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The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade
Have you read 'The Arabian Nights'? Also known as 'One Thousand and One Nights.' It's a collection of Arabic folk stories which are told, one every late evening, to the king, Shahryar, by his wife Scheherazade. The first edition in English came out in the early 1700s.
Here we have Poe's take on the much larger book.
The Edgar Allan Poe Society in the UK introduces the 1845 short story this way, "A day after Scheherazade escaped death, she endeavours to recount another story to the king, this time of a retired Sinbad who finds himself seeking out new adventure. A comical sequel to the classic Sinbad tales, 'The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade' is highly recommended for fans of the short story form, and is not to be missed by those who have read and enjoyed other works by this author."
Here we have Poe's take on the much larger book.
The Edgar Allan Poe Society in the UK introduces the 1845 short story this way, "A day after Scheherazade escaped death, she endeavours to recount another story to the king, this time of a retired Sinbad who finds himself seeking out new adventure. A comical sequel to the classic Sinbad tales, 'The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade' is highly recommended for fans of the short story form, and is not to be missed by those who have read and enjoyed other works by this author."
33 pages
First published February 1, 1845
4 people are currently reading
307 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,857 books28.4k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
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December 13, 2017
يعني شهريار استحمل كل حاجة، عفريت محبوس في قمقم، الاشكيف، الرخ وحصان وردي يطير بجناحين خضر
لكنه لم يستطع تحمل هذا؟
في قصة بو العبقرية المؤسفة، التي قرر أن يستكمل بها بأسلوبه حقيقة ما حدث في الليلة الثانية بعد الألف لشهرازاد، رفع شعار
"الحقيقة أغرب من الخيال"
هي ليست أعادة حكي، بل تتمة برؤية صحفي (بو) يستكمل بها احداث اشهر رواية عربية، ألف ليلة وليلة، بنهايتها المفتوحة المتفائلة، لنهاية سوداوية تليق بالسيد بو
حيث شهريار رجلاً شرقيا فظا، لا يحتمل الحكاية الأسطورية الاخيرة لشهرزاد..فقط لأن الخيال بها أقوي بكثير مما سبق
لم يتحملها لأن عقله الضيق رفض هذا النوع من الخيال
لأن الخيال بها حقيقة ... خيالا موجودا بالطبيعة
~~~~~~~~~~
☆☆☆ الاحداث ☆☆☆
لسبب ما يهوي السيد بو اضافة طابع صحفي يخاطب القارئ كأنه يسرد حقائق
هنا يدعي في مقاله الصحفى أنه وقع علي كتاب شرقي مجهول ولم يتم نشره او ترجمته لسبب ما اسمه "قللىالان أحدثهذاأملا"،- أو قل لي الان أحدث هذا أم لا
Tellmenow Isitsoornot
وانه فوجئ به بحقيقة ما حدث لشهرزاد بنهاية كتاب الف ليلة وليلة الشهير الشرقي -برغم من انه وقت نشر تلك القصة، 1945، كانت ترجمته غير منتشرة ولا كاملة ومنقحة حتي مما يدل على سعة ثقافة بو فعلا رغم عيب ما سأذكر بالنهاية
"وان الليلة الثانية بعد الألف هي ما حدث وسيرويه بو كما يقول كتاب "أحدثهذاأملا
ويتغير اسلوب الراوي الظريف الساخر الي الحكاية الرئيسية
تروي شهرزاد حكاية السندباد الاخيرة التي حجبتها عن شهريار لألف ليلة وليلة
الرجل العجوز سندباد لم يعجبه التقاعد وقرر الخروج برحلة اخيرة عجائبية
وان هذه القصة ترويها باسلوبها العجائبي المعتاد ، حيث يري السندباد عجائب جديدة كليا
ولكن في نفس الوقت يبدأ السيد شهريار الذي قدمه بو بشكل رجل عربي متعصب ضيق الافق -مع انه كان يقبل عجائب غير معقولة قبلها-، يبدا في التذمر ومقاطعة شهرزاد...حتي نهاية تلك الليلة الثانية بعد الالف، والاخيرة
~~~~~~~~~~
☆☆☆ اسلوب السرد ☆☆☆
اسلوب الراوي الذي يحكي مباشرة للقارئ سمح لبو استخدام حس الدعابة في حكيه للقصة الماخوذة عن كتاب "قللىالان أحدثهذاأملا"، لكنه ايضا سمح ان يضع ملاحظات هامشية في معظم فقرات الحكايات الغرائبية العجائبية لشهرزاد يوضح أنها حقيقية ، فقط تم المعالجة والتلاعب في الحكي لتتناسب مع جو حكايات الشهرزاد
من هذه الظواهر التي تراوحت الملاحظات الهامشية من سطر او مجرد ذكر العنوان لبضعة سطور تصل لعشر سطور أذكر منها مايلي
ظاهرة الغابات الحجرية الطبيعية
تأثيرات البراكين والزلازل والتي بالطبع تفوق خيال سكان شبه الجزيرة العربية وقت احداث الالف ليلة وليلة
مناطق حقيقية بالنيجر وايسلاندا
فصيلة النمل-الاسد وخصائصه العجيبة
انواع حقيقية من النباتات ، كتلك التي تحبس الحشرات بجوفها
عبقرية النحل الهندسية
الطحالب التي تبعث وميضا فسفوريا
هجرة الطيور التي تصل لمليار بالسرب الواحد
ديدان الاثني عشر ووجودها بالسائل المخي
القطار وسرعته
تفريخ الدجاج والبيض صناعيا
الالات الحاسبة
لاعب الشطرنج الاوتوماتيكي "سبق وتحدث عنه كما قلت فيمراجعة الاكتشاف العظيم لفون كمبلين مراجعة سابقة
الطباعة الكهربائية و التلغراف والتصوير
النجوم التي نراها قد تكون انتهت من ملايين السنوات الضوئية
اه والبالون طبعا، في بداية الرحلة ...لا تنس البالون
-وصفه باسلوب مضحك، رأي السندباد طائر ضخم قبيح، عبارة عن بطن فقط...ويحمل ضحايا بشرية اسفل بطنه، بل وعندما مرت السفينة تحته قام بالقاء كيس من الرمال عليهم بوقاحة
يحسب لبو غزارة العلوم والعجائب الحقيقية الطبيعية التي كتبها باسلوب خيالي تارة -حكاية شهرزاد- واسلوب علمي مبسط ممتع تارة- ملاحظات الراوي، المحرر، الهامشية
وتذكر ان كل هذا في 1845، قبل حتي انتشار ترجمة جيدة للالف ليلة وليلة
عيب بو الكبير
ولكن هناك عيب عنصري مرة اخري لبو ، فبجانب تصوير التزمت العجيب للقتل الذي ينتهجه شهريار كرجل عربي أو شرقي، وغير ضيق افقه المبالغ فيه
الحكاية الوحيدة الشاطحة في الخيال والتي ليس لها اي سند علمي علي الاطلاق هو ان خلال الرحلة مرت سفينة سندباد تحت بقرة زرقاء عملاقة تحمل أرض ضخمة
هذا الامر الوحيد الذي صدقه وقبله شهريار هو هذا الامر ويقول انه قرأه في كتاب ما
ليكتب المحرر "بو" ان القرأن حسب ترجمة ما به أية تقول "حمل الارض بقرة لونها ازرق لها أربعمائة قرن"، بالرغم من ان الترجمة المذكورة لم يرد فيها اطلاقا مثل هذا الهراء
عاما هذا الخطأ يتشابه مع ذكر بيت شعر يقول انه من مسرحية ما كتبه شاعر ما بالرغم من عدم ورود القطعة التي كتبها علي الاطلاق سواء في المصدر الذي ذكره او غيره
كان هذا ببداية قصة مراجعة المغامرة العظيمة لهانز فوول
إلا أن الخطأ هنا أعظم
~~~~~~~~~~
☆☆☆ النهاية ☆☆☆
ولكن لا تنس العيب الاكبر...انه بو ، الكابوسي الكئيب
فلا يخدعك الاسلوب الساخر المرح بالبداية ، ولا كونها ليست قصة رعب وانما خيال وعلم
النهاية القاتمة التي اختارها لاشهر رواية خيالية في العالم ستظل تطاردك دوما
لذا اذا اردت ان تخافظ علي مصير شهرزاد في بالك...لا تقرأ هذه القصة القصيرة
فحتي لو اعتبرتها لم تحدث...فستظل تطاردك دوما
محمد العربي
في 15 ابريل 2017
لكنه لم يستطع تحمل هذا؟
في قصة بو العبقرية المؤسفة، التي قرر أن يستكمل بها بأسلوبه حقيقة ما حدث في الليلة الثانية بعد الألف لشهرازاد، رفع شعار
"الحقيقة أغرب من الخيال"
هي ليست أعادة حكي، بل تتمة برؤية صحفي (بو) يستكمل بها احداث اشهر رواية عربية، ألف ليلة وليلة، بنهايتها المفتوحة المتفائلة، لنهاية سوداوية تليق بالسيد بو
حيث شهريار رجلاً شرقيا فظا، لا يحتمل الحكاية الأسطورية الاخيرة لشهرزاد..فقط لأن الخيال بها أقوي بكثير مما سبق
لم يتحملها لأن عقله الضيق رفض هذا النوع من الخيال
لأن الخيال بها حقيقة ... خيالا موجودا بالطبيعة
~~~~~~~~~~
☆☆☆ الاحداث ☆☆☆
لسبب ما يهوي السيد بو اضافة طابع صحفي يخاطب القارئ كأنه يسرد حقائق
هنا يدعي في مقاله الصحفى أنه وقع علي كتاب شرقي مجهول ولم يتم نشره او ترجمته لسبب ما اسمه "قللىالان أحدثهذاأملا"،- أو قل لي الان أحدث هذا أم لا
Tellmenow Isitsoornot
وانه فوجئ به بحقيقة ما حدث لشهرزاد بنهاية كتاب الف ليلة وليلة الشهير الشرقي -برغم من انه وقت نشر تلك القصة، 1945، كانت ترجمته غير منتشرة ولا كاملة ومنقحة حتي مما يدل على سعة ثقافة بو فعلا رغم عيب ما سأذكر بالنهاية
"وان الليلة الثانية بعد الألف هي ما حدث وسيرويه بو كما يقول كتاب "أحدثهذاأملا
ويتغير اسلوب الراوي الظريف الساخر الي الحكاية الرئيسية
تروي شهرزاد حكاية السندباد الاخيرة التي حجبتها عن شهريار لألف ليلة وليلة
الرجل العجوز سندباد لم يعجبه التقاعد وقرر الخروج برحلة اخيرة عجائبية
وان هذه القصة ترويها باسلوبها العجائبي المعتاد ، حيث يري السندباد عجائب جديدة كليا
ولكن في نفس الوقت يبدأ السيد شهريار الذي قدمه بو بشكل رجل عربي متعصب ضيق الافق -مع انه كان يقبل عجائب غير معقولة قبلها-، يبدا في التذمر ومقاطعة شهرزاد...حتي نهاية تلك الليلة الثانية بعد الالف، والاخيرة
~~~~~~~~~~
☆☆☆ اسلوب السرد ☆☆☆
اسلوب الراوي الذي يحكي مباشرة للقارئ سمح لبو استخدام حس الدعابة في حكيه للقصة الماخوذة عن كتاب "قللىالان أحدثهذاأملا"، لكنه ايضا سمح ان يضع ملاحظات هامشية في معظم فقرات الحكايات الغرائبية العجائبية لشهرزاد يوضح أنها حقيقية ، فقط تم المعالجة والتلاعب في الحكي لتتناسب مع جو حكايات الشهرزاد
من هذه الظواهر التي تراوحت الملاحظات الهامشية من سطر او مجرد ذكر العنوان لبضعة سطور تصل لعشر سطور أذكر منها مايلي
ظاهرة الغابات الحجرية الطبيعية
تأثيرات البراكين والزلازل والتي بالطبع تفوق خيال سكان شبه الجزيرة العربية وقت احداث الالف ليلة وليلة
مناطق حقيقية بالنيجر وايسلاندا
فصيلة النمل-الاسد وخصائصه العجيبة
انواع حقيقية من النباتات ، كتلك التي تحبس الحشرات بجوفها
عبقرية النحل الهندسية
الطحالب التي تبعث وميضا فسفوريا
هجرة الطيور التي تصل لمليار بالسرب الواحد
ديدان الاثني عشر ووجودها بالسائل المخي
القطار وسرعته
تفريخ الدجاج والبيض صناعيا
الالات الحاسبة
لاعب الشطرنج الاوتوماتيكي "سبق وتحدث عنه كما قلت فيمراجعة الاكتشاف العظيم لفون كمبلين مراجعة سابقة
بل وتقول شهرزاد هنا انه يهزم اي شخص في الشطرنج الا هارون الرشيد
الطباعة الكهربائية و التلغراف والتصوير
النجوم التي نراها قد تكون انتهت من ملايين السنوات الضوئية
اه والبالون طبعا، في بداية الرحلة ...لا تنس البالون
-وصفه باسلوب مضحك، رأي السندباد طائر ضخم قبيح، عبارة عن بطن فقط...ويحمل ضحايا بشرية اسفل بطنه، بل وعندما مرت السفينة تحته قام بالقاء كيس من الرمال عليهم بوقاحة
يحسب لبو غزارة العلوم والعجائب الحقيقية الطبيعية التي كتبها باسلوب خيالي تارة -حكاية شهرزاد- واسلوب علمي مبسط ممتع تارة- ملاحظات الراوي، المحرر، الهامشية
وتذكر ان كل هذا في 1845، قبل حتي انتشار ترجمة جيدة للالف ليلة وليلة
عيب بو الكبير
ولكن هناك عيب عنصري مرة اخري لبو ، فبجانب تصوير التزمت العجيب للقتل الذي ينتهجه شهريار كرجل عربي أو شرقي، وغير ضيق افقه المبالغ فيه
الحكاية الوحيدة الشاطحة في الخيال والتي ليس لها اي سند علمي علي الاطلاق هو ان خلال الرحلة مرت سفينة سندباد تحت بقرة زرقاء عملاقة تحمل أرض ضخمة
هذا الامر الوحيد الذي صدقه وقبله شهريار هو هذا الامر ويقول انه قرأه في كتاب ما
ليكتب المحرر "بو" ان القرأن حسب ترجمة ما به أية تقول "حمل الارض بقرة لونها ازرق لها أربعمائة قرن"، بالرغم من ان الترجمة المذكورة لم يرد فيها اطلاقا مثل هذا الهراء
عاما هذا الخطأ يتشابه مع ذكر بيت شعر يقول انه من مسرحية ما كتبه شاعر ما بالرغم من عدم ورود القطعة التي كتبها علي الاطلاق سواء في المصدر الذي ذكره او غيره
كان هذا ببداية قصة مراجعة المغامرة العظيمة لهانز فوول
إلا أن الخطأ هنا أعظم
~~~~~~~~~~
☆☆☆ النهاية ☆☆☆
ولكن لا تنس العيب الاكبر...انه بو ، الكابوسي الكئيب
فلا يخدعك الاسلوب الساخر المرح بالبداية ، ولا كونها ليست قصة رعب وانما خيال وعلم
النهاية القاتمة التي اختارها لاشهر رواية خيالية في العالم ستظل تطاردك دوما
لذا اذا اردت ان تخافظ علي مصير شهرزاد في بالك...لا تقرأ هذه القصة القصيرة
فحتي لو اعتبرتها لم تحدث...فستظل تطاردك دوما
محمد العربي
في 15 ابريل 2017
September 23, 2020
This is Poe in a new light; it is completely enchanting, terribly clever, and markably humorous. If I didn't know better, I might have suspected this was Mark Twain.
We all know the story of Scheherazade. She is meant to live happily ever after, after having completed her Thousand and One Tales, but Poe has found in the "Isitsoornot" that there was indeed a Thousand and Second Tale and her fate may not have been as happy as supposed.
What ensues is a rollicking good time while Scheherazade spins a tale of Sinbad's adventures that she failed to tell in her original narration. The story is a giant riddle, as every wonder described by Sinbad is true.
It is one of the lighter things I have ever read by Poe. Perspective is everything.
We all know the story of Scheherazade. She is meant to live happily ever after, after having completed her Thousand and One Tales, but Poe has found in the "Isitsoornot" that there was indeed a Thousand and Second Tale and her fate may not have been as happy as supposed.
What ensues is a rollicking good time while Scheherazade spins a tale of Sinbad's adventures that she failed to tell in her original narration. The story is a giant riddle, as every wonder described by Sinbad is true.
It is one of the lighter things I have ever read by Poe. Perspective is everything.
July 6, 2022
A humorous tale spun from a fictional kingdom. I could see this turned into a full sized book.
June 1, 2019
This was a tale of the silly and absurd.
September 23, 2020
Edgar Allan Poe wrote a humorous story that extends the Middle Eastern tales of "One Thousand and One Nights." Scheherazade is telling the King a story on the following night about Sinbad and his adventures. The story has so many strange elements to it that the king is not pleased. But truth is stranger than fiction.
June 4, 2017
A fantasy buffet according to Poe. Genius of imagination, and humorous.
The story made me feel the way "Pan's Labyrinth" made me feel, as if the child of long ago in me awakened in the horrors and Utopias of forgotten and abandoned imagination.
The story made me feel the way "Pan's Labyrinth" made me feel, as if the child of long ago in me awakened in the horrors and Utopias of forgotten and abandoned imagination.
November 24, 2023
A story where truth (e.g. science, facts) is stranger than fiction (e.g. conspiracy theories, misinformation) and those who speak it pay the price. When does satire stop being relevant?
March 28, 2015
On my kindle I have The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe. As I have never made a complete perusal of Poe I thought it would be brilliant fun to do so now.
This is generally what I think of when I think of Poe:
I think of ravens on dark, twisted nights, beating hearts, swinging pendulums and brick walls. I think of creepy to an exponential factor.
So when I began my journey through the land of Poe I was looking for mysterious, dark, disturbing...that is not what I found.
Honestly, what I mostly found was:
There were so many hot air balloons and so many long analytical paragraphs...this was not the Poe I know and love. It was a different Poe. A very scientific, brilliant Poe, but also an extremely dull Poe.
Then ten stories in, I came to this tale of Scheherazade and I found something quite suprising. A Poe that I had never encountered before. I found a...funny Poe.
It is the day after Scheherazade has escaped death and she has another story to tell. So she awakens the king "(Who I'm sorry to say, snores - a thing no gentleman would do)" and begins her tale of Sinbad.
A retired Sinbad finds himself looking for an adventure.
I became once more possessed of a desire of visiting foreign countries.
He sets off and finds himself beset upon by a bunch of strange figures riding a strange square ocean beast. Taken aboard the beast, Sinbad finds himself traveling the ocean and seeing all kinds of strange sights.
All the while Scheherazade is telling her story the king is ho-ing and hum-ing that he doesn't believe a word of it. But Scheherazade, great storyteller that she is, ignores him.
First off, it was funny. I was giggling. I was giggling at Poe. Second off, Sinbad's adventure was exciting. I wanted to know where he was going to next, I was excited to keep reading. And at the end I found just the dark Poe that I'd been looking for.
This is generally what I think of when I think of Poe:
I think of ravens on dark, twisted nights, beating hearts, swinging pendulums and brick walls. I think of creepy to an exponential factor.
So when I began my journey through the land of Poe I was looking for mysterious, dark, disturbing...that is not what I found.
Honestly, what I mostly found was:
There were so many hot air balloons and so many long analytical paragraphs...this was not the Poe I know and love. It was a different Poe. A very scientific, brilliant Poe, but also an extremely dull Poe.
Then ten stories in, I came to this tale of Scheherazade and I found something quite suprising. A Poe that I had never encountered before. I found a...funny Poe.
It is the day after Scheherazade has escaped death and she has another story to tell. So she awakens the king "(Who I'm sorry to say, snores - a thing no gentleman would do)" and begins her tale of Sinbad.
A retired Sinbad finds himself looking for an adventure.
I became once more possessed of a desire of visiting foreign countries.
He sets off and finds himself beset upon by a bunch of strange figures riding a strange square ocean beast. Taken aboard the beast, Sinbad finds himself traveling the ocean and seeing all kinds of strange sights.
All the while Scheherazade is telling her story the king is ho-ing and hum-ing that he doesn't believe a word of it. But Scheherazade, great storyteller that she is, ignores him.
First off, it was funny. I was giggling. I was giggling at Poe. Second off, Sinbad's adventure was exciting. I wanted to know where he was going to next, I was excited to keep reading. And at the end I found just the dark Poe that I'd been looking for.
November 29, 2015
Ή πως κάποιος μπορεί να πιστέψει τα παραμύθια και να θεωρήσει ψέμα την επιστήμη .....
June 19, 2025
2 Stars. I don't give out many two Stars, but once again Poe gets in his own way as he tries to tell an interesting story. The premise is great. Who has read 'The Arabian Nights'? Not me. Its other title is 'The One Thousand and One Nights.' It's about a king whose wife has been unfaithful; he has her executed. He suspects the same of all women and marries a virgin a day and has her put to death the next morning. Appalling. The lovely Scheherazade is next-in-line. She proves to be smart in the ways of men; she reasons that, if I tell him an interesting story before we go to bed, he'll keep me alive in order to hear another tomorrow night. Smart. It works. After 1,001 nights of her stories, King Shahryar realizes the treasure he has married, a little slow don't you think, and keeps her despite the end of the stories. This is Poe's version of a story for the 1,002nd night. It relates to the retired Sinbad taking one more voyage of adventure. With terrible dragons and imaginary ape-men. It even includes a hint of a new world to the west. I'd have loved it but Poe throws in 1,003 references and allusions to odd scientific discoveries. I'm not kidding. Getting a flow to my read was difficult. (May2025)
December 15, 2016
For some reason, this isn't a popular story of Poe's. And yeah, I guess I can see why. After all, it doesn't really seem like one of his stories, especially as it's told through Scheherazade, who is narrating yet another tale of Sinbad in his words. Myself, I gave it a try since I'm a fan of A Thousand and One Arabian Nights tales. And, honestly, this story has convinced me of one thing:
That I will support whomever claims that Edgar Allan Poe could have been an alien.
I'm serious. Because the imagination packed into this 10-page story (in the version that I read) defies not only the realm of physics and their laws, but of imagination as well. How anyone, especially during Poe's time, could have had the imagination to pull this off is beyond me, or even to think about it as a concept. For a deep dive into what true imagination is, in abundance and variety, I strongly suggest that one reads this short story. Not as brilliant or as interesting as something like "Fall of the House of Usher", perhaps, but still a great pathway into discovering just how far a genius can go. And Poe was a genius, as many will agree.
Give it a try is all I can say, because I can't accurately describe something that I'm still searching the definition for. Creative, imaginative, original, inventive, or just downright crazy. You be the judge.
That I will support whomever claims that Edgar Allan Poe could have been an alien.
I'm serious. Because the imagination packed into this 10-page story (in the version that I read) defies not only the realm of physics and their laws, but of imagination as well. How anyone, especially during Poe's time, could have had the imagination to pull this off is beyond me, or even to think about it as a concept. For a deep dive into what true imagination is, in abundance and variety, I strongly suggest that one reads this short story. Not as brilliant or as interesting as something like "Fall of the House of Usher", perhaps, but still a great pathway into discovering just how far a genius can go. And Poe was a genius, as many will agree.
Give it a try is all I can say, because I can't accurately describe something that I'm still searching the definition for. Creative, imaginative, original, inventive, or just downright crazy. You be the judge.
March 19, 2016
Când am citit nuvela aceasta, am făcut o analogie cu Biblia, cartea de căpătai a creştinismului, eu fiind un om dintre aceia care nu priveşte Scriptura prin ochiul metaforic. Dar iată cât de mult m-a surprins relaţia dintre limbajul artistic şi limbajul denotativ de aici:
1. "Un altul avea un braţ atât de lung încât putea să şadă la Damasc şi să scrie răvaş la Bagdad..." => Telegraful electric transmite ştirile instantaneu la orice distanţă, cel puţin pe pământ.
2. "Ei avea viermi în creieri. Viermii aceştia, prin zvârcolirile şi răsucirile lor, slujeau fără doar şi poate să dea naştere celor mai minunate avânturi ale închipuirii." => Entozoa sau viermii intestinali s-au găsit de nenumărate ori în muşchi şi în substanţa cerebrală a omului.
1. "Un altul avea un braţ atât de lung încât putea să şadă la Damasc şi să scrie răvaş la Bagdad..." => Telegraful electric transmite ştirile instantaneu la orice distanţă, cel puţin pe pământ.
2. "Ei avea viermi în creieri. Viermii aceştia, prin zvârcolirile şi răsucirile lor, slujeau fără doar şi poate să dea naştere celor mai minunate avânturi ale închipuirii." => Entozoa sau viermii intestinali s-au găsit de nenumărate ori în muşchi şi în substanţa cerebrală a omului.
September 4, 2025
Note finale : 3.5/5
Lu dans le recueil "La Chute de la Maison Usher et autres histoires extraordinaires" des éditions RBA coleccionables.
Treizième nouvelle du recueil. Poe se met en tête de raconter la "vraie" fin des Mille-et-une nuits. Et dans cette vraie fin, Sinbad raconte mille et une merveilles vues par le monde mais elles sont toutes si extraordinaires que le roi refuse d'y croire et exécute Schéhérazade. C'est un peu répétitif mais amusant.
Lu dans le recueil "La Chute de la Maison Usher et autres histoires extraordinaires" des éditions RBA coleccionables.
Treizième nouvelle du recueil. Poe se met en tête de raconter la "vraie" fin des Mille-et-une nuits. Et dans cette vraie fin, Sinbad raconte mille et une merveilles vues par le monde mais elles sont toutes si extraordinaires que le roi refuse d'y croire et exécute Schéhérazade. C'est un peu répétitif mais amusant.
February 25, 2022
It started off very well. The premise was an unusual one for Poe - something that actually seems to happen quite often, now that I think of it (I suppose I've been typecasting him too much as a horror writer) - and I did admire the way he makes you forget that it's a story about a story telling a story about a lady telling a story. The second half - though pretty cool in its ongoing theme that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and the way he recounts all the incredible biological, geographical, technological, and spiritual phenomenon our the real world to the murderous King, who simply scoffs at it as being implausible.
April 11, 2018
An interesting read with so much existential philosophies.
October 9, 2020
Una variación de "Las mil y una noches" en las que Poe inventa el cuento 1002 de Scheherazade.
Nada más que agregar.
Nada más que agregar.
November 27, 2020
The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade is not the type of story that people think of when Poe is mentioned, offering a story that doesn’t really fall into the horror category people associate with him. Instead of a creepy read, The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade offers a take on a tale that many already know.
It was interesting to see Poe tell a tale where the truth is stranger than fiction, but it didn’t quite wow me in the way I had hoped. It was obvious where the story was going, and I expected a bit more of a shock by the way things played out. As it was, it was an entertaining take on a known story but not enough for me to love it.
If nothing else, The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade is worth reading for anyone looking for something from Poe that does not fit with the expected.
It was interesting to see Poe tell a tale where the truth is stranger than fiction, but it didn’t quite wow me in the way I had hoped. It was obvious where the story was going, and I expected a bit more of a shock by the way things played out. As it was, it was an entertaining take on a known story but not enough for me to love it.
If nothing else, The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade is worth reading for anyone looking for something from Poe that does not fit with the expected.
July 13, 2013
Poe's begins with the Arabian Night fable and added one more night to 1001 to kill her at the end, when she told the story of the Sindbad his adventure with some sort of the modern invention... :/ :/ :/
really!!! after all that time... but to come to think of it "Truth is - Really!!! - stranger than fiction." , he accepted all the stories with all the magical stuff and new lands,creatures... but he couldn't accept the last one!!!
Side Note: A dromedary :) :) :)
Truth is stranger than fiction.
"Stop!" said the king -- "I can't stand that, and I won't. You have already given me a dreadful headache with your lies.
really!!! after all that time... but to come to think of it "Truth is - Really!!! - stranger than fiction." , he accepted all the stories with all the magical stuff and new lands,creatures... but he couldn't accept the last one!!!
Side Note: A dromedary :) :) :)
August 10, 2016
A humorous Poe! Now I''ve seen everything.
July 11, 2018
I already knew the story of sindbad and the 1001 nights so it was boring to read it.
May 20, 2024
“Much of the history remained still untold.”
A re-imagining of Arabian Nights that adds another chronicle to the adventures of Sinbad. This story mostly just describes nonsense, but the beginning as the stage is set was definitely the best part.
You know, before the nonsense.
A re-imagining of Arabian Nights that adds another chronicle to the adventures of Sinbad. This story mostly just describes nonsense, but the beginning as the stage is set was definitely the best part.
You know, before the nonsense.
November 17, 2023
A tentative to write the United-States as a land of wonder into the world of fairytales. Not very subtle, the creativity can be said to be in the use of words from fantasy to describe technology and normal phenomenons of nature, a task well done.
But when it comes to the ending, involving himself in fashion and judging women on it and passing that judgement onto the shoulders of the figure of Scheherazade, what does Poe have to do here? I really don’t care to know his opinion on feminine fashion. It feels gratuitously hateful and useless and has no place in the retelling of an adventure from classic tales.
And as if someone with a silver tongue and familiar with the cruelty of their husband could have missed all the verbal cues and sentiments in the brute king’s onomatopoeias.
But when it comes to the ending, involving himself in fashion and judging women on it and passing that judgement onto the shoulders of the figure of Scheherazade, what does Poe have to do here? I really don’t care to know his opinion on feminine fashion. It feels gratuitously hateful and useless and has no place in the retelling of an adventure from classic tales.
And as if someone with a silver tongue and familiar with the cruelty of their husband could have missed all the verbal cues and sentiments in the brute king’s onomatopoeias.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 29, 2017
This was an odd but interesting short story. I think the premise is excellent but the execution felt flat.
It reminded me of Oscar Wilde's fairy tale for moments because of the tone.
The problems is that I only understood the point with the calculator and the printing machine. If one has to read the notes to understand a story, it isn't a good story. The king's interruptions were annoying.
It reminded me of Oscar Wilde's fairy tale for moments because of the tone.
The problems is that I only understood the point with the calculator and the printing machine. If one has to read the notes to understand a story, it isn't a good story. The king's interruptions were annoying.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 7, 2023
Poe again pitting his literary imagination against his logical/scientific side, simultaneously spoofing the 1,001 Nights and presenting some wonders of science--sadly, a tad more tedious than entertaining, but only just.
May 7, 2016
This was not one of Poe's finer works. Pretty disapppointing ending, it could have been way better.
December 12, 2020
This short story " . . . was published in the February 1845 issue of Godey's Lady's Book and was intended as a partly humorous sequel to the celebrated collection of Middle Eastern tales One Thousand and One Nights." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tho...
"This story is Poe's addition to The Thousand-and-One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights, but his title includes a serious miscalculation. [???] The original contained one thousand and one nights not tales—many of the tales are continued over several nights. Thus Poe's story should be of the thousand-and-second night." Sova, Dawn B. (2001). Edgar Allan Poe, A to Z : the essential reference to his life and work. New York: Checkmark Books. (237)
??? Oh Silly Silly Sova! you should know so much better with your very excellent book of facts concerning Poe's life and work. It was no miscalculation of the title on Poe's part. He was too knowledgeable about literature and way too obsessively fastidious to make that kind of miscalculation. It was merely Poe's intrinsically screwy yet brilliant sense of humor. Poe had a very witty, dry, and sometimes black sense of humor. Let's face it, he was of Irish heritage and like most of us with the Celtic blood in our veins we also have a touch of the blarney about us as did Poe. All in all quite a magnificent tale of the imagination.
WARNING For all of you who might happen to go to Ireland and kiss the Blarney Stone, PLEASE DON'T! It is well known among the locals that many a tipsy one has peed on it and get a kick out of seeing all the silly tourists bending over backwards to kiss it. Yep, those with Irish blood have quite an unusual sense of humor.
"This story is Poe's addition to The Thousand-and-One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights, but his title includes a serious miscalculation. [???] The original contained one thousand and one nights not tales—many of the tales are continued over several nights. Thus Poe's story should be of the thousand-and-second night." Sova, Dawn B. (2001). Edgar Allan Poe, A to Z : the essential reference to his life and work. New York: Checkmark Books. (237)
??? Oh Silly Silly Sova! you should know so much better with your very excellent book of facts concerning Poe's life and work. It was no miscalculation of the title on Poe's part. He was too knowledgeable about literature and way too obsessively fastidious to make that kind of miscalculation. It was merely Poe's intrinsically screwy yet brilliant sense of humor. Poe had a very witty, dry, and sometimes black sense of humor. Let's face it, he was of Irish heritage and like most of us with the Celtic blood in our veins we also have a touch of the blarney about us as did Poe. All in all quite a magnificent tale of the imagination.
WARNING For all of you who might happen to go to Ireland and kiss the Blarney Stone, PLEASE DON'T! It is well known among the locals that many a tipsy one has peed on it and get a kick out of seeing all the silly tourists bending over backwards to kiss it. Yep, those with Irish blood have quite an unusual sense of humor.
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August 29, 2020When I first read this, i though it was weird and dark. ....Now, I'm intrigued by the idea of the mixing in of proto-sci-fi and proto-feminist ideas.
Read
January 30, 2025Edgar my friend I'm so sorry but i just cannot read what you write
March 4, 2023
In this short story, obviously mimicking the most-popular anthology of Middle Eastern folk tales, Poe approaches to the emerging science-fiction genre from a novel angle. After the original framing narrative is extended to incorporate the possibility of further stories, Scheherazade recounts the eight voyage of Sinbad. It's every bit as fantastical as the more famous tales. The only difference is that the reader will eventually realize that the discoveries and events depicted are all real.
Throughout the King comments on the absurdity of it all. I have to admit, initially I was very much with him. The colorful prose describes the events in terms reminiscent of the Islamic Golden Age. It was only when Sinbad came to talk about the mountain with its melted metal and thick ashen smoke that it dawned on me that he's talking about a volcano. What we were handed down from antiquity are cases of the truth being stranger than fiction, as Poe forthrightly puts it at the very beginning.
When Sinbad arrives in the country of his hosts – bizarre human-like creatures that travel on the back of a giant whose slaves they are – he finds the most capable magicians. Within the science-fiction community, there is the common doctrine tirelessly preached that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and this is what happens here. These include technologies as seemingly mundane as electricity (via the voltaic pile), photography (via the daguerréotype) or the electrical telegraph, but Sinbad also discovers what is essentially Babbage's calculating machine (an early predecessor of the digital computer) and the chess-playing "Mechanical Turk" makes an appearance (as it does in other stories of Poe's). Newton's most meticulous measurements are referenced and Sinbad is shown other experiments common in Natural Philosophy. They are so learned that they know that many of the heavenly bodies visible in the night sky are in fact extinguished for a very long time.
The author – I'm not sure if it was the fictional narrator or Poe himself – furnished the text with references to his sources and explains some occurrences in more details and in more scientific terms. It seems hardly necessary. In the present age, many wonders of even Poe's days have become so common that we hardly even notice them. To my mind, the story's main merit is that it reminds us of the wonders in the seemingly mundane.
Throughout the King comments on the absurdity of it all. I have to admit, initially I was very much with him. The colorful prose describes the events in terms reminiscent of the Islamic Golden Age. It was only when Sinbad came to talk about the mountain with its melted metal and thick ashen smoke that it dawned on me that he's talking about a volcano. What we were handed down from antiquity are cases of the truth being stranger than fiction, as Poe forthrightly puts it at the very beginning.
When Sinbad arrives in the country of his hosts – bizarre human-like creatures that travel on the back of a giant whose slaves they are – he finds the most capable magicians. Within the science-fiction community, there is the common doctrine tirelessly preached that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and this is what happens here. These include technologies as seemingly mundane as electricity (via the voltaic pile), photography (via the daguerréotype) or the electrical telegraph, but Sinbad also discovers what is essentially Babbage's calculating machine (an early predecessor of the digital computer) and the chess-playing "Mechanical Turk" makes an appearance (as it does in other stories of Poe's). Newton's most meticulous measurements are referenced and Sinbad is shown other experiments common in Natural Philosophy. They are so learned that they know that many of the heavenly bodies visible in the night sky are in fact extinguished for a very long time.
The author – I'm not sure if it was the fictional narrator or Poe himself – furnished the text with references to his sources and explains some occurrences in more details and in more scientific terms. It seems hardly necessary. In the present age, many wonders of even Poe's days have become so common that we hardly even notice them. To my mind, the story's main merit is that it reminds us of the wonders in the seemingly mundane.
March 19, 2022
This story is very similar the allegory of the cave. How would you describe something that you were completely unfamiliar with the first time you saw it? The thousand and second tale of Scheherazade is a quasi-sequel to the Arabian Nights, in which the queen (Scheherazade) must tell her brute of a husband a new story every night in order to not die in the morning. After the queen convinces the king not to kill jet after 1001 nights, she realizes that she has one story left untold…’the final voyage of Sinbad.’
The final voyage of Sinbad tells a new story of Poe’s invention about Sinbad traveling across the world to 19th century America. He sees all the technological wonders going on but he is unable to properly describe what he saw when he returns home. He calls scientists magicians, balloons are giant birds with no wings, and ships are sea monsters. No one believes him back home, and similarly, the king does not believe Scheherazade, nor does he like the story.
Will Scheherazade survive the one thousand and second night of her rein? Find out in this silly story that I rather enjoyed.
The final voyage of Sinbad tells a new story of Poe’s invention about Sinbad traveling across the world to 19th century America. He sees all the technological wonders going on but he is unable to properly describe what he saw when he returns home. He calls scientists magicians, balloons are giant birds with no wings, and ships are sea monsters. No one believes him back home, and similarly, the king does not believe Scheherazade, nor does he like the story.
Will Scheherazade survive the one thousand and second night of her rein? Find out in this silly story that I rather enjoyed.
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