Nate Briggs's Blog - Posts Tagged "arabian-nights"
Sunday Literary Life: March 19
The great literary river of Amazon keeps on delivering incredible bargains: especially if you happening to read 19th Century authors. All the full-length novels of Charles Dickens, for example, in a single collection for $1. And this bargain at $2.51: three full-length translations of the “One Thousand and One Nights” by eminent Victorian Arabists – among them one of the most amazing men of his time, the African explorer and linguist Sir Richard
Francis Burton.
Just a short recital of Burton's astonishing life would fill the rest of the space I have available, so I would encourage those who are curious to visit the comprehensive Wikipedia article that explains everything you need to know (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...).
Following my research into Burton's life, I’ve had the opportunity to read his rendition of these stories several times, and here are som remarks, in no particular order:
- To the surprise of those familiar only with the Disney versions, these stories offer a lot of sex. In an era when well-bred people did not admit that such intimacy even existed, Burton was very willing to include erotic elements that the other two translators ignored. For those unfamiliar with the premise, a powerful ruler and his brother are both betrayed by their wives. Persuaded that all women are perverse and deceitful, the Ruler decides to marry a different virgin every day, sleep with her that night, and then execute her the next morning – so none will have the opportunity to be unfaithful. The Grand Vizier's beautiful and fearless daughter, Scheherazade, realizes that the kingdom will soon run out of virgins if this keeps up so she volunteers to be married, and begins her plan to tell a new story each night - but not completing it of course.
Just for fun, here is Burton’s rendition of the scene where the Shah is betrayed by his wife (NSFW, as you will see):
“….out of it came twenty slave girls surrounding his brother’s wife who was wondrous fair, a model of beauty and comeliness and symmetry and perfect loveliness and who paced with the grace of a gazelle which panteth for the cooling stream...they advanced a little way into the garden till they came to a jetting fountain...then they stripped off their clothes and behold, ten of them were women, concubines of the King, and the other ten were white slaves. Then they all paired off, each with each: but the Queen, who was left alone, presently cried out in a loud voice, “Here to me, O my lord Saeed!” and then sprang with a drop leap from one of the trees a big slobbering blackamoor with rolling eyes which showed the whites, a truly hideous sight. He walked boldly up to her and threw his arms round her neck while she embraced him as warmly; then he bussed her and winding his legs round hers, as a button loop clasps a button, he threw her and enjoyed her….”
- This sexual element might not appeal to everyone, but another charming element of these stories is how one story is nested inside another, nested inside another, nested inside another. A natural strategy to adopt if your intent is to spin out a tantalizing tale over several nights.
- The name of the Prophet is never far from anyone’s lips, yet the stories are full of magic and spirits: evidence of supernatural beliefs before the arrival of Islam. Spirits, spells, witches. The threat and promise of the supernatural are everywhere. A spirit can occupy almost any inanimate object – including jinns trapped inside bottles – and these beings have astonishing powers. Very few of them are inclined to be generous. Most of them are grumpy and bad tempered – although they do try to be fair when dealing with mortals.
- From time to time, characters break out into poetic expression, the way characters in musical theatre burst out into song. None of the other translators choose to render these: perhaps because they thought their audience wouldn’t be interested.
- And lastly, what better work to show the importance and power of Storytelling? Those of us who invent imaginary occurrences typically are hoping for a sense of validation, or a little extra money, but Scheherazade is spinning stories because her life – and the lives of many other young women – hang in the balance. For a thousand nights, she keeps her powerful husband interested enough to let her live, until (finally) he forgets what he was so mad about in the first place. He stops lopping off heads, and settles down to a contented life.
Francis Burton.
Just a short recital of Burton's astonishing life would fill the rest of the space I have available, so I would encourage those who are curious to visit the comprehensive Wikipedia article that explains everything you need to know (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...).
Following my research into Burton's life, I’ve had the opportunity to read his rendition of these stories several times, and here are som remarks, in no particular order:
- To the surprise of those familiar only with the Disney versions, these stories offer a lot of sex. In an era when well-bred people did not admit that such intimacy even existed, Burton was very willing to include erotic elements that the other two translators ignored. For those unfamiliar with the premise, a powerful ruler and his brother are both betrayed by their wives. Persuaded that all women are perverse and deceitful, the Ruler decides to marry a different virgin every day, sleep with her that night, and then execute her the next morning – so none will have the opportunity to be unfaithful. The Grand Vizier's beautiful and fearless daughter, Scheherazade, realizes that the kingdom will soon run out of virgins if this keeps up so she volunteers to be married, and begins her plan to tell a new story each night - but not completing it of course.
Just for fun, here is Burton’s rendition of the scene where the Shah is betrayed by his wife (NSFW, as you will see):
“….out of it came twenty slave girls surrounding his brother’s wife who was wondrous fair, a model of beauty and comeliness and symmetry and perfect loveliness and who paced with the grace of a gazelle which panteth for the cooling stream...they advanced a little way into the garden till they came to a jetting fountain...then they stripped off their clothes and behold, ten of them were women, concubines of the King, and the other ten were white slaves. Then they all paired off, each with each: but the Queen, who was left alone, presently cried out in a loud voice, “Here to me, O my lord Saeed!” and then sprang with a drop leap from one of the trees a big slobbering blackamoor with rolling eyes which showed the whites, a truly hideous sight. He walked boldly up to her and threw his arms round her neck while she embraced him as warmly; then he bussed her and winding his legs round hers, as a button loop clasps a button, he threw her and enjoyed her….”
- This sexual element might not appeal to everyone, but another charming element of these stories is how one story is nested inside another, nested inside another, nested inside another. A natural strategy to adopt if your intent is to spin out a tantalizing tale over several nights.
- The name of the Prophet is never far from anyone’s lips, yet the stories are full of magic and spirits: evidence of supernatural beliefs before the arrival of Islam. Spirits, spells, witches. The threat and promise of the supernatural are everywhere. A spirit can occupy almost any inanimate object – including jinns trapped inside bottles – and these beings have astonishing powers. Very few of them are inclined to be generous. Most of them are grumpy and bad tempered – although they do try to be fair when dealing with mortals.
- From time to time, characters break out into poetic expression, the way characters in musical theatre burst out into song. None of the other translators choose to render these: perhaps because they thought their audience wouldn’t be interested.
- And lastly, what better work to show the importance and power of Storytelling? Those of us who invent imaginary occurrences typically are hoping for a sense of validation, or a little extra money, but Scheherazade is spinning stories because her life – and the lives of many other young women – hang in the balance. For a thousand nights, she keeps her powerful husband interested enough to let her live, until (finally) he forgets what he was so mad about in the first place. He stops lopping off heads, and settles down to a contented life.
