دارد، گنجینه و جنگی از ادبیات عامیانه مشرق زمین در قرون میانه است و نقش و تصویری از کلیت تمدن و فرهنگ دنیای اسلام در قرون وسطی عرضه میدارد. ا.شربیانی

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Jul 04, 2008 Farhad rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

از نظر زيبايي شناختي هزار و يك شب را مي توان پايه گذار اساطيري همه داستان ها ناميد.چه هر چيزي كه به عنوان جذابيت در داستان نيازمند ان هستيم همگي در اين جا نهفته است.
جذابيت داستاني
تكنيك داستان نا تمام و ايجاد حسي از كشش و خيال پردازي در خواننده
جذابيت جنسي

نه اينكه تن فروشي شهرزاد از او استعاره اي چون دنيا مي سازد؟شايد عجوزه ي هزار داماد حافظ همين شهرزادي است كه داستان هاي روزگار را ورق مي زند و ما به تماشاي آن نشسته ايم ولي در لحظه اي كه عطش درك ما را ديوانه نموده است اندام برهنه ي زني ما را به طر...more

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Mar 19, 2009 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Anyone who has looked into reading the Arabian nights realizes quickly that over the centuries these tales have been added to, bowdlerized, imitated, rewritten, and re-edited by so many different people in so many different place at so many different times it is nigh impossible to determine the most authentic version that is closest to the original. Not that I am a scholar in Middle Eastern literature, but this edition packs a punch.

This edition, the edition that I read, is a new translation mad...more

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Feb 16, 2008 HM marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: great-translations

صد و شصت سال پس از ترجمه فارسی هزار ویک شب، یک ناشر و مترجم در ایران متن کامل و جامعی از این کتاب معروف را به زبان فارسی برگردانده اند. این ترجمه بر اساس متون معتبر عربی و با بهره گیری از ترجمه های معتبر انگلیسی و فرانسوی انجام شده است
نشر مرکز که از جمله ناشران با سابقه ایران است، از سال ۱۳۷۶ به ابراهیم اقلیدی، که در ادبیات عرب و جهانی دستی دارد، پیشنهاد داد برگردان فارسی کاملی از این کتاب را به دست بگیرد

اقلیدی نیز علاوه بر فراهم کردن منابع تحقیق و نسخه های معتبر این کتاب، تحقیقی جدی درباره کت...more

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Dec 15, 2009 Eric rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contes

Les contes des Mille et une nuits sont un voyage extraordinaire dans l'imaginaire, la culture et l'érotisme orientaux et moyen-orientaux des IXe et Xe siècles de notre ère. La traduction de Mardrus est fidèle à l'original, avec plusieurs notes de traduction indiquant quand un mot peut avoir plusieurs sens, etc. (SURTOUT ne pas se faire avoir avec la traduction de Galland qui est complètement censurée). Les musulmans à qui j'en ai lu des extraits ont été très gênés de voir que leurs ancêtres étai...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Heatherwilliamson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is not a complete compilation of the classic 'Arabian Nights' tales, but rather several select tales, and has been heavily abridged for children readers. Much of the sexual and bawdy content has been taken out (although there's still a pretty hefty dead body count), largely by heavily editing chunks of the story out of existence. This can be rather baffling, as some of the stories haven't been "edited" so much as left with huge gaps. As such, when I read these stories as I child, I was fasc...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Melinda Seyler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Melinda by: newleaph@gmail.com

Tales of the Arabian Nights or 1,001 Nights: I somewhere got hold of a list of the 1,001 books you should read in your lifetime and, although I think of myself as pretty well read, I have read only a pitiful amount of them. Some I never will read or read 40 years ago, but I thought some of the real classics I should try to catch up on. So I started at the beginning of the list, and this is the first one. Most people know the basic story of the cruel prince who is betrayed by his wife and so deci...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Helmut Barro rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ein Kunstwerk für sich

"O my own sister, by Allah in very sooth this is a right pleasant tale and a delectable; never was heard the like of it, but prithee tell me now another story to while away what yet remaineth of the waking hours of this our night."

Burtons Übersetzung der 1001 Nacht ist ein Paradebeispiel für die Entscheidungen, die ein Übersetzer eines Werks treffen muss. Bleibt er nahe am Text oder paraphrasiert er viel? Bildet er die Sprache des Werks nach, oder die der Zeit der Übersetzu...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Ali added it · review of another edition

[As I have not read the Nights yet, this is not a commentary on them, but rather a comparison of the many translations available. This used to be a comment on my not-yet-review of the first volume of the Lyons translation of the Nights, but I thought it would be more helpful if it was a review. I've expanded on some of my earlier comments and tried to be more critical than "I like this one" or "this one seems odd", which was all I had time to write at the time I posted the comment. This is restr...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Edd rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The original work revolves around a king who has a tendency of marrying a woman one evening, beheading her in the morning, and remarrying another one that same day. His latest bride, however, managed to delay her beheading by recounting a tale on the first night. She would leave the king thirsting for more, and for every night she told a story, she escaped beheading. Some of the most recognized tales she tells are the stories of Ala ad-din(Aladdin) and his lamp, as well as Ali Baba and the forty...more

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Sep 01, 2011 Ian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: war, religion, romance, society, politics, poetry, philosophy, mythology, mystery, languages, horror, fantasy, historical-fiction, dark-fantasy, comedy, classics, action

Sir Richard Francis Burton is an odd duck. He is often accused of inserting his "modern" Western prejudices into his work, and he does, but nowhere near the extent to which he is accused. FACT: Islamic cultures, like most cultures in the world, are openly and unabashedly racist, sexist and xenophobic. As a result, like much of our own, much of their great literature contains these elements in spades (Shylocke or Othello, anyone?). What is more, many of these stories did not originate within the...more

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Feb 24, 2011 1brodiee added it · review of another edition

I thouroughly enjoyed the collection of stories. The stories inside the story, which as it does sound confusing , such as the story that Disney based their movie on "Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp", or my two favorites "Ali Baba and the Fourty Theives" and "The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor". The frame, earlier described as the story filled with stories, consists of Queen Scheherazade and her husband King Shahryar. King Shahryar was famous, or rather infamous, for killing his wife the next day. Q...more

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