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The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night: the Complete Burton Translation with the Complete Burton Notes, the Terminal Essay, Complete Index: Volume 1 & 2 within Volume 1 of 3
The original Burton Translation with explanatory notes
Each volume has a continuous page count.
Volume 1: page 1 - 1334
Volume 2: page 1337 - 2650
Volume 3: page 2651 - 3975
Each volume has a continuous page count.
Volume 1: page 1 - 1334
Volume 2: page 1337 - 2650
Volume 3: page 2651 - 3975
1334 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1962
15 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
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* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 9, 2018
"...everything from the comic, to adventure, romance, religion, war, political intrigue, history, mysticism, fantasy, tragedy ... there really was no predictability
Right, first off, if you're going to read this, you should do it unabridged. Let's face it, if you don't, you've not read the 1001 nights but 648, or 385, or whatever the editor decided to trim off this masterpiece. If Sheherezade can tell 1001 stories to keep herself alive, give the woman's effort some respect and read all the tales she tells. It's only by doing so that you can really fully appreciate this vast collection and its influence on, not only the literature of Persia and Arabia, but huge aspects of its culture too.
There's no better way to accomplish this task than by picking up the 6 volume boxed set of the 1962 Heritage Press edition of Richard Burton's translation with his vast collection of footnotes and 1001 beautifully simple illustrations by Valenti Angelo. This made reading it a delight for me. There's nothing better than picking up a book that people have taken such care to create.
I was privileged to be able to borrow this edition from a friend who hadn't read it himself and who, I think, fully expected me never to actually complete the task. It took me over a year, but complete it I did.
This is not a book you read cover to cover. Instead, you bite off small, masticable pieces and chew them over slowly. While many of the stories do involve males smitten by females they have only momentarily caught a glimpse of, I was very impressed by the sheer range of storytelling. We have everything from the comic, to adventure, romance, religion, war, political intrigue, history, mysticism, fantasy, tragedy ... there really was no predictability to it at all, and I enjoyed that very much.
And while the stories themselves are enough, for the most part, to keep you occupied, if you are at all interested in the culture and / or history of this area of the world, like me you will find this edition a rich treasure-trove of knowledge. Having lived in the Middle East for over a decade of my life and for the last five years, finding out that virtually every cultural point that Burton makes in his footnotes is still part of life here was very revealing. It seems that not much has changed since he plodded around the Arabian peninsula 200 years ago nor, in fact, since the original stories were first told. Remarkable.
Now, while it is a masterpiece, this fell a tad short of entering Arukiyomi's very sparsely populated Hall of Fame. Why so? Well, as the radar review below reveals, while the legacy and achievement of the collection cannot be questioned, it fails somewhat when it comes to characterisation and readability.
Apart from a very few characters (the historical Harun Al Rashid, for example) who either appear repeatedly or have very long tales focussed on them, most characters are simple caricatures. This is because the tales they feature in need little more than a single characteristic to make them work. That's fine for this genre, but you are not going to come away moved to any extent by a character as you do at the end of, say, the equivalently epic Les Miserables or even the diminutive Silk .
While my readability score is high, this is heavily skewed by the fact that I read it in a beautiful edition that was simply a joy to hold in my hands (yes, I do take that into account). Had I been reading any old paperback edition, I think this would have come in somewhere around the 55% mark simply because the frame story device and the repetitive nature of some of the tales can get a tad tedious. In fact, Burton comments himself when tales contain repetitions of others. Hey, if I had to keep you amused with tales every night for three years, I'd probably repeat myself too. Some of them were pretty long winded as well. There are a couple that are over 200 pages long each and could stand as novels in themselves. I have to say I rejoiced at the end of those.
Another factor that impacted readability is the often monotonous overtones of Allahu akbar. This is an Islamic compilation, of that there is no doubt. And while the Qur'an is actually fairly lenient to the "people of the book", i.e. Christians and Jews, this seems to have passed the storyteller by. Anyone who isn't muslim is depicted as base until they are either killed or embrace Islam. If the latter, then they finally become worthy human beings. At least the infidels fare better than the Africans who, one and all, are lower than the low, perpetrators of hideous acts and best off dead. While you can forgive this for being a product of its time, as I said above, I was struck by how little has changed in this region since these tales were first told. Nuffsed.
Right, first off, if you're going to read this, you should do it unabridged. Let's face it, if you don't, you've not read the 1001 nights but 648, or 385, or whatever the editor decided to trim off this masterpiece. If Sheherezade can tell 1001 stories to keep herself alive, give the woman's effort some respect and read all the tales she tells. It's only by doing so that you can really fully appreciate this vast collection and its influence on, not only the literature of Persia and Arabia, but huge aspects of its culture too.
There's no better way to accomplish this task than by picking up the 6 volume boxed set of the 1962 Heritage Press edition of Richard Burton's translation with his vast collection of footnotes and 1001 beautifully simple illustrations by Valenti Angelo. This made reading it a delight for me. There's nothing better than picking up a book that people have taken such care to create.
I was privileged to be able to borrow this edition from a friend who hadn't read it himself and who, I think, fully expected me never to actually complete the task. It took me over a year, but complete it I did.
This is not a book you read cover to cover. Instead, you bite off small, masticable pieces and chew them over slowly. While many of the stories do involve males smitten by females they have only momentarily caught a glimpse of, I was very impressed by the sheer range of storytelling. We have everything from the comic, to adventure, romance, religion, war, political intrigue, history, mysticism, fantasy, tragedy ... there really was no predictability to it at all, and I enjoyed that very much.
And while the stories themselves are enough, for the most part, to keep you occupied, if you are at all interested in the culture and / or history of this area of the world, like me you will find this edition a rich treasure-trove of knowledge. Having lived in the Middle East for over a decade of my life and for the last five years, finding out that virtually every cultural point that Burton makes in his footnotes is still part of life here was very revealing. It seems that not much has changed since he plodded around the Arabian peninsula 200 years ago nor, in fact, since the original stories were first told. Remarkable.
Now, while it is a masterpiece, this fell a tad short of entering Arukiyomi's very sparsely populated Hall of Fame. Why so? Well, as the radar review below reveals, while the legacy and achievement of the collection cannot be questioned, it fails somewhat when it comes to characterisation and readability.
Apart from a very few characters (the historical Harun Al Rashid, for example) who either appear repeatedly or have very long tales focussed on them, most characters are simple caricatures. This is because the tales they feature in need little more than a single characteristic to make them work. That's fine for this genre, but you are not going to come away moved to any extent by a character as you do at the end of, say, the equivalently epic Les Miserables or even the diminutive Silk .
While my readability score is high, this is heavily skewed by the fact that I read it in a beautiful edition that was simply a joy to hold in my hands (yes, I do take that into account). Had I been reading any old paperback edition, I think this would have come in somewhere around the 55% mark simply because the frame story device and the repetitive nature of some of the tales can get a tad tedious. In fact, Burton comments himself when tales contain repetitions of others. Hey, if I had to keep you amused with tales every night for three years, I'd probably repeat myself too. Some of them were pretty long winded as well. There are a couple that are over 200 pages long each and could stand as novels in themselves. I have to say I rejoiced at the end of those.
Another factor that impacted readability is the often monotonous overtones of Allahu akbar. This is an Islamic compilation, of that there is no doubt. And while the Qur'an is actually fairly lenient to the "people of the book", i.e. Christians and Jews, this seems to have passed the storyteller by. Anyone who isn't muslim is depicted as base until they are either killed or embrace Islam. If the latter, then they finally become worthy human beings. At least the infidels fare better than the Africans who, one and all, are lower than the low, perpetrators of hideous acts and best off dead. While you can forgive this for being a product of its time, as I said above, I was struck by how little has changed in this region since these tales were first told. Nuffsed.
July 30, 2019
(Note: This review of the three-volume Heritage Press edition originally appeared as part of a series of capsule reviews of illustrated novels, hence the focus on the art)
A suitably expansive edition of this monumental work, with each volume weighing in at over 1300 pages. Burton’s version, the first complete translation of the Nights, is notable both for its extensive cultural annotations and its often unbridled depiction of sexual fantasy in the work, which scandalized the public upon its first publication in 1885. Burton’s own irascible personality and defiance of Victorian mores is evident throughout the stories (as well as in his lengthy Introduction and famed Terminal Essay), making this text a fascinating palimpsest of varied cultures and historical periods. Valenti Angelo’s small illustrations (1,001 in number) are refreshingly simple and restrained, a marked departure from the more floridly Orientalist visions of the Arabian Nights to be found in many other versions. I was recently delighted to see a copy of this edition included in an exhibit on Les Milles et Un Nuits at L’Institu du Monde Arabe in Paris! Impressively annotated and indexed, this edition could occupy a reader for a thousand nights and more.
A suitably expansive edition of this monumental work, with each volume weighing in at over 1300 pages. Burton’s version, the first complete translation of the Nights, is notable both for its extensive cultural annotations and its often unbridled depiction of sexual fantasy in the work, which scandalized the public upon its first publication in 1885. Burton’s own irascible personality and defiance of Victorian mores is evident throughout the stories (as well as in his lengthy Introduction and famed Terminal Essay), making this text a fascinating palimpsest of varied cultures and historical periods. Valenti Angelo’s small illustrations (1,001 in number) are refreshingly simple and restrained, a marked departure from the more floridly Orientalist visions of the Arabian Nights to be found in many other versions. I was recently delighted to see a copy of this edition included in an exhibit on Les Milles et Un Nuits at L’Institu du Monde Arabe in Paris! Impressively annotated and indexed, this edition could occupy a reader for a thousand nights and more.
July 16, 2018
So, basically what I've learned is that if you're attractive then people will just do stuff for you and give you money for no reason. If you're ugly you deserve to be beaten in the streets. Also, the term "slave-wife" is a thing.
In spite of all this, I really enjoyed some of these stories. Looking forward to the next 4 volumes...
In spite of all this, I really enjoyed some of these stories. Looking forward to the next 4 volumes...
July 16, 2022
Entertaining, sure, but highly repetitive.
Fairly surreal too – there’s no problem with being suddenly transported to any fantastic palace or harem: wizards and odysseys abound.
Bloodthirsty? Absolutely. Adultery? Fornication? Constantly. Sex and brutal killing are mandatory – this is popular entertainment after all, and has the same odd acceptance among apparently God-fearing upright audiences as the similarly prurient and violent core of today’s movies.
Some amusing structure in the almost infinite regress: within every tale there are a dozen more – a standard thing is, say, just as you’re about to be beheaded you say,
“Oh, I wouldn’t chop my head off now – that would be to make the mistake of the chiropodist and the princess.”
“Really, what was that about?” says the headsman pausing in mid-swing.
“Well, one day…”
Remembering that the whole thing is within the structure of Shahrazad staving off her immanent execution by leaving the King in a cliff-hanger night after night.
Anyway, I’d had enough after a fortnight or two…
Fairly surreal too – there’s no problem with being suddenly transported to any fantastic palace or harem: wizards and odysseys abound.
Bloodthirsty? Absolutely. Adultery? Fornication? Constantly. Sex and brutal killing are mandatory – this is popular entertainment after all, and has the same odd acceptance among apparently God-fearing upright audiences as the similarly prurient and violent core of today’s movies.
Some amusing structure in the almost infinite regress: within every tale there are a dozen more – a standard thing is, say, just as you’re about to be beheaded you say,
“Oh, I wouldn’t chop my head off now – that would be to make the mistake of the chiropodist and the princess.”
“Really, what was that about?” says the headsman pausing in mid-swing.
“Well, one day…”
Remembering that the whole thing is within the structure of Shahrazad staving off her immanent execution by leaving the King in a cliff-hanger night after night.
Anyway, I’d had enough after a fortnight or two…
February 17, 2020
It's hard to say. On the one hand, really horribly racist and obviously a product of colonialism. On the other hand, in some respects, anyway , less racist than you'd expect (at some races) and a product of its time. Worth reading, I think, as a study of the era and culture (both those of the original stories and of Burton) , and the (many MANY ) footnotes are likewise handy.
December 21, 2020
After 4000 pages, you're only to the 300-ish night. But all those tales you're familiar with (Aladdin, Ali Baba & the Forth Thieves, Sinbad, etc.) are somewhere to be found in the stories Sharazad regales her king-husband with every night for 1,001 nights in an effort to avoid being beheaded the next morning.
January 21, 2018
I didn't like the florid style and I had no liking for most of the characters I encountered. I could not imagine reading the entire thing.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews