Arabian society in the Middle Ages; studies from The thousand and one nights

by Edward William Lane

This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as the same form as it was originally first published. Hence any marks or annotations seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Classics

332 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1987

About the author

Edward William Lane was a British Orientalist, translator and lexicographer.

Reviews

[Haythem Bastawy · Rating 3 out of 5]

According to Lane everything 'Mohammadan' is also Arabian. Lane lived in Egypt for several years, intermittently in the twenties and thirties of the nineteenth century. Even in Egypt he limited himself to certain Islamic quarters in Cairo and consciously avoided the other cultures and multiple heritages of one of the world's oldest civilisations. He based his excessive annotations of A Thousand and One Nights on his culturally-limited experience in Cairo and applied them to all Islamic cultures which he described as Arabian. These notes have been put together in a separate book as a collection of essays titled Arabian Society in the Middle Ages. The notes are not helpful as descriptions of nineteenth century Eastern Mediterranean cultures (which Lane and his editor perceived as still medieval in essence), but are rather more useful in terms of understanding the picture Lane depicted to his Victorian audience of a backward and superstitious 'Orient'.

[Wissam Asaad · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

[Brian Bigelow · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was some good information in this book. I also felt it diverged more than was necessary in many places. It wasn't as sentiently put together as I would have liked.