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Erik's Reviews > The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights
The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights
by Anonymous, Richard Francis Burton , A.S. Byatt
by Anonymous, Richard Francis Burton , A.S. Byatt
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."
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."
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Ghada wrote: "This is a cultural book. YOu have to keep that in mind. Many many concepts in this book relate to the time setting of the old Arabs. You also have to keep in mind that this is a translated version..."
I understand and agree of course. But I wasn't reviewing the original Arabic or Farsi - I was reviewing the translation. As I understand it, Richard Francis Burton was a translator who believed in absolutely literal translations, which I think is a poor method of translation.
You also have to keep in mind that this is a translated version. I personally have never read it in English but it's very enchanting in Arabic. Actually one of the best parts about this book is the poetry. I doubt it can be apperciated in English as much as in Arabic or Farsi for that matter.