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    Arabian Nights
    Arabian Nights
    Arabian Nights
    Ebook427 pages6 hours

    Arabian Nights

    By HarperCollins

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Although there are many editions of The Arabian Nights featuring a varying number of tales, all of the different editions are based on the same framing story about the Persian ruler, Shahryar, and his wife, Scheherazade. After being betrayed by one of his wives, Shahryar becomes untrusting, and though he continues to marry, executes each of his wives shortly thereafter. When he finally marries the clever Scheherazade, she tells him a tale on the night of their wedding, but refuses to finish it until the next night, ensuring her safety while the king waits for the conclusion of the story.

    The Arabian Nights, or One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of tales compiled over several centuries during the Islamic Golden Age. Although The Arabian Nights has been widely influential in both Arabic and Western culture, it is probably most famous for inspiring adaptations of the stories of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad. However, the stories “Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp,” “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” and “The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor,” were not included in the Arabic versions of The Arabian Nights, and were only added later by European translators.

    This edition of The Arabian Nights contains more than thirty of the most influential and canonical stories of the original Arabic version of Arabian Nights, including “The Hunchback’s Tale” and “The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad.”

    HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateSep 9, 2014
    ISBN9781443440790
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    Reviews for Arabian Nights

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      This was a hard-fought five stars. Coming in at 680 pages in the Barnes and Noble edition (including preface/appendix material), there were some times that this book really lost me, and I was just forcing myself to keep reading for the sake of not having wasted money on a book I wouldn't finish.But in the end, I am glad I stuck with it. I would not necessarily say that this entire text is a five-star text. But there are several five-star pieces within it that I might not have appreciated as much without the context of attempting the full "1001 nights" of Scheherazade's tales. Part 2 in its entirety was incredibly interesting in that it pushes the frame narrative structure of the stories almost to their breaking point (which also made it hard to keep up with, as I read it in more than one sitting). "The History of Camaralzaman," with which I was previously unacquainted, has a marvelous way of turning misogyny on its head, and probably made me the most appreciative of Scheherazade as a storytelling figure of any of the stories in the book. Finally, though they are included in the appendix by virtue of most likely being later additions to the "Arabian Nights" canon, the stories of "Aladdin" and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" pack the most interesting punch in the entire volume. Any of these sections would be worth the price of admission of this generous and affordable edition.The Barnes and Noble edition is also one of the better in its series in regards to the critical scholarship offered to readers. Though the Richard Burton translation was the only one I had ever heard of, the editor presents such knowledgeable arguments about the competing translations and versions of this text throughout history that I have no doubt that the selections made for this book were appropriate and in keeping with the core stories that have comprised the "Arabian Nights" throughout most of its iterations. This book has one of the most thorough bibliographies and one of the best sets of critical quotations that I have seen in any of the Barnes and Noble editions. The only minor complaint I can offer about the extra material is that the "Inspired by" section concentrated only on other authors and film adaptations (though it did so in spades). Surely Rimsky-Korsakov's notable orchestral composition was worth a mention, too.
    • 3/5
      I can honestly say that I have read The Arabian Nights. I'm sure that at the time of publication the stories were fascinating, however, in this day and age when many of the individual tales have been adapted to the silver screen, the stories have lost their luster. Some I had never heard before , others far too many times.
    • 3/5
      Parts of this zoomed along and others I slogged through. I can see the value in the literature, but this is not a book I will read the through completely ever again. I may reread parts of it.
    • 4/5
      This edition of the Arabian Nights contains only the most popular stories and none of the adult content that Sir Richard Francis Burton included in his multi-volume translation.

      However, this translation is suitable for children while Burton's translation is not. Although Andrew Lang's language can seem somewhat archaic at times, it is nowhere near as archaic as Burton's.
    • 4/5
      My other half has been hounding me for sometime now to read the One Thousand and One Nights tales that were such a favorite of his when he was a child. Given how big a tome the complete (if there is such a thing) collection of stories is, I compromised and decided to read the shorter collection of 26 stories compiled by Andrew Lang. 24 of the stories are genuine Middle Eastern folk tales from the Islamic Golden Age (the 8th to 12 centuries) with almost all of them focused on the Caliphate era when the Islamic state was led by a caliph, a religious and political leader. The remaining two stories in this collection, The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor and Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, are said to be stories that were added to the larger collection of Arabian tales by Antoine Galland and other European translators in the early 18th century.I enjoyed the stories for the Middle Eastern atmosphere and flavor but over time found the stories, even though richly told with diverse characters and situations, started to have a 'same old, same old' feel to them. Even today, these are great stories of morals, values and beliefs gone astray and the result of that straying from the set path. I found it amusing how the great Caliph can borrow a peasant's clothes and in the blink of an eye, even his own grand vizir can no longer recognize him - those must be magic clothes! - and how some of the characters are transformed into persons of brilliant beauty because they took a bath.... removing a month of grime probably would have that effect, although there is no indication that routine bathing was not an established habit. The violence was slightly perturbing. It is amazing how what we might today consider lesser transgressions of mischief brought about the quick execution of the miscreants and just how gullible some of the well-to-do Sultans, Princes, etc were in the stories. The Arabian Nights Entertainments is a good title for the collection. For the most part, the stories were very entertaining. I particularly liked how the stories have a nice gender balance and the women weren't just shadow figures in the stories. Some were smarter than the men and saved the day (so to speak) while others were powerful magicians (both good and evil). While we think that most fables and fairy tales are stories for adults to read to their children, I was intrigued to learn that these Arabian Nights tales were created for and told to an adult audience by people whose profession at the time was to amuse men and women by telling tales. I can see how an adult would view these stories differently than a child would, and gain deeper meaning from them. If you have never read the stories of the Arabian Nights before, Lang's smaller collection may be a good place to start before attempting to tackle one of the larger, more complete collections of stories such as Richard Burton's English version or Antoine Galland's French version.
    • 4/5
      I didn't know what I was getting into when I started reading this book. I had heard a few references to the Arabian Nights, mainly that it was a highly scandalous book. That's it. So, of course, I had to read it. Arabian Nights is a book of Arabian fairy tales. There's genii (singular = genius. that'll save you confusion later) in basically every story. But, when I started reading, I couldn't stop. Arabian fairy tales are nothing like those of the West [despite what the preface says]. They're awesome! I would definitely recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      Doesn't contain all the known Arabian fairy tales, if such a thing is possible. Most notable exception is Ali Baba and the fourty thieves. This edition is based on one of the early french compilations by Antoine Gallard, and translated inot English by Andrew Lang. In the process Gallard dropped the poetry and "a great deal of what the Arabian authors thought funny, though it seems wearisome to us". I'm not sure it would have been that dull actually. Then Lang cut some more out "shortened here and there, and omissions are made of pieces only suitable fro Arabs and old gentlemen" Ie bowdlerised. Which is also a shame and very notable on some stories. The famous opening remains in place with the tale of Scheherazade beguiling her Sultan with stories to prevent his murdering of a new wife each morning. From here the collection rapidly fragments into new stories sometimes intertwinned as characters in one story narrate their adventures in the form of a new story. Once this loop fails to close, utterly abandoning the reader. Scheherazade is quickly forgotten and never reappears. Indeed only Sinbad lasts fro more than a tale or two, and he is limited to his famous seven exploits. The stories themselves are all very similar. A Prince or princess or merchant suffers a hardship, bemoans their fate, meets a magical being, and regains a rich life full of treasure. Strangely teh singular form of genii is given as genius throughout which is a bit confusing. Likewise the difference between the various sorts of beings and human castes is never explained, but expected to be known to the reader. Kings seem to be a kind on minor noble much below the tank of Sultan or Caliph which seems odd to western traditions. Notably different from western Fairy Tales in setting, if not in morals, it makes interesting reading to start with, but quickly becomes overly similar. I'm glad not all 1001 nights are reproduced here.

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    Arabian Nights - HarperCollins

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