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Three Tales from The Arabian Nights: Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves / Judar and His Brothers / Ma'rus the Cobbler
In these three tales from the first major translation into English of The Arabian Nights in more than 100 years, the endless inventiveness of the vizier's daughter Shahrazad is revealed, as she spins stories of greed, lust, riches and wonder to delay her death at the hands of a brutal king.
164 pages, Paperback
First published November 27, 2008
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Anonymous
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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 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 21, 2013
Where have these stories been for last 33 years? Hidden like a jinni, I guess, in post-Said discomfort with 'orientalism' and professor-fuelled distrust of story-telling. Well, here I am, Anonymous. Late as ever, but now in thrall.
The Malcom Lyons translation of 'Arabian Nights,' published by Penguin, comes in three sizes. The super-size is three volumes of nearly 1000 pages each. The grande is a selection of around 500 pages. I started here, with the small size: the three tales listed in the title, together with the very short frame narrative. Ma'rus is the last story in the sequence, so it is also the conclusion of the frame narrative.
Some things I learned from this book that you will not learn from Disney: The Arabian Nights is *brutally* violent and often charmlessly erotic; the first story is one of two kings being deceived by their wives, who engage in orgies while the kings are on monarchical business trips. So they murder their wives and their wives' lovers, run away together, find a jinni who's trapped a beautiful woman as a sex-slave, only she gets her revenge by waiting until he's asleep, then begging passing men to sleep with her in ways and numbers that make me shudder. One of the kings returns to his country and vows to deflower one virgin per night, then have her killed, so that he'll never be betrayed again. Our hero, Shahrazad, tells stories to save the lives of young girls. In other words, despite everything my modernist and post-modernist professors taught me, it's okay to tell stories, and sometimes it's really, really important to tell good stories.
Also, our earliest evidence for the stories of Ali Baba and Aladdin are in French. They're meant to be translations from oral storytellers, but nobody really knows; in any case, these, the most famous stories in the collection, may or may not actually be part of the collection.
Judar and Ma'rus are both glorious tales that end in horror--right up my alley. I'll be moving on to the grande volume soon.
The Malcom Lyons translation of 'Arabian Nights,' published by Penguin, comes in three sizes. The super-size is three volumes of nearly 1000 pages each. The grande is a selection of around 500 pages. I started here, with the small size: the three tales listed in the title, together with the very short frame narrative. Ma'rus is the last story in the sequence, so it is also the conclusion of the frame narrative.
Some things I learned from this book that you will not learn from Disney: The Arabian Nights is *brutally* violent and often charmlessly erotic; the first story is one of two kings being deceived by their wives, who engage in orgies while the kings are on monarchical business trips. So they murder their wives and their wives' lovers, run away together, find a jinni who's trapped a beautiful woman as a sex-slave, only she gets her revenge by waiting until he's asleep, then begging passing men to sleep with her in ways and numbers that make me shudder. One of the kings returns to his country and vows to deflower one virgin per night, then have her killed, so that he'll never be betrayed again. Our hero, Shahrazad, tells stories to save the lives of young girls. In other words, despite everything my modernist and post-modernist professors taught me, it's okay to tell stories, and sometimes it's really, really important to tell good stories.
Also, our earliest evidence for the stories of Ali Baba and Aladdin are in French. They're meant to be translations from oral storytellers, but nobody really knows; in any case, these, the most famous stories in the collection, may or may not actually be part of the collection.
Judar and Ma'rus are both glorious tales that end in horror--right up my alley. I'll be moving on to the grande volume soon.
January 30, 2021
Such hidden gems of stories!
Brought the culture, the people and the (often funny scenes) very much to life.
A lovely insight into a 'lost' time.
I defintalely want to read the rest!
Brought the culture, the people and the (often funny scenes) very much to life.
A lovely insight into a 'lost' time.
I defintalely want to read the rest!
January 12, 2023
great
July 10, 2016
Actual rating 3.5
If this were any other story I would have hated it. There is no way that the shallow characters, verbose prose and immense amount of exposition would have lived up to my high standards. But for what it is, it is incredibly good. Even today the tales are realistic and relatable with a fantastic air of intrigue and magic. There is a reason the Arabian Nights/1001 Nights has survived the test of time, and I intend to read the rest of it!
If this were any other story I would have hated it. There is no way that the shallow characters, verbose prose and immense amount of exposition would have lived up to my high standards. But for what it is, it is incredibly good. Even today the tales are realistic and relatable with a fantastic air of intrigue and magic. There is a reason the Arabian Nights/1001 Nights has survived the test of time, and I intend to read the rest of it!
April 15, 2013
This is a lovely little Penguin book I picked up in the Brisbane airport on the way to Jakarta. The stories were delightful full of jinnis, and secret caves with endless treasure, and avenging spirits.
July 6, 2010
Not as good as the Arabian Nights by Ward Lock, but still enjoyable.
February 8, 2016
twas interesting but nothing to gripping. i enjoyed the stories.
March 17, 2016
Enjoyable introduction and nicely translated - plenty of jinn's, gold rings, and other amazing things - I'm sure I will read all the others some time.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews