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The Arabian Nights
The original concept is most likely derived from a pre-Islamic Persian prototype that probably relied partly on Indian elements, but the work as we have it was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators and scholars across the Middle East and North Africa. The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and literature. In particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Caliphate era, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably drawn from the Pahlavi Persian work Hazār Afsān. Though the oldest Arabic manuscript dates from the 14th century, scholarship generally dates the collection's genesis to around the 9th century.
Some of the best-known stories of The Nights, particularly "Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" and "The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor", while almost certainly genuine Middle-Eastern folk tales, were not part of The Nights in Arabic versions, but were interpolated into the collection by its early European translators. (From wikipedia)
Some of the best-known stories of The Nights, particularly "Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" and "The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor", while almost certainly genuine Middle-Eastern folk tales, were not part of The Nights in Arabic versions, but were interpolated into the collection by its early European translators. (From wikipedia)
The Arabian Nights, by Anonymous, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:
New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.
Once upon a time, the name Baghdad conjured up visions of the most magical, romantic city on earth, where flying carpets carried noble thieves off on wonderful adventures, and vicious viziers and beautiful princesses mingled with wily peasants and powerful genies. This is the world of the Arabian Nights, a magnificent collection of ancient tales from Arabia, India, and Persia.
The tales—often stories within stories—are told by the sultana Scheherazade, who relates them as entertainments for her jealous and murderous husband, hoping to keep him amused and herself alive. In addition to the more fantastic tales which have appeared in countless bowdlerized editions for children and have been popularized by an entire genre of Hollywood films, this collection includes far more complex, meaningful, and erotic stories that deal with a wide range of moral, social, and political issues.
Though early Islamic critics condemned the tales’ “vulgarity” and worldliness, the West has admired their robust, bawdy humor and endless inventiveness since the first translations appeared in Europe in the eighteenth century. Today these stories stand alongside the fables of Aesop, the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, and the folklore of Hans Christian Andersen as some of the Western literary tradition’s most-quoted touchstones.
The tales—often stories within stories—are told by the sultana Scheherazade, who relates them as entertainments for her jealous and murderous husband, hoping to keep him amused and herself alive. In addition to the more fantastic tales which have appeared in countless bowdlerized editions for children and have been popularized by an entire genre of Hollywood films, this collection includes far more complex, meaningful, and erotic stories that deal with a wide range of moral, social, and political issues.
Though early Islamic critics condemned the tales’ “vulgarity” and worldliness, the West has admired their robust, bawdy humor and endless inventiveness since the first translations appeared in Europe in the eighteenth century. Today these stories stand alongside the fables of Aesop, the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, and the folklore of Hans Christian Andersen as some of the Western literary tradition’s most-quoted touchstones.
Muhsin J. Al-Musawi is Professor of Arabic Studies at Columbia University in New York City and University Professor at the American University of Sharjah. He is the editor of the Journal of Arabic Literature and the author of twenty-seven books in Arabic and English. He was the recipient in 2002 of the Owais Award in literary criticism, the most prestigious nongovernmental literary award in the Arab World.
736 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1865
367 people are currently reading
2162 people want to read
About the author
Henry William Dulcken
93 books2 followers(1832-1894) was an English translator and children's writer
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
August 9, 2010
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 the category of that described above. Attitudes towards women were considerably different back then. Get off your high horse. Also, the entire book revolves around a woman who outsmarts her captor. Depicting a woman of such high wit and education is hardly misogynistic. The stories themselves are full of women who outsmart the men who suppress them. If anything, the women in The Arabian Nights come off as being considerably more worldly than their male counterparts.
3) Too long-- It is true that the work is quite long. I might have been better served breaking the book into chunks. Read a few stories, read something else, come back to this so that I could read a few more stories. This strategy might have relieved some of my own "tedium" since the stories get considerably longer as the work progresses. I read the whole work in one stretch. Yes, I got a little antsy to get to the end. But it is a book of stories. It can be split into sections. The book's weight and heft should not be an excuse to pass this one by.
Not all of the stories are fantastic. Not all of the stories are even interesting. But this is a seminal work in the history of published writing and its influence is well-earned. Highly recommended.
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 the category of that described above. Attitudes towards women were considerably different back then. Get off your high horse. Also, the entire book revolves around a woman who outsmarts her captor. Depicting a woman of such high wit and education is hardly misogynistic. The stories themselves are full of women who outsmart the men who suppress them. If anything, the women in The Arabian Nights come off as being considerably more worldly than their male counterparts.
3) Too long-- It is true that the work is quite long. I might have been better served breaking the book into chunks. Read a few stories, read something else, come back to this so that I could read a few more stories. This strategy might have relieved some of my own "tedium" since the stories get considerably longer as the work progresses. I read the whole work in one stretch. Yes, I got a little antsy to get to the end. But it is a book of stories. It can be split into sections. The book's weight and heft should not be an excuse to pass this one by.
Not all of the stories are fantastic. Not all of the stories are even interesting. But this is a seminal work in the history of published writing and its influence is well-earned. Highly recommended.
November 25, 2012
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 and have minds of their own, even the ones who are slaves. That's more than anyone can say for the Grimm's female protagonists.
My favorite story, though, is the one of Prince Carazdan and his wife Princess Badoura. The first part reminds me of A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which a prince and a princess who both have no interest in love or marriage become the subjects of a contest between a fairy and a genie. The second part of the story is also quite Shakespearean, as it involves Princess Badoura dressing as a man and becoming a king through her own merit, although she ends up getting married to a woman along the way and a comedy of errors ensues.
Anyway, it's a great collection of fairytales as well as a fascinating cultural study. I highly recommend it.
My favorite story, though, is the one of Prince Carazdan and his wife Princess Badoura. The first part reminds me of A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which a prince and a princess who both have no interest in love or marriage become the subjects of a contest between a fairy and a genie. The second part of the story is also quite Shakespearean, as it involves Princess Badoura dressing as a man and becoming a king through her own merit, although she ends up getting married to a woman along the way and a comedy of errors ensues.
Anyway, it's a great collection of fairytales as well as a fascinating cultural study. I highly recommend it.
February 20, 2017
"A thousand and one nights had passed in this innocent amusement..."
Arabian Nights is fantasy at its finest. It is a collection of wild, bizarre, unique, whimsical and entertaining tales told by a lady named Scheherazade who is married to the Sultan of the Indies. The Sultan has had a tendency to do away with his previous wives because of his imagined perception (and maybe sometimes realistic perception) that his wives have cheated on him and some he may have just gotten bored with. Scheherazade's strategy to stay alive is by telling him entertaining tales night after night (which turns into 1001 nights of stories).
Reading Arabian Nights is like a having many very strange and bizarre dreams. All the parts are familiar, but they don't seem to fit together at all. Scheherazade relates tales of fantasy, love stories, tales of loss and redemption, with even some humor laced in. All of the tales are unique and entertaining, though, and that is what made it a 5 star book for me. Some of the best were The History of the Three Calendars, Sons of Kings, and of Five Ladies of Baghdad, The History of the Little Hunchback (and the related stories in part 4), The Sleeper Awakened, and all seven voyage stories of Sindbad the Sailor.
As I stated in a previous update, there aren't deep moral lessons here. I believe the authors' goal was to tell entertaining stories, and for that alone, Arabian Nights is worthwhile, in my opinion.
Arabian Nights is a unique classic, and I highly recommend it if you want to read something maybe a little bit "outside the box".
Arabian Nights is fantasy at its finest. It is a collection of wild, bizarre, unique, whimsical and entertaining tales told by a lady named Scheherazade who is married to the Sultan of the Indies. The Sultan has had a tendency to do away with his previous wives because of his imagined perception (and maybe sometimes realistic perception) that his wives have cheated on him and some he may have just gotten bored with. Scheherazade's strategy to stay alive is by telling him entertaining tales night after night (which turns into 1001 nights of stories).
Reading Arabian Nights is like a having many very strange and bizarre dreams. All the parts are familiar, but they don't seem to fit together at all. Scheherazade relates tales of fantasy, love stories, tales of loss and redemption, with even some humor laced in. All of the tales are unique and entertaining, though, and that is what made it a 5 star book for me. Some of the best were The History of the Three Calendars, Sons of Kings, and of Five Ladies of Baghdad, The History of the Little Hunchback (and the related stories in part 4), The Sleeper Awakened, and all seven voyage stories of Sindbad the Sailor.
As I stated in a previous update, there aren't deep moral lessons here. I believe the authors' goal was to tell entertaining stories, and for that alone, Arabian Nights is worthwhile, in my opinion.
Arabian Nights is a unique classic, and I highly recommend it if you want to read something maybe a little bit "outside the box".
April 6, 2012
The Arabian Nights / 978-1593082819
I'm a bit of an "Thousand Nights" enthusiast -- I enjoy the stories immensely and I have four separate translations in my personal library. Several friends have asked me to discuss the differences between the editions, so I thought I'd present a four-way comparison and then talk about which version is best for which audience.
For the purposes of the four-way comparison, I will draw text from the opening tale of the two kingly brothers in order to highlight how each popular version handles "adult" content and racial content.
-- The Tale of King Shahryar and of his Brother, King Shahzaman --
Now there were in the King's palace certain windows that looked on to the garden, and, as King Shahzaman leaned there and looked out, the door of the palace opened and twenty women slaves with twenty men slaves came from it; and the wife of the King, his brother, was among them and walked there in all her bright beauty. When they came to the pool of a fountain they all undressed and mingled one with another. Suddenly, on the King's wife crying: 'O Masud! Ya Masud!', a gigantic negro ran towards her, embraced her, and, turning her upon her back, enjoyed her. At this signal, all the other men slaves did the same with the women and they continued thus a long while, not ceasing their kisses and embraces and goings in and the like until the approach of dawn.
-- Madrus & Mathers edition
-- The Tale of King Shahriar and of his Brother, King Shahzenan --
One day, Shahriar had started on a great hunting match, about two days' journey from his capital; but Shahzenan, pleading ill health, was left behind. He shut himself up in his apartment, and sat down at a window that looked into the garden. Suddenly a secret gate of the palace opened, and there came out of it twenty women, in the midst of whom walked the Sultaness. The persons who accompanied the Sultaness threw off their veils and long robes, and Shahzenan was greatly surprised when he saw that ten of them were black slaves, each of whom chose a female companion. The Sultaness clapped her hands, and called: "Masoud, Masoud!" and immediately a black came running to her; and they all remained conversing familiarly together.
-- Muhsin al-Musawi edition
-- The Tale of King Schahriar and of his Brother, King Schahzeman --
Now the Sultan Schahriar had a wife whom he loved more than all the world, and his greatest happiness was to surround her with splendour, and to give her the finest dresses and the most beautiful jewels. It was therefore with the deepest shame and sorrow that he accidentally discovered, after several years, that she had deceived him completely, and her whole conduct turned out to have been so bad, that he felt himself obliged to carry out the law of the land, and order the grand-vizir to put her to death.
-- Lang edition
-- The Tale of King Shahryar and of his Brother, King Shah Zaman --
Thereupon Shah Zaman drew back from the window, but he kept the bevy in sight espying them from a place whence he could not be espied. They walked under the very lattice and advanced a little way into the garden till they came to a jetting fountain amiddlemost a great basin of water; 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.
-- Burton edition
-------
For my money, the superior volume by far is the Madrus & Mathers edition. The editor and translator have deliberately worked the translation to be as readable to the English eye as possible, even making judicious choices about where to refrain from using diacritical points (single quote sound points, as in 'ain) in order to ease the reading experience. They've made a concerted effort to retain the adult content without being lewd, the racial content without descending into offensive caricature, the poetic content without overwhelming the reader, and the entire content without condensing the text and losing material. The Madrus & Mathers editions comprise four giant volumes, but the casual enthusiast will be more than satisfied with just volume one, and with over 600 pages of stories in the electronic edition, the reader will have plenty of reading material available.
For children, however, the superior volume is probably the Muhsin al-Musawi edition. This edition is condensed, but the editing was done with great care to maintain story structure and content. The adult content has been toned down considerably, the racial content has been handled tactfully, the extra songs and poems have been almost entirely removed, and there are interesting and attractive pictures in the electronic edition. My biggest complain here is that the adult content has been excised to a degree that almost brings unfortunate implications: when adultery is characterized as "conversing", the angry and jilted husband seems to be seriously over-reacting. Still, if you want a sanitized version of the tales, the al-Musawi edition is almost certainly the way to go.
I do not recommend the Lang edition. Lang's fairy tale collections, such as the color fairy tale books, are usually a delight, but his Arabian Nights edition is thin on content and heavily paraphrased. The stories are gutted to remove the adult content and shorten the tale length for children, but in many cases the changes are not carefully glossed over, and huge plot holes and unresolved threads are left dangling. I've never met a Lang reader who didn't ask me what was going on in one tale or other because the translation is so poorly rendered.
Neither do I recommend the Burton version. If anything, the Burton version has the exact opposite problems as the Lang version: Burton's edition lengthens the stories with extensively lewd descriptions and offensive racial imagery. The edition was also rendered in the 1800s, and the language within has not aged well -- there are all lot of "forsooth"s and "verily"s that bog down the reading. If you're interested in a historical analysis of how these tales have been rendered over the years, by all means become familiar with the Burton version, but if you're just looking for light bedtime reading, give the Burton edition a pass.
I hope that this comparison will be helpful. This particular listing here is for the al-Musawi edition which I recommend for children.
~ Ana Mardoll
I'm a bit of an "Thousand Nights" enthusiast -- I enjoy the stories immensely and I have four separate translations in my personal library. Several friends have asked me to discuss the differences between the editions, so I thought I'd present a four-way comparison and then talk about which version is best for which audience.
For the purposes of the four-way comparison, I will draw text from the opening tale of the two kingly brothers in order to highlight how each popular version handles "adult" content and racial content.
-- The Tale of King Shahryar and of his Brother, King Shahzaman --
Now there were in the King's palace certain windows that looked on to the garden, and, as King Shahzaman leaned there and looked out, the door of the palace opened and twenty women slaves with twenty men slaves came from it; and the wife of the King, his brother, was among them and walked there in all her bright beauty. When they came to the pool of a fountain they all undressed and mingled one with another. Suddenly, on the King's wife crying: 'O Masud! Ya Masud!', a gigantic negro ran towards her, embraced her, and, turning her upon her back, enjoyed her. At this signal, all the other men slaves did the same with the women and they continued thus a long while, not ceasing their kisses and embraces and goings in and the like until the approach of dawn.
-- Madrus & Mathers edition
-- The Tale of King Shahriar and of his Brother, King Shahzenan --
One day, Shahriar had started on a great hunting match, about two days' journey from his capital; but Shahzenan, pleading ill health, was left behind. He shut himself up in his apartment, and sat down at a window that looked into the garden. Suddenly a secret gate of the palace opened, and there came out of it twenty women, in the midst of whom walked the Sultaness. The persons who accompanied the Sultaness threw off their veils and long robes, and Shahzenan was greatly surprised when he saw that ten of them were black slaves, each of whom chose a female companion. The Sultaness clapped her hands, and called: "Masoud, Masoud!" and immediately a black came running to her; and they all remained conversing familiarly together.
-- Muhsin al-Musawi edition
-- The Tale of King Schahriar and of his Brother, King Schahzeman --
Now the Sultan Schahriar had a wife whom he loved more than all the world, and his greatest happiness was to surround her with splendour, and to give her the finest dresses and the most beautiful jewels. It was therefore with the deepest shame and sorrow that he accidentally discovered, after several years, that she had deceived him completely, and her whole conduct turned out to have been so bad, that he felt himself obliged to carry out the law of the land, and order the grand-vizir to put her to death.
-- Lang edition
-- The Tale of King Shahryar and of his Brother, King Shah Zaman --
Thereupon Shah Zaman drew back from the window, but he kept the bevy in sight espying them from a place whence he could not be espied. They walked under the very lattice and advanced a little way into the garden till they came to a jetting fountain amiddlemost a great basin of water; 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.
-- Burton edition
-------
For my money, the superior volume by far is the Madrus & Mathers edition. The editor and translator have deliberately worked the translation to be as readable to the English eye as possible, even making judicious choices about where to refrain from using diacritical points (single quote sound points, as in 'ain) in order to ease the reading experience. They've made a concerted effort to retain the adult content without being lewd, the racial content without descending into offensive caricature, the poetic content without overwhelming the reader, and the entire content without condensing the text and losing material. The Madrus & Mathers editions comprise four giant volumes, but the casual enthusiast will be more than satisfied with just volume one, and with over 600 pages of stories in the electronic edition, the reader will have plenty of reading material available.
For children, however, the superior volume is probably the Muhsin al-Musawi edition. This edition is condensed, but the editing was done with great care to maintain story structure and content. The adult content has been toned down considerably, the racial content has been handled tactfully, the extra songs and poems have been almost entirely removed, and there are interesting and attractive pictures in the electronic edition. My biggest complain here is that the adult content has been excised to a degree that almost brings unfortunate implications: when adultery is characterized as "conversing", the angry and jilted husband seems to be seriously over-reacting. Still, if you want a sanitized version of the tales, the al-Musawi edition is almost certainly the way to go.
