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Arabian Nights: A Selection
The tales told by Shahrazad over a thousand and one nights to delay her execution by the vengeful King Shahriyar have become among the most popular in both Eastern and Western literature. From the epic adventures of "Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp" to the farcical "Young Woman and her Five Lovers" and the social criticism of "The Tale of the Hunchback", the stories depict a fabulous world of all-powerful sorcerers, jinns imprisoned in bottles and enchanting princesses. But despite their imaginative extravagance, the Tales are anchored to everyday life by their realism, providing a full and intimate record of medieval Islam.
312 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1997
10 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Jack D. Zipes
152 books245 followersJack David Zipes is a retired Professor of German at the University of Minnesota. He has published and lectured extensively on the subject of fairy tales, their linguistic roots, and argued that they have a "socialization function". According to Zipes, fairy tales "serve a meaningful social function, not just for compensation but for revelation: the worlds projected by the best of our fairy tales reveal the gaps between truth and falsehood in our immediate society." His arguments are avowedly based on the neo-Marxist critical theory of the Frankfurt School.
Zipes enjoys using droll titles for his works like Don't Bet on the Prince and The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Ridinghood.
He completed a PhD in comparative literature at Columbia University. Zipes taught at various institutions before heading German language studies at the University of Minnesota. He has retranslation of the complete fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.
Zipes enjoys using droll titles for his works like Don't Bet on the Prince and The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Ridinghood.
He completed a PhD in comparative literature at Columbia University. Zipes taught at various institutions before heading German language studies at the University of Minnesota. He has retranslation of the complete fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
July 11, 2022
Trigger warnings: racism, misogyny and rape.
Half way through, this really became a "I'm reading this to say that I've read it" book. Really the only thing I'm giving it stars for is the inherent adventure and magic in the plots and the tales of mischief and enchantment, which to its credit it is very much as advertised. Some of the tales were fun in their plot line, but after about 200 pages of quite rigid and static writing of "Aladdin did this" and then "Julnar did that" it starts weighing heavy, although occasionally there are some very lovely lines and quotes.
The underlying tones of racism and misogyny that was sprinkled in throughout was a bit of a hurdle as well, although some were worse than others. Aladdin and the Magic Lamp felt like it went on forever and he wasn't even that charming of a protagonist.
My favourite by far was "Julnar the Mermaid and Her Son Badar Basim of Persia". I am curious to know who/where the original tales deprive from because we jumped all over the East from Egypt to Persia to China but apart from being explicitly said what country you were in, they all seemed to be described the same in ways that hardly felt logical but I guess could be explained.
Although to whoever wrote the blurb for this edition and cited 'Prince Behram and Princess Al-Datma' as "a charming early version of The Taming of the Shrew"... I just wanna talk. Tell me, - if I read that story right and I'm pretty sure I did - does rape come across as charming to you? That's definitely a trigger warning for this collection, if the racism and (albeit lesser obvious) misogyny isn't already giving you a red flag: there's a few implications of rape and such. Proceed as you see fit. Also that story was giving me more Atalanta vibes than Taming of the Shrew, but I see it.
And then the book just... Ends. I am to assume Scherezade just told tales every single night and survived? I guess.
Can see why someone donated this book to the university second hand book sale. I wouldn't particularly keep this either if I wasn't stubborn and like having books on my shelf.
Half way through, this really became a "I'm reading this to say that I've read it" book. Really the only thing I'm giving it stars for is the inherent adventure and magic in the plots and the tales of mischief and enchantment, which to its credit it is very much as advertised. Some of the tales were fun in their plot line, but after about 200 pages of quite rigid and static writing of "Aladdin did this" and then "Julnar did that" it starts weighing heavy, although occasionally there are some very lovely lines and quotes.
The underlying tones of racism and misogyny that was sprinkled in throughout was a bit of a hurdle as well, although some were worse than others. Aladdin and the Magic Lamp felt like it went on forever and he wasn't even that charming of a protagonist.
