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The Arabian Nights #1 of 3
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1 of 3
Every night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, executing her next morning. To end this brutal pattern and to save her own life, the vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, begins to tell the king tales of adventure, love, riches and wonder - tales of mystical lands peopled with princes and hunchbacks, the Angel of Death and magical spirits, tales of the voyages of Sindbad, of Ali Baba's outwitting a band of forty thieves and of jinnis trapped in rings and in lamps. The sequence of stories will last 1,001 nights.
1009 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 800
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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 - 30 of 215 reviews
April 22, 2022
"We are the stories we tell about ourselves."
"I was born in Cairo and am a Cairene Copt."
Had I been properly acquainted as to the length of Arabian Nights, I most probably would've postponed reading this till I'm retired someday. This is taking the length and complexity of a book to a whole new level.
Irfit: "Listen to my story."
Farmer: "Tell it, but keep it short as I am at my last gasp."
It's quite common for a reader to come across a story within a story, but Arabian Nights takes this to a much deeper level by going as far as 3-5 dimensions at times (a story within a story within a story within a story within a story and so on... you get the picture). I was beyond confused many a time, and had to go back and forth frequently to make sense where I am at the moment. The other difficulty was the subtle similarities between different stories, further confusing the reader as to which tale in particular she or he is currently reading.
"If I have to eat it, I can only do that after I have washed my hands forty times with soap, forty times with potash and forty times with galingale; that is, a total of hundred and twenty times."
But once you get over above hurdles, it is actually kind of fun. While some are simple tales with a handful of pages, there are also stories with a large number of characters and subplots, making you forget that you are reading a chapter in a large book. If had an unlimited amount of time, I definitely would've mustered up more patience to go through the entire book (finishing the trilogy might take like a year, so not certain if that's ever happen). But for now, I'm temporary finishing as it is.
"Stories are best told at night."
"I was born in Cairo and am a Cairene Copt."
Had I been properly acquainted as to the length of Arabian Nights, I most probably would've postponed reading this till I'm retired someday. This is taking the length and complexity of a book to a whole new level.
Irfit: "Listen to my story."
Farmer: "Tell it, but keep it short as I am at my last gasp."
It's quite common for a reader to come across a story within a story, but Arabian Nights takes this to a much deeper level by going as far as 3-5 dimensions at times (a story within a story within a story within a story within a story and so on... you get the picture). I was beyond confused many a time, and had to go back and forth frequently to make sense where I am at the moment. The other difficulty was the subtle similarities between different stories, further confusing the reader as to which tale in particular she or he is currently reading.
"If I have to eat it, I can only do that after I have washed my hands forty times with soap, forty times with potash and forty times with galingale; that is, a total of hundred and twenty times."
But once you get over above hurdles, it is actually kind of fun. While some are simple tales with a handful of pages, there are also stories with a large number of characters and subplots, making you forget that you are reading a chapter in a large book. If had an unlimited amount of time, I definitely would've mustered up more patience to go through the entire book (finishing the trilogy might take like a year, so not certain if that's ever happen). But for now, I'm temporary finishing as it is.
"Stories are best told at night."
March 30, 2025
Arabia, imagined as an exotic land of mystery and intrigue, is deeply ingrained in the Western imagination; and even if there is more than a little bit of Orientalism in that conception of “Araby,” the stories brought together as The Arabian Nights, or as The 1001 Nights, have had a strong and lasting influence on the way people throughout the world tell and hear and write and read stories. And this Penguin Classics collection of The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1 provides a good place to start.
The tales as we have them were probably set down and compiled sometime between the years 1450 and 1500. And the frame for these tales is a familiar one: a Sasanian king named Shahriyar learns of his wife’s infidelity, and decides in response that he will never suffer such a challenge to his sexual self-esteem again. Accordingly, every night for three years he sleeps with a virgin and then kills her the next morning. The storyteller tells us that “This led to unrest among the citizens” [yes, I would think so!]; and before long, every young woman of marriageable age has fled the city.
The desperate vizier, finding no eligible young women to satisfy Shahriyar’s appetites for sex and revenge, is forced to take his own daughters Shahrazad and Dunyazad to the king. Fortunately, however, Shahrazad is an intelligent, well-educated, and resourceful young woman; and on the night she is to be taken to Shahriyar she tells Dunyazad, “When I go to the king, I shall send for you. You must come, and when you see that the king has done what he wants with me, you are to say: ‘Tell me a story, sister, so as to pass the waking part of the night.’ I shall then tell you a tale that, God willing, will save us’” (pp. 9-10).
And Shahrazad’s bold tactic works. On what could have been yet another deadly wedding night in Shahriyar’s court, Dunyazad stops by the royal boudoir and requests a story; and Shahrazad tells the story, but stops at a high point of tension in the narrative. “‘What a good, pleasant, delightful and sweet story this is!’ exclaimed Dunyazad, at which Shahrazad told her: ‘How can this compare with what I shall tell you this coming night, if I am still alive and the king spares me?’ ‘By God,’ the king said to himself, ‘I am not going to kill her until I hear the rest of the story’” (p. 13). And thus the cycle begins: night after night, Shahrazad tells another story, always in such a way as to leave the king wanting to hear more, and thus preserving her own life and that of her sister.
It is a scenario apt to appeal to any author; like Shahrazad, writers tell stories in order to stay alive. And as the stories of Tales of 1001 Nights unfold, the reader learns a great deal – about the art of a well-told tale, and about the world of medieval and early-modern Arabia from which the tales came.
It is already well-known that The Arabian Nights often combines romance and intrigue, as with the story of the beautiful slave girl Anis al-Jalis, told on Night 34. Kindly and well-educated, Anis al-Jalis is purchased by al-Fadl, vizier to the sultan Sulaiman al-Zaini, for installation in the sultan’s household. But then Anis al-Jalis happens to see the vizier’s handsome young son Nur al-Din, “and his glance left her the legacy of a thousand sighs. Nur al-Din turned and noticed her, and he too was left a thousand sighs when he looked at her. Each of them was ensnared by love for the other” (p. 247). There are a lot of beautiful young women and handsome young men sighing for one another throughout this book.
Once the two young lovers have, as the book often puts it, “achieved union” – and yes, that means exactly what you think it means – things get complicated, as the vizier fears that he will be executed by the sultan for failing to deliver a slave girl to the royal household as scheduled. Will Anis al-Jalis and Nur al-Din, who love each other so desperately, get to stay together? Read the book to find out.
The stories often have a moral edge, as with the story of Aziz and Aziza, told on Nights 111 through 128. As Aziz tells it, he neglected his virtuous cousin Aziza, whom he was supposed to marry, because of his sexual obsession with a beautiful and mysterious woman of the city who kept sending him cryptic messages. Aziza, dying from her unrequited love for Aziz, and “shedding enough tears to rival a rain cloud” (p. 499), expresses her grief in one of the many passages of poetry that appear throughout the book:
After my cousin’s face, God has outlawed for me
All pleasures in this life that time can show.
I wish I knew whether his heart, like mine,
Is melting in the burning heat of love. (p. 500)
Aziza, even as she wastes away from love for Aziz, helps Aziz to interpret the signs that the mystery woman sends, and Aziz eventually “achieves union” with the woman. But the woman turns out to be a daughter of Delilah (warning!), and Aziz pays a very high price for forsaking Aziza’s true love because of his sexual passion for Delilah’s daughter. At the end of this cycle of stories, a sorrowful and repentant Aziz, mourning the death of Aziza, laments the results of his bad choices: “I cannot think of anyone except my cousin. I deserve everything that has happened to me for having neglected her in spite of the fact that she loved me” (p. 521).
The stories often flow into and out of each other, framing one another and taking their characters into subsequent generations, as with the tale of Qamar al-Zaman – a story cycle that starts on Night 170 and, when combined with the stories of his ancestors and descendants, goes all the way to Night 237. The handsome young prince Qamar al-Zaman and the beautiful young princess Budur are briefly brought together by a jinniya (genie) princess and an ‘ifrit (demon); the two fall desperately in love with one another, but live in far-apart kingdoms and do not know how to find each other; Budur in particular seems ready to die for love. Fortunately, Budur has a good and kind foster-brother named Marzuwan, a world traveler who tells his sister, “I shall explore all the lands to find a cure for you. It may be that God will allow me to succeed” (p. 731).
Do Marzuwan’s good offices help Qamar al-Zaman and Budur to find each other? I will say only that the story of these two lovers develops into a multi-generational saga with storytelling elements that look back to classical Greek texts like Euripides’ Hippolytus on the one hand, and forward to works like William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on the other.
And if what you want is simply to read a “canonical” Arabian Nights story – one of the tales that have become a part of our popular culture – then skip ahead to page 929 of this 982-page book for “The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves Killed by a Slave Girl.” This story – a later addition of questionable origin, and not an “official” or “numbered” canonical entry among the Tales of 1001 Nights – tells of an impoverished woodcutter named Ali Baba. In the course of his daily wood-gathering work in a Persian forest, Ali Baba happens to observe a group of thieves who access the cave that contains their treasure in the following manner: “After [the leader of the thieves] had made his way through some bushes, this man was clearly heard to utter the following words: ‘Open, Sesame.’ No sooner had he said this than a door opened” (p. 932).
Open, Sesame, indeed. A doorway thus opens to a world of adventure, for all of us. What stood out to me from this return to the story of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” was the story’s rich characterization and powerful sense of poetic justice. Ali Baba’s simplicity of character and goodness of heart, even after he has become a rich man by taking treasure from the thieves, contrast with the selfish and conniving nature of his brother Qasim; and Qasim’s greed and selfishness lead directly to his downfall. And what may surprise the reader who returns to this story after a long time away from it is the courage and resourcefulness of Marjana, an enslaved woman in Ali Baba’s household; Marjana’s incisive observations make her aware of the danger that Ali Baba and his family face from the vengeance-minded thieves, and she takes decisive action to protect the family and stop the thieves once and for all. The tale could almost have been called “The Story of Marjana.”
The pleasures of reading The Arabian Nights include looking on as King Shahriyar, listening to Shahrazad, starts to realize that he has done wrong in seeking to revenge himself upon all women for the way in which one woman wronged him. This element of the tales may serve as a vindication of the humanizing power of storytelling. Don’t all of us finish a good story wanting to be more like the good people in the story, and less like the bad ones?
This edition of Tales of 1001 Nights – with a glossary, a chronology of the tales’ compilation, maps, suggestions for further reading, and a helpful introduction – sweeps one away into a fascinating world of mystery and intrigue. I took up this copy of The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1 in the context of a visit to friends in the United Arab Emirates. It feels good to have read Night 1 through Night 294; now, I look forward to hearing Shahrazad continue to weave her storytelling magic on Nights 295 through 1001.
The tales as we have them were probably set down and compiled sometime between the years 1450 and 1500. And the frame for these tales is a familiar one: a Sasanian king named Shahriyar learns of his wife’s infidelity, and decides in response that he will never suffer such a challenge to his sexual self-esteem again. Accordingly, every night for three years he sleeps with a virgin and then kills her the next morning. The storyteller tells us that “This led to unrest among the citizens” [yes, I would think so!]; and before long, every young woman of marriageable age has fled the city.
The desperate vizier, finding no eligible young women to satisfy Shahriyar’s appetites for sex and revenge, is forced to take his own daughters Shahrazad and Dunyazad to the king. Fortunately, however, Shahrazad is an intelligent, well-educated, and resourceful young woman; and on the night she is to be taken to Shahriyar she tells Dunyazad, “When I go to the king, I shall send for you. You must come, and when you see that the king has done what he wants with me, you are to say: ‘Tell me a story, sister, so as to pass the waking part of the night.’ I shall then tell you a tale that, God willing, will save us’” (pp. 9-10).
And Shahrazad’s bold tactic works. On what could have been yet another deadly wedding night in Shahriyar’s court, Dunyazad stops by the royal boudoir and requests a story; and Shahrazad tells the story, but stops at a high point of tension in the narrative. “‘What a good, pleasant, delightful and sweet story this is!’ exclaimed Dunyazad, at which Shahrazad told her: ‘How can this compare with what I shall tell you this coming night, if I am still alive and the king spares me?’ ‘By God,’ the king said to himself, ‘I am not going to kill her until I hear the rest of the story’” (p. 13). And thus the cycle begins: night after night, Shahrazad tells another story, always in such a way as to leave the king wanting to hear more, and thus preserving her own life and that of her sister.
It is a scenario apt to appeal to any author; like Shahrazad, writers tell stories in order to stay alive. And as the stories of Tales of 1001 Nights unfold, the reader learns a great deal – about the art of a well-told tale, and about the world of medieval and early-modern Arabia from which the tales came.
It is already well-known that The Arabian Nights often combines romance and intrigue, as with the story of the beautiful slave girl Anis al-Jalis, told on Night 34. Kindly and well-educated, Anis al-Jalis is purchased by al-Fadl, vizier to the sultan Sulaiman al-Zaini, for installation in the sultan’s household. But then Anis al-Jalis happens to see the vizier’s handsome young son Nur al-Din, “and his glance left her the legacy of a thousand sighs. Nur al-Din turned and noticed her, and he too was left a thousand sighs when he looked at her. Each of them was ensnared by love for the other” (p. 247). There are a lot of beautiful young women and handsome young men sighing for one another throughout this book.
Once the two young lovers have, as the book often puts it, “achieved union” – and yes, that means exactly what you think it means – things get complicated, as the vizier fears that he will be executed by the sultan for failing to deliver a slave girl to the royal household as scheduled. Will Anis al-Jalis and Nur al-Din, who love each other so desperately, get to stay together? Read the book to find out.
The stories often have a moral edge, as with the story of Aziz and Aziza, told on Nights 111 through 128. As Aziz tells it, he neglected his virtuous cousin Aziza, whom he was supposed to marry, because of his sexual obsession with a beautiful and mysterious woman of the city who kept sending him cryptic messages. Aziza, dying from her unrequited love for Aziz, and “shedding enough tears to rival a rain cloud” (p. 499), expresses her grief in one of the many passages of poetry that appear throughout the book:
After my cousin’s face, God has outlawed for me
All pleasures in this life that time can show.
I wish I knew whether his heart, like mine,
Is melting in the burning heat of love. (p. 500)
Aziza, even as she wastes away from love for Aziz, helps Aziz to interpret the signs that the mystery woman sends, and Aziz eventually “achieves union” with the woman. But the woman turns out to be a daughter of Delilah (warning!), and Aziz pays a very high price for forsaking Aziza’s true love because of his sexual passion for Delilah’s daughter. At the end of this cycle of stories, a sorrowful and repentant Aziz, mourning the death of Aziza, laments the results of his bad choices: “I cannot think of anyone except my cousin. I deserve everything that has happened to me for having neglected her in spite of the fact that she loved me” (p. 521).
The stories often flow into and out of each other, framing one another and taking their characters into subsequent generations, as with the tale of Qamar al-Zaman – a story cycle that starts on Night 170 and, when combined with the stories of his ancestors and descendants, goes all the way to Night 237. The handsome young prince Qamar al-Zaman and the beautiful young princess Budur are briefly brought together by a jinniya (genie) princess and an ‘ifrit (demon); the two fall desperately in love with one another, but live in far-apart kingdoms and do not know how to find each other; Budur in particular seems ready to die for love. Fortunately, Budur has a good and kind foster-brother named Marzuwan, a world traveler who tells his sister, “I shall explore all the lands to find a cure for you. It may be that God will allow me to succeed” (p. 731).
Do Marzuwan’s good offices help Qamar al-Zaman and Budur to find each other? I will say only that the story of these two lovers develops into a multi-generational saga with storytelling elements that look back to classical Greek texts like Euripides’ Hippolytus on the one hand, and forward to works like William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on the other.
And if what you want is simply to read a “canonical” Arabian Nights story – one of the tales that have become a part of our popular culture – then skip ahead to page 929 of this 982-page book for “The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves Killed by a Slave Girl.” This story – a later addition of questionable origin, and not an “official” or “numbered” canonical entry among the Tales of 1001 Nights – tells of an impoverished woodcutter named Ali Baba. In the course of his daily wood-gathering work in a Persian forest, Ali Baba happens to observe a group of thieves who access the cave that contains their treasure in the following manner: “After [the leader of the thieves] had made his way through some bushes, this man was clearly heard to utter the following words