I do not recommend the Lang edition. Lang's fairy tale collections, such as the color fairy tale books, are usually a delight, but his Arabian Nights edition is thin on content and heavily paraphrased. The stories are gutted to remove the adult content and shorten the tale length for children, but in many cases the changes are not carefully glossed over, and huge plot holes and unresolved threads are left dangling. I've never met a Lang reader who didn't ask me what was going on in one tale or other because the translation is so poorly rendered.
Neither do I recommend the Burton version. If anything, the Burton version has the exact opposite problems as the Lang version: Burton's edition lengthens the stories with extensively lewd descriptions and offensive racial imagery. The edition was also rendered in the 1800s, and the language within has not aged well -- there are all lot of "forsooth"s and "verily"s that bog down the reading. If you're interested in a historical analysis of how these tales have been rendered over the years, by all means become familiar with the Burton version, but if you're just looking for light bedtime reading, give the Burton edition a pass.
I hope that this comparison will be helpful. This particular listing here is for the al-Musawi edition which I recommend for children.
~ Ana Mardoll
January 30, 2020
*This review can also be found on my blog, The Never-Ending TBR Pile: https://wendylohr.wordpress.com/2020/...
Rich. Lavish. Elegant.
The Arabian Nights has been on my list to read for a long time now and as I finish my first read of it, I have to ask myself 'Self... why did it take you so long to read this?!' lol And the answer is probably because I was intimidated by the sheer size of this collection of stories. But I finally took the time to sit down and read it, from cover to cover, and I have no doubt I'll be reading it again in the future!
I don't typically read forewards of books, just preferring to dive straight into the good stuff. But I took the time to read this one and am glad I did. It prepared me in a way that allowed me to enjoy the stories even more, giving me a cultural and historical context that provided more richness to each individual tale as well as the over-arching framework.
As each tale unfolds, glimpses into a society, culture, and religion bring these tales to life. Before reading this, I had very little knowledge of ancient Islamic/Arabic society norms and practices. And I'm not saying this is a perfect history of that society and culture. In fact, it actually makes me want to learn more about that history in order to see how close to realism these stories presented of the times. The tales are rich in details pertaining to that culture and society, allowing the reader to envision what might have been everyday norms during that point in history and I look forward to diving into more research just to see how much of it came close to reality!
As for the supernatural, the fantastical, the adventures and romance, it's all in here! And every tale appears to have some sort of lesson or morality to impart to the reader. But there is so much more to take away from each tale than just a life lesson and each reader may take away something different.
There aren't many words to describe how much I truly enjoyed reading each and every story in this collection. And I can't recommend it enough to those who truly love tales of fantasy and adventure, love and tragedy, heroism and villainy, triumph and despair. Every imaginable aspect of story-telling is embraced in this collection of stories and is imparted in such a way to keep the reader turning the page to the very end.
So, if you are looking for something that, at first glance, seems to be a challenge, but with each turning page dissolves into one of the most enjoyable reads you'll find, then definitely give this book a chance.
Rich. Lavish. Elegant.
The Arabian Nights has been on my list to read for a long time now and as I finish my first read of it, I have to ask myself 'Self... why did it take you so long to read this?!' lol And the answer is probably because I was intimidated by the sheer size of this collection of stories. But I finally took the time to sit down and read it, from cover to cover, and I have no doubt I'll be reading it again in the future!
I don't typically read forewards of books, just preferring to dive straight into the good stuff. But I took the time to read this one and am glad I did. It prepared me in a way that allowed me to enjoy the stories even more, giving me a cultural and historical context that provided more richness to each individual tale as well as the over-arching framework.
As each tale unfolds, glimpses into a society, culture, and religion bring these tales to life. Before reading this, I had very little knowledge of ancient Islamic/Arabic society norms and practices. And I'm not saying this is a perfect history of that society and culture. In fact, it actually makes me want to learn more about that history in order to see how close to realism these stories presented of the times. The tales are rich in details pertaining to that culture and society, allowing the reader to envision what might have been everyday norms during that point in history and I look forward to diving into more research just to see how much of it came close to reality!
As for the supernatural, the fantastical, the adventures and romance, it's all in here! And every tale appears to have some sort of lesson or morality to impart to the reader. But there is so much more to take away from each tale than just a life lesson and each reader may take away something different.
There aren't many words to describe how much I truly enjoyed reading each and every story in this collection. And I can't recommend it enough to those who truly love tales of fantasy and adventure, love and tragedy, heroism and villainy, triumph and despair. Every imaginable aspect of story-telling is embraced in this collection of stories and is imparted in such a way to keep the reader turning the page to the very end.
So, if you are looking for something that, at first glance, seems to be a challenge, but with each turning page dissolves into one of the most enjoyable reads you'll find, then definitely give this book a chance.
August 13, 2012
There are probably as many versions of Arabian Nights out there as there are stories. I chose the Barnes and Noble edition simply because I'd already downloaded it for free a while back when I got my first nook.
Based on some other reviews that I've read, this version was likely heavily edited for content and abridged in length. (Nevertheless - it was still a ridiculously long book.) I'd heard there would be a lot of sex and violence --- there was no sex in this version, but a whole lot of pining and falling in love at first sight. Lots of folks were cut up in pieces, or beheaded, or freed from one (or more) of their limbs --- but it was never described in gory detail.
Not every story was a winner, but I truly enjoyed most of the stories that I read. And, the underlying story of Scheherazade was really clever.
This edition included the stories of Aladdin and the magic lamp and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in the appendix, noting "As with nearly all of the Arabian Nights tales, these two were made popular in the West by Antoine Galland's pioneering French translation. But despite their popularity and renown, current scholarship does not consider these tales to be truly part of the original Arabian Nights. For while the authenticity of the three hundred or so "core" stories can be corroborated by their appearance in multiple manuscripts, a group of "orphan" stories - of which [Aladdin] and [Ali Baba] are two - have no written source other than Galland's manuscript. As Galland noted in his diary in 1709, the tales were narrated to him by a Syrian named Maronite Hanna Diyab, and it is unknown where Diyab got the tales."
I found that explanation interesting, but I'm so glad they didn't entirely omit these two very popular stories from this edition.
Someday, though, I might like to read another less edited version to get the feel for the whole debauchery of some of the tales.
Based on some other reviews that I've read, this version was likely heavily edited for content and abridged in length. (Nevertheless - it was still a ridiculously long book.) I'd heard there would be a lot of sex and violence --- there was no sex in this version, but a whole lot of pining and falling in love at first sight. Lots of folks were cut up in pieces, or beheaded, or freed from one (or more) of their limbs --- but it was never described in gory detail.
Not every story was a winner, but I truly enjoyed most of the stories that I read. And, the underlying story of Scheherazade was really clever.
This edition included the stories of Aladdin and the magic lamp and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in the appendix, noting "As with nearly all of the Arabian Nights tales, these two were made popular in the West by Antoine Galland's pioneering French translation. But despite their popularity and renown, current scholarship does not consider these tales to be truly part of the original Arabian Nights. For while the authenticity of the three hundred or so "core" stories can be corroborated by their appearance in multiple manuscripts, a group of "orphan" stories - of which [Aladdin] and [Ali Baba] are two - have no written source other than Galland's manuscript. As Galland noted in his diary in 1709, the tales were narrated to him by a Syrian named Maronite Hanna Diyab, and it is unknown where Diyab got the tales."
I found that explanation interesting, but I'm so glad they didn't entirely omit these two very popular stories from this edition.
Someday, though, I might like to read another less edited version to get the feel for the whole debauchery of some of the tales.
November 7, 2007
the first time i enjoyed the arabian nights was when i was 10 and in the 4th grade. my father read us excerpts from the harvard classics edition: ala-addin and the wonderful lamp, the city of brass, jullenar of the sea, ali babba, and of course sinbad.
in a car trip during high school i had the whole tome with me and read the whole thing from one bizarre, exaggerated supernatural bloodthirsty racist cover to the other.
the larger than life distortions, elaborations and true wonder are highly entertaining.
everyone should read the arabian nights (some unrated version) that hasn't left any of the scruffy parts out to truly feel exposed to some savage classic literature.
in a car trip during high school i had the whole tome with me and read the whole thing from one bizarre, exaggerated supernatural bloodthirsty racist cover to the other.
the larger than life distortions, elaborations and true wonder are highly entertaining.
everyone should read the arabian nights (some unrated version) that hasn't left any of the scruffy parts out to truly feel exposed to some savage classic literature.
June 4, 2021
Popsugar prompt: A book that was published anonymously
I thought this book would take me forever given it's size and the fact that I didn't really expect to like it but it proved to be a relatively easy read for me.
I thought this book would take me forever given it's size and the fact that I didn't really expect to like it but it proved to be a relatively easy read for me.
December 26, 2021
I did not read the appendix of this book, but only the original stories. I found them intriguing and engaging at the start, but then they became very repetitive and predictable.
June 14, 2022
scheherazad was 100% a business major
January 28, 2016
I know this is written in another time with another view on human rights, but there were just too much misogyny and violence for me to be able to enjoy it. I thought Sindbad and Aladdin were okay-ish. They were still offering up women for marriage as some kind of tradeable goods mind you, but at least they didn't murder them because someone else lied about them being unfaithful.
I tried to read a story when I was between other books, and it took me over a year to finally finish this. I should probably have given it up after the first story, but I have an unhealthy compulsion to finish books I've started.
I couldn't really recommend it. Watch the Disney versions instead, at least the women has free will and some rights there.
I tried to read a story when I was between other books, and it took me over a year to finally finish this. I should probably have given it up after the first story, but I have an unhealthy compulsion to finish books I've started.
I couldn't really recommend it. Watch the Disney versions instead, at least the women has free will and some rights there.
Want to read
June 18, 2012Frame narrative.
September 27, 2021
This Arabic collection of folk tales was compiled during the Abbasid Caliphate from the 10th to the 14th centuries and incorporates Persian, Egyptian, Greek and Mesopotamian as well as Arabic stories. Many of the stories have become part of modern folklore, such as those of Sinbad, Ali Baba and Aladdin. Others, such as those of the Princess Pani-Barou, the two brothers and a sister raised by a Chief Gardener and Prince Zeyn deserve to be just as well known. One of the easiest-to-read books I’ve ever encountered, the rather formal and almost Victorian cadence of the translation I read helped augment the many attractions of the many wonderful stories. However, I was in relatively equal measure both entranced and appalled by what I was reading.
Entranced: Early on, I got the feeling in reading each of these fifty-odd stories that each in its only way provided an experience similar to that a dope-smoker must feel after the first three or four tokes: a blissful exhilaration of pleasurable ecstasy. No more than two or three pages into each one, the imagination seems to soar as the fantastical, coincidental, magical, mysterious and almost always unbelievable come to dominate the stories of the almost uniformly young, attractive, not-all-too-bright heroes and heroines of the stories. Let just one example suffice: To have a carpet, a pipe/telescope and the scent of an apple combine to bring about the resolution of a very dire situation was a true triumph of basic plot construction and unbridled imaginative creativity: and this is just a preliminary incident in the story of Prince Ahmed and Pari-Barou, one which has not as yet been noticed by Hollywood.
Appalled: The culture from which these stories arose and of which they are inextricable part was autocratic, sexist, incredibly hierarchical and far too often quite simply quite unjust. The feudalistic background of an autocratic caliph or sultan who can summarily declare that an offender should immediately lose their head, the rigid stratification of social class that decrees all stores and homes down a certain street must close since a princess is about to pass along it on the way to the baths and no one should be able to see her, the subjugation that keeps women for the servicing of their ruler, guarded by emasculated men (eunuchs) so that their virginal treasures should be kept unsullied for the pleasure of the patriarch, the debasement of the status of women to the point that a young prince can plan his wedding to a a women he has not even bothered to ask, the custom upon receiving an order from the caliph of touching one’s head and then one’s heart to show that one is willing to have this (head) taken from this (body) should the instruction not be carried out and the extreme kowtowing of the forehead to the ground that is the custom before rulers all offended my sense of social justice and personal integrity and respect. That I read this book while the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan led to all the women commonly disappearing from streets did little to allay the offensiveness of such barbaric practices.
The book is a fantasy. Pleasure and enjoyment are its aims. And in being such, it more than amply delivers. I just wish that it was not done against such an repressive and unjust social, cultural and political backdrop.
Highly recommended.
Entranced: Early on, I got the feeling in reading each of these fifty-odd stories that each in its only way provided an experience similar to that a dope-smoker must feel after the first three or four tokes: a blissful exhilaration of pleasurable ecstasy. No more than two or three pages into each one, the imagination seems to soar as the fantastical, coincidental, magical, mysterious and almost always unbelievable come to dominate the stories of the almost uniformly young, attractive, not-all-too-bright heroes and heroines of the stories. Let just one example suffice: To have a carpet, a pipe/telescope and the scent of an apple combine to bring about the resolution of a very dire situation was a true triumph of basic plot construction and unbridled imaginative creativity: and this is just a preliminary incident in the story of Prince Ahmed and Pari-Barou, one which has not as yet been noticed by Hollywood.
Appalled: The culture from which these stories arose and of which they are inextricable part was autocratic, sexist, incredibly hierarchical and far too often quite simply quite unjust. The feudalistic background of an autocratic caliph or sultan who can summarily declare that an offender should immediately lose their head, the rigid stratification of social class that decrees all stores and homes down a certain street must close since a princess is about to pass along it on the way to the baths and no one should be able to see her, the subjugation that keeps women for the servicing of their ruler, guarded by emasculated men (eunuchs) so that their virginal treasures should be kept unsullied for the pleasure of the patriarch, the debasement of the status of women to the point that a young prince can plan his wedding to a a women he has not even bothered to ask, the custom upon receiving an order from the caliph of touching one’s head and then one’s heart to show that one is willing to have this (head) taken from this (body) should the instruction not be carried out and the extreme kowtowing of the forehead to the ground that is the custom before rulers all offended my sense of social justice and personal integrity and respect. That I read this book while the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan led to all the women commonly disappearing from streets did little to allay the offensiveness of such barbaric practices.
The book is a fantasy. Pleasure and enjoyment are its aims. And in being such, it more than amply delivers. I just wish that it was not done against such an repressive and unjust social, cultural and political backdrop.
Highly recommended.
March 23, 2025
Summary of the plot of the book: The sultan is angry because his wife cheated on him, so he decides to marry one woman a day then kill her the next. Rinse and repeat. A woman decides enough is enough and offers herself to the sultan. Every day she says “let me tell you a story that you simply have to hear.” And he holds off killing her, because he wants to hear the stories, and it goes on for a total of a thousand and one nights.
These are stories that have been around for centuries, so I feel like you can’t give the book a low rating. Yes, it’s long. No, not every story is entertaining. Yes, there are societal norms that wouldn’t fly today. But it’s still kind of fascinating.
Some of my favorites included in here were “The History of Camaralzaman, prince of the isle of the children of Khaledsn, and Badoura, Princess of China,” “The History of Sindbad the Sailor,” and “The History of the Little Hunchback”. Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers were in the Appendix and technically not apart of the Thousand and One Nights, but I thought they were enjoyable.
A reoccurring theme I found surprising in this, for how old the stories are, was how cunning and well educated the women of this book were. They’re often the ones tricking/killing the villains. One princess actually disguises herself as a man and ends up stuck in a situation where she becomes King in a neighboring island by mistake. Ali Baba has no idea what’s going on while his female slave murders all of the forty robbers, because he failed to notice they were trying to kill him.
Anyways, reading this is definitely mental exercise, but I’d recommend.
These are stories that have been around for centuries, so I feel like you can’t give the book a low rating. Yes, it’s long. No, not every story is entertaining. Yes, there are societal norms that wouldn’t fly today. But it’s still kind of fascinating.
Some of my favorites included in here were “The History of Camaralzaman, prince of the isle of the children of Khaledsn, and Badoura, Princess of China,” “The History of Sindbad the Sailor,” and “The History of the Little Hunchback”. Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers were in the Appendix and technically not apart of the Thousand and One Nights, but I thought they were enjoyable.
A reoccurring theme I found surprising in this, for how old the stories are, was how cunning and well educated the women of this book were. They’re often the ones tricking/killing the villains. One princess actually disguises herself as a man and ends up stuck in a situation where she becomes King in a neighboring island by mistake. Ali Baba has no idea what’s going on while his female slave murders all of the forty robbers, because he failed to notice they were trying to kill him.
Anyways, reading this is definitely mental exercise, but I’d recommend.
March 26, 2020
Recollections of the spell-binding stories of Sindbad, which I read as a youth, motivated me to read through these 652 pages of adventure, which are no less captivating than the adventures of the Monte-Cristo Count imagined by Dumas. Aside from the Bible, no other text from the Middle East has been so widely read in Europe. Europe’s initial fascination with these tales produced a demand for all things Eastern, such as spices, textiles, art, and jewelry.
These intriguing stories will keep you on the edge of your chair and carry you away to far off lands bearing an alluring suspense. The voyages of Sindbad are some of my earliest recollections of the sort of enamored joy that comes to me through reading. I truly think that the adventures of Sindbad contributed to my intense love of travel and my seemingly innate desire to visit exotic places in the world.
The Arabian Nights represents the essence of story-telling. Certainly these are stories that can be read to children with the most probable expectation for sustaining their attention and bequeathing them with a love for the written word. These writings not only demonstrate how a story should be told; they also fertilize the imagination in such a way as to aid readers in appreciating the particulars of their own personal journey, wherever that may be..
These immensely entertaining stories help us to understand the early culture that existed among the Ottoman and Persian peoples, who once sustained magnificent kingdoms. These stories are ingenious fiction that transport the reader into an Islamic culture that is full of intrigue, amazing palaces, supernatural agency, convincing morality, bizarre adventures, heroic characters, etc. These stories give us a different view of Islamic culture that hails from a time when the West appreciated the amazing diversity of these people, instead of seeing them as a weird enemy.
I remember visiting South Sudan with a Christian missionary group when one evening the Muslim call to prayer began resounding about the city of Juba. The man’s voice was beautiful and exhibited enormous range. The man’s wailing brought to my mind these stories from The Arabian Nights that I remembered so fondly from my youth. But, I suddenly noticed that my Christian companion was stark white and mortified. “What’s wrong,” I asked? “That sound, it terrifies me,” he replied. I quickly realized that for him, and many young Christians across the U.S., Islamic culture brings to mind only the fear of terrorism, war, beheadings and all the horrible evils exhibited in the modern clash of cultures. And I lamented the loss of the deep intrigue that I experienced as a youth reading The Arabian Nights, picturing myself in the shoes of Sindbad, wandering the streets of Baghdad as a traveler, exploring unique foodstuffs, and plundering about shops full of ancient and remarkable things like Aladdin encountered. Reading The Arabian Nights as a youth gave me a vision of Mideastern culture that I refuse to relinquish for the war prone horrific propaganda promoted by today’s fake news media.
I encourage you to read these stories and gain the same sense of wonder that I gained from these ancient and culturally rich tales, that preceded European domination of the Mideast. The mythologies and folklores of ethnic groups give us great insight into alternative cultures; and is an essential part of understanding unique perspectives, how others think, and why others interact with the rest of the world as they do. Appropriately, the introduction to the book includes a brief time-line of Islamic world events leading up to the disbursement of The Arabian Nights to the west, which is partially recounted as follows:
YEAR EVENT
224 Sassanid dynasty established in Persia (Iran)
330 The Roman Constantine moves capital to Constantinople
570 Muhammad is born in Mecca
614 Persian armies capture Jerusalem
632 Muhammad dies & Abu Bakr takes over as 1st caliph
634 Abu Bakr dies & Omar I takes over Persia, Egypt & Syria
640 Islam replaces Zoroastrianism in Persia
670 Arab armies conquest North Africa
691 Dome of the Rock constructed in Jerusalem
749 The Abbasid dynasty dominates Islamic world
762 Abbasid’s construct Baghdad (Iraq) & make it capital
846 Arab armies capture Rome
1099 1st Crusade killing Jerusalem’s Muslims & Jews
1187 Jerusalem recaptured by Islamic general Saladin
1189 Richard Lion-hearted leads 3rd Crusade to Holy Land
1258 Mongols sack Baghdad ending Abbasid dynasty
1453 Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople
1520 Ottoman sultan Suleyman’s reign begins
1704 First European translation of The Arabian Nights
These stories read fluidly, almost like poetry, and engage the readers interest on a level beyond even the most enticing spy novel. Here you will enjoy story-telling on a level never transcended and the stories will flow forth with a rich vocabulary and flowing sentence structure. Clearly this is a “must-read” for anyone seeking a full appreciation of world literature.
-End-
These intriguing stories will keep you on the edge of your chair and carry you away to far off lands bearing an alluring suspense. The voyages of Sindbad are some of my earliest recollections of the sort of enamored joy that comes to me through reading. I truly think that the adventures of Sindbad contributed to my intense love of travel and my seemingly innate desire to visit exotic places in the world.
The Arabian Nights represents the essence of story-telling. Certainly these are stories that can be read to children with the most probable expectation for sustaining their attention and bequeathing them with a love for the written word. These writings not only demonstrate how a story should be told; they also fertilize the imagination in such a way as to aid readers in appreciating the particulars of their own personal journey, wherever that may be..
These immensely entertaining stories help us to understand the early culture that existed among the Ottoman and Persian peoples, who once sustained magnificent kingdoms. These stories are ingenious fiction that transport the reader into an Islamic culture that is full of intrigue, amazing palaces, supernatural agency, convincing morality, bizarre adventures, heroic characters, etc. These stories give us a different view of Islamic culture that hails from a time when the West appreciated the amazing diversity of these people, instead of seeing them as a weird enemy.
I remember visiting South Sudan with a Christian missionary group when one evening the Muslim call to prayer began resounding about the city of Juba. The man’s voice was beautiful and exhibited enormous range. The man’s wailing brought to my mind these stories from The Arabian Nights that I remembered so fondly from my youth. But, I suddenly noticed that my Christian companion was stark white and mortified. “What’s wrong,” I asked? “That sound, it terrifies me,” he replied. I quickly realized that for him, and many young Christians across the U.S., Islamic culture brings to mind only the fear of terrorism, war, beheadings and all the horrible evils exhibited in the modern clash of cultures. And I lamented the loss of the deep intrigue that I experienced as a youth reading The Arabian Nights, picturing myself in the shoes of Sindbad, wandering the streets of Baghdad as a traveler, exploring unique foodstuffs, and plundering about shops full of ancient and remarkable things like Aladdin encountered. Reading The Arabian Nights as a youth gave me a vision of Mideastern culture that I refuse to relinquish for the war prone horrific propaganda promoted by today’s fake news media.
I encourage you to read these stories and gain the same sense of wonder that I gained from these ancient and culturally rich tales, that preceded European domination of the Mideast. The mythologies and folklores of ethnic groups give us great insight into alternative cultures; and is an essential part of understanding unique perspectives, how others think, and why others interact with the rest of the world as they do. Appropriately, the introduction to the book includes a brief time-line of Islamic world events leading up to the disbursement of The Arabian Nights to the west, which is partially recounted as follows:
YEAR EVENT
224 Sassanid dynasty established in Persia (Iran)
330 The Roman Constantine moves capital to Constantinople
570 Muhammad is born in Mecca
614 Persian armies capture Jerusalem
632 Muhammad dies & Abu Bakr takes over as 1st caliph
634 Abu Bakr dies & Omar I takes over Persia, Egypt & Syria
640 Islam replaces Zoroastrianism in Persia
670 Arab armies conquest North Africa
691 Dome of the Rock constructed in Jerusalem
749 The Abbasid dynasty dominates Islamic world
762 Abbasid’s construct Baghdad (Iraq) & make it capital
846 Arab armies capture Rome
1099 1st Crusade killing Jerusalem’s Muslims & Jews
1187 Jerusalem recaptured by Islamic general Saladin
1189 Richard Lion-hearted leads 3rd Crusade to Holy Land
1258 Mongols sack Baghdad ending Abbasid dynasty
1453 Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople
1520 Ottoman sultan Suleyman’s reign begins
1704 First European translation of The Arabian Nights
These stories read fluidly, almost like poetry, and engage the readers interest on a level beyond even the most enticing spy novel. Here you will enjoy story-telling on a level never transcended and the stories will flow forth with a rich vocabulary and flowing sentence structure. Clearly this is a “must-read” for anyone seeking a full appreciation of world literature.
-End-
July 24, 2020
This is the longest book I’ve ever read but I’m glad I read it. There were parts that were hard to get through but the stories overall gave me a better understanding of cultural references both within and outside the Arab world. I especially enjoyed the more well-known stories: Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin, and Ali Baba & the 40 Thieves (which was MUCH different than what I was expecting). I also enjoyed “The History of Camaralzaman, Prince of the Isle of the Children of Khaledan, and of Badoura, Princess of China” and “The Sleeper Awakened.”
I appreciated that Sultana Scheherazade was able to save herself and all the women (potential future brides) in Persian. However, I wish more female characters in the stories had names instead of being called “so-and-so’s wife.” I also want to give a shout out to my friends who speaks Arabic as a first language and taught me how to pronounce ‘Scheherazade’ so I didn’t struggle throughout the entire book!
I appreciated that Sultana Scheherazade was able to save herself and all the women (potential future brides) in Persian. However, I wish more female characters in the stories had names instead of being called “so-and-so’s wife.” I also want to give a shout out to my friends who speaks Arabic as a first language and taught me how to pronounce ‘Scheherazade’ so I didn’t struggle throughout the entire book!
November 28, 2022
It was interesting to learn that some of the most well-known stories aren't considered part of the original tales, namely Aladdin and the Lamp, and Alibaba and the Forty Theives. They are included here, for popular enjoyment, I suppose.
The introduction mentions many different translations, some more chaste than others. This translation is one of the tamer versions, so I will be seeking out the more erotic version at some point to see what Victorian audiences were not allowed to read.
The illustrations in this version are beautiful and I was unaware at how deep the stories-within-stories motif went, and I marveled at a few stories in how Shakespearean they were in terms of tragi-comic plots. I did struggle with how this version was translated, as the language, especially the dialogue, was very clunky.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this undeniable cornerstone of world-litrrature and will seek out other translations.
The introduction mentions many different translations, some more chaste than others. This translation is one of the tamer versions, so I will be seeking out the more erotic version at some point to see what Victorian audiences were not allowed to read.
The illustrations in this version are beautiful and I was unaware at how deep the stories-within-stories motif went, and I marveled at a few stories in how Shakespearean they were in terms of tragi-comic plots. I did struggle with how this version was translated, as the language, especially the dialogue, was very clunky.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this undeniable cornerstone of world-litrrature and will seek out other translations.
April 29, 2024
It's a whole vision of a world we can only now read about, refracted through several lenses of exoticism and orientalism, both in the translation and reception, and within the expansive and fantastical world of the stories themselves. But the place that interests me most, and has long fascinated me, is Baghdad at the height of its glory. Oh, if I but had a time machine!
May 18, 2025
This edition contains all the primary tales from the Arabian Nights canon, along with some commentary by the editor. It also includes the tales of Aladdin and Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves - which I was not aware were technically not part of the "original" 1,001 Arabian Nights. I would have to say that my favorite of all the tales were the seven voyages of Sinbad the Sailor.
September 14, 2020
This is a LOT of stories! Some I recognized, plenty more that I hadn't. There are many stories-within-a-story here so I read this in large chunks in between other books this year. It was entertaining, mostly at a quick pace. There are many princes, princesses, merchants, sailors and genii.
July 15, 2020
A collection of tales that demonstrate the power of storytelling
August 20, 2020
One among my favourites. A retelling of classic Arabian folk tales such as "One Thousand and One Nights," "Aladdin," "Sinbad the Sailor," and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves."
July 12, 2022
I read a version of this book from 1924. A fun collection of stories that light up the imagination. It's easy to see why it has become so famous and retold for generations.
September 1, 2022
Ngl I wasted two months of my life on this book
Read
March 6, 2023This isn't the exact version I read. I read a different compilation.
August 12, 2024
To be honest, I only read about 500.5 Arabian Nights
November 10, 2025
Not my favorite. Quite monotonous.
April 20, 2020
A thousand and one nights had passed in this innocent amusement...
April 13, 2020
This collection of stories was superfun, though admittedly I could barely stand to read one of them (the melodramatic story of star-crossed lovers is so not my thing). These tales are so inventive, and the context of the sultana Scheherazade was a great way to connect the different tales.
My two favorite tales were the two "illegitimate" tales of Aladdin and the 40 Thieves-Sindbad was my favorite of the legitimate collection.
I recommend this book to all readers-this is the baseline for many other books out in the world, not to mention this book is a fun read on it's own.
My two favorite tales were the two "illegitimate" tales of Aladdin and the 40 Thieves-Sindbad was my favorite of the legitimate collection.
I recommend this book to all readers-this is the baseline for many other books out in the world, not to mention this book is a fun read on it's own.
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