My favourite by far was "Julnar the Mermaid and Her Son Badar Basim of Persia". I am curious to know who/where the original tales deprive from because we jumped all over the East from Egypt to Persia to China but apart from being explicitly said what country you were in, they all seemed to be described the same in ways that hardly felt logical but I guess could be explained.
Although to whoever wrote the blurb for this edition and cited 'Prince Behram and Princess Al-Datma' as "a charming early version of The Taming of the Shrew"... I just wanna talk. Tell me, - if I read that story right and I'm pretty sure I did - does rape come across as charming to you? That's definitely a trigger warning for this collection, if the racism and (albeit lesser obvious) misogyny isn't already giving you a red flag: there's a few implications of rape and such. Proceed as you see fit. Also that story was giving me more Atalanta vibes than Taming of the Shrew, but I see it.
And then the book just... Ends. I am to assume Scherezade just told tales every single night and survived? I guess.
Can see why someone donated this book to the university second hand book sale. I wouldn't particularly keep this either if I wasn't stubborn and like having books on my shelf.
December 9, 2015
A disappointing read. I found it a little boring and definitely overrated.
July 7, 2008
I'm not sure what version or translation I read, but this seems most similar. The book I read from was pretty old and literally fell apart after each page was read. I had to throw it in the trash (as much as it broke my heart to throw away a book) after I was finished.
Honestly, I had only heard a little bit of what this book contained, but it was alluded to on many occasions in The Count of Monte Cristo and so I read it. The story were somewhat ridiculous at times and not always super eventful, but it was an entertaining read and made me think about lots of other books and film that have alluded to it over the years.
It was also interesting to read the real stories and not the Disney versions of Ali Baba and Aladdin.
Honestly, I had only heard a little bit of what this book contained, but it was alluded to on many occasions in The Count of Monte Cristo and so I read it. The story were somewhat ridiculous at times and not always super eventful, but it was an entertaining read and made me think about lots of other books and film that have alluded to it over the years.
It was also interesting to read the real stories and not the Disney versions of Ali Baba and Aladdin.
August 25, 2007
Now I know this classic piece is not only telling you about the beauty of prince and princess, but also all intrigues and sensuality of the Arabic.
August 27, 2022
Half a star. If read for pure entertainment, the stories are horrible racist misogynistic garbage. If read from a historical perspective, they were badly mangled by later editors and are internally very inconsistent, very often defying basic logic or even their own internal logic. All in all a very bad read that I wouldn't recommend to anyone ever.
The book is told in a basic story-telling, fairy tale fashion. So Aladdin went here, Aladdin did this. You can't expect any character development, and there isn't any, but by and large all the characters here are stereotypes and the heroes are pretty reprehensible. They don't hesitate to lie, cheat, steal and murder, because it is the will of Allah and they know themselves to be in the right (I suppose all criminals and murderers think they're in the right, pretty much the same way).
I should give some examples the terribleness. In Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, our hero is a pretty shiftless bum who barely makes a living selling wood he finds. Hiding in a tree he discovers the secret of the Forty Thieves cave. He goes in and steals one bag of gold and hides it in his home. Kasim, his rich, and equally unscrupulous brother learns of Ali Baba's secret and wheedles out the location of the cave and the way to get in. Ali Baba conveniently neglects to tell his brother exactly how the cave door works (jerk). Kasim goes there with ten donkeys to steal as much gold as possible (greedy jerk) and gets caught and killed by the thieves. When Kasim's wife worries about him not returning, Ali Baba goes to the cave and discovers the body. Instead of revealing what he knows about the murder and the thieves to the authorities, Ali Baba retrieves the body and performs a secretive burial. Ali Baba gets his sister-in-law as a new wife and inherits all of Kasim's wealth...
The poor editing shows that this collection of stories is probably very old and was originally non-secular. The mentions of Allah, and good Muslim practices seem added in as an afterthought, in many cases, very poorly. Many of the characters drink wine and behave in ways that a devote practitioner of Islam would not. Also, no matter if the characters are Persian, Egyptian, Indian or Chinese, they are uniformly generic Muslims with no unique identifying characteristics that one would associate with their origins and culture.
I also blame poor editing (or translating) for things like this time travel conundrum. Ali Baba buries his brother a few days after recovering his body. The thieves discover the body missing from the cave "some days" after the murder. A thief goes to town to discover who stole the body and finds the man who sewed up his dismembered body "Yesterday". There are countless instances where time just doesn't matter.
As to logic, Morgiana (the only hero in Ali Baba) goes from one jar to another pouring boiling oil onto each thief, killing him. In what world will a man having boiling oil pored on him not shriek out his soul as he dies?? She does this 37 times without alerting any of the other thieves (or the whole damned city). No logic, and again, this sort of stuff happens all the time. In Aladdin (the movie) it seems pretty clear that the genie is creating illusions. Solid and seeming real, but you know it's just a show. In the books, you're sure that everything is real. Where is the genie getting this gold? Or these servants? The gold seems to be common currency, is he robbing the King that Aladdin is trying to impress. Are all these serving girls being kidnapped and brain-washed? They seem happy to work for Aladdin, but don't they miss their families and their old jobs?
I have read that slaves in the middle east were treated with respect and often rose to lofty positions of wealth and importance. Aladdin treats the genies of the lamp (yes there are more than one) poorly and on almost all occasions shouts "Slave" do this "Slave" do that. (Jerk) and he doesn't set anyone free in the end (double-jerk).
The only positive thing I get to say about this is that "I read the Arabian Nights" and even that's a bust since this was just a selection of the stories and not the complete collection...
The book is told in a basic story-telling, fairy tale fashion. So Aladdin went here, Aladdin did this. You can't expect any character development, and there isn't any, but by and large all the characters here are stereotypes and the heroes are pretty reprehensible. They don't hesitate to lie, cheat, steal and murder, because it is the will of Allah and they know themselves to be in the right (I suppose all criminals and murderers think they're in the right, pretty much the same way).
I should give some examples the terribleness. In Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, our hero is a pretty shiftless bum who barely makes a living selling wood he finds. Hiding in a tree he discovers the secret of the Forty Thieves cave. He goes in and steals one bag of gold and hides it in his home. Kasim, his rich, and equally unscrupulous brother learns of Ali Baba's secret and wheedles out the location of the cave and the way to get in. Ali Baba conveniently neglects to tell his brother exactly how the cave door works (jerk). Kasim goes there with ten donkeys to steal as much gold as possible (greedy jerk) and gets caught and killed by the thieves. When Kasim's wife worries about him not returning, Ali Baba goes to the cave and discovers the body. Instead of revealing what he knows about the murder and the thieves to the authorities, Ali Baba retrieves the body and performs a secretive burial. Ali Baba gets his sister-in-law as a new wife and inherits all of Kasim's wealth...
The poor editing shows that this collection of stories is probably very old and was originally non-secular. The mentions of Allah, and good Muslim practices seem added in as an afterthought, in many cases, very poorly. Many of the characters drink wine and behave in ways that a devote practitioner of Islam would not. Also, no matter if the characters are Persian, Egyptian, Indian or Chinese, they are uniformly generic Muslims with no unique identifying characteristics that one would associate with their origins and culture.
I also blame poor editing (or translating) for things like this time travel conundrum. Ali Baba buries his brother a few days after recovering his body. The thieves discover the body missing from the cave "some days" after the murder. A thief goes to town to discover who stole the body and finds the man who sewed up his dismembered body "Yesterday". There are countless instances where time just doesn't matter.
As to logic, Morgiana (the only hero in Ali Baba) goes from one jar to another pouring boiling oil onto each thief, killing him. In what world will a man having boiling oil pored on him not shriek out his soul as he dies?? She does this 37 times without alerting any of the other thieves (or the whole damned city). No logic, and again, this sort of stuff happens all the time. In Aladdin (the movie) it seems pretty clear that the genie is creating illusions. Solid and seeming real, but you know it's just a show. In the books, you're sure that everything is real. Where is the genie getting this gold? Or these servants? The gold seems to be common currency, is he robbing the King that Aladdin is trying to impress. Are all these serving girls being kidnapped and brain-washed? They seem happy to work for Aladdin, but don't they miss their families and their old jobs?
I have read that slaves in the middle east were treated with respect and often rose to lofty positions of wealth and importance. Aladdin treats the genies of the lamp (yes there are more than one) poorly and on almost all occasions shouts "Slave" do this "Slave" do that. (Jerk) and he doesn't set anyone free in the end (double-jerk).
The only positive thing I get to say about this is that "I read the Arabian Nights" and even that's a bust since this was just a selection of the stories and not the complete collection...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2021
Here's a fun fact I learned,- the guillotine isn't a new invention, not even relatively new; and it's not the French to try it first. Or maybe the device itself IS their work, but the concept? Nah, it's here. One thing I've learned from Arabian Nights is how temper should be controlled. In fact, were it not for the more than two dozen times a king or sultan orders to "cut off his head" (-I've lost count, plainly speaking), I wouldn't have had these feelings. And yes, while I'm at it, just how many stories are here?
What surprised me (and no doubt pleased me too!) is the modernity of these stories. OF COURSE they seemed to be narrated, and then written down; but everything's detailed, even the eating of pomegranate seeds or taking off of clothes...which, I know, must've been a great thing for those 19th century authors that were "inspired" by it. But I regret the constant outpouring of "By Allah!" in every sentence.
Almost EVERY.
But I loved the collection.
For one, it's a marvellous collection of stories-inside-stories, or what is called mise-en-abyme, (right?). Scheherazade the brave woman's telling a half-baked, mindless creature (and they call him 'sultan') a story throughout the night; and this goes on for a thousand and one nights. Pity I couldn't get my hands on the complete volumes, for that'd be a real treat (indeed!), but.....half a loaf is better than no bread.
What surprised me (and no doubt pleased me too!) is the modernity of these stories. OF COURSE they seemed to be narrated, and then written down; but everything's detailed, even the eating of pomegranate seeds or taking off of clothes...which, I know, must've been a great thing for those 19th century authors that were "inspired" by it. But I regret the constant outpouring of "By Allah!" in every sentence.
Almost EVERY.
But I loved the collection.
February 24, 2025
I can't describe my utter frustration with this selection of stories. Granted, I'm not familiar with the original stories, or at least the Arabic version, but this English translation is absolutely abhorrent; limiting women to sex objects is sickening
July 19, 2020
Very disappointing book
April 25, 2024
Having read them as a very young child, I sometimes forget how absolutely anti-woman a lot of these books were. The effect they had on me as a girl of 13, I would not wanna analyze lol
April 18, 2020
I found this very thought provoking, some of these stories are definitely from a different time, with different sensibilities. But also there are themes that are universal.
June 20, 2016
May I quote: "And Scheherazade noticed that dawn was approaching and stopped telling her tale. When the next night arrived, however,she received the king's permission to continue her tale and said,..."
Lots of Jinnees, magic and spells, Sultans and Kings, Princes and Princesses, Jewels and Treasures, "kissing the ground" and maidenheads in these endless tales and i understand this penguin edition is just a selection translated by Sir Richard F. Burton(whom somehow interest me after reading a little about him who knows 25 languages and also an explorer, swordsman, anthropologist and linguist.)
Among the tales I simply love the famous Ali Baba & The Forty Thieves and The Tale of the Three Apples. The translation is easy to read but it takes one an awfully long time to finish it... and many tales tend to be repetitive and forgettable(except the two mentioned above). But it is still a good read.
Lots of Jinnees, magic and spells, Sultans and Kings, Princes and Princesses, Jewels and Treasures, "kissing the ground" and maidenheads in these endless tales and i understand this penguin edition is just a selection translated by Sir Richard F. Burton(whom somehow interest me after reading a little about him who knows 25 languages and also an explorer, swordsman, anthropologist and linguist.)
Among the tales I simply love the famous Ali Baba & The Forty Thieves and The Tale of the Three Apples. The translation is easy to read but it takes one an awfully long time to finish it... and many tales tend to be repetitive and forgettable(except the two mentioned above). But it is still a good read.
December 6, 2009
I enjoyed reading this, the storytelling was fluent it was a page turner. The stories were timeless and if you're a fan of adventure I recommend this one. The characters were witty and the events wonderful. I really liked the true Aladdin and the magic lamp.
I noticed that this book was a little anti-female, because in all the stories, the women always cheated on their husbands, and all the men are good towards their wives, but the way the women were punished was really brutal, it's a good thing they weren't described in detail.
I appreciated the use of magic, sorcery, and a little witchcraft because I was always fascinated by them. Most of the stories here have genies (spelled jinnee) and thanks to Disney we have a clear picture because they're described as scary ifrits.
There were some morals in the stories as well and I'm looking forward to reading the unabridged version.
I noticed that this book was a little anti-female, because in all the stories, the women always cheated on their husbands, and all the men are good towards their wives, but the way the women were punished was really brutal, it's a good thing they weren't described in detail.
I appreciated the use of magic, sorcery, and a little witchcraft because I was always fascinated by them. Most of the stories here have genies (spelled jinnee) and thanks to Disney we have a clear picture because they're described as scary ifrits.
There were some morals in the stories as well and I'm looking forward to reading the unabridged version.
October 28, 2012
At first I was really enjoying this book and felt like a child again as I was reading tales from my youth with an adult twist but then it all started getting a bit repetitive. Many of the stories were similar and certain phrases were used again and again so I became a bit bored and it took me a long time to read it. I would be interested to have a look at one of the original translations as I really do like the concept of the book. It might just be this particular edition that becomes boring after awhile.
August 30, 2011
his has been a good book to read this last week with hubby away on business, I really enjoyed it and although I know the Disney version of Aladdin it was great to read this this one. Likewise I have heard of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves but never read it. The tale of the merchant and the jinnee required some concentration as it was a story within a story within a story. I liked the fact that it covered some hard hitting subjects but in a nice way.
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July 30, 2016Astonishingly racist and misogynistic ideals written into the tales, coming off as hypocritical at times, however I don't think I can judge it by that since this was considered common thinking among all those at the time. However, because this version only contained a selection of the first few tales, perhaps I'll reserve judgement until I read the rest of them
July 28, 2011
It's as guilty a pleasure as Grey's Anatomy or Weeds so long you keep the same frame of mind. No presumptions, no equal rights shit and no reasoning. It's a fairy-tale, so definitely no hating.
March 29, 2015
I get the impression from this book that women are the devil! Absolutely scandalous! The tales are however truly remarkable and delightful. Never tiring, always marvelous.
After this I can't but wonder if Badr al-Dín Hasan is more or equal in beauty to Leander from Abydos...
After this I can't but wonder if Badr al-Dín Hasan is more or equal in beauty to Leander from Abydos...
July 11, 2017
I actually read this over a period of years (I can't really remember when I started it) and finally finished it.
I can only remember some of the stories (the usual suspects) and frankly they're quite repetitive. And gory in a lot of places.
I can only remember some of the stories (the usual suspects) and frankly they're quite repetitive. And gory in a lot of places.
December 11, 2011
it was a good read but my book seems defective!!!
after page 190 the next page was page 71!!!
grrrrr
after page 190 the next page was page 71!!!
grrrrr
August 11, 2011
From start to finish, a wonderful collection of stories, including the story about why the stories are told in the first place. Clever, clever, Scherazade!
February 2, 2012
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10405287
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10405287
December 21, 2012
I think most of the tales resembles each other turning the book slightly boring. Alladin tale is way different from Disney.
December 21, 2013
Whilst I enjoyed this, it's clearly a very different time and culture. I found myself disturbed by the attitudes towards some of the women.
May 1, 2014
Surprisingly good. I was expecting Disney but instead got an eclectic mix of sex, murder, intrigue, mysticism and magic. Well worth a read.
August 14, 2021
Good stories but some are erotic. Read a selection.
August 17, 2016
Expected to read the full version but the selected stories might be more than enough. This is where i know that Aladdin was actually a chinese not arabian lol
May 1, 2022
3.5 - A mixture of interesting stories and repetitive ones
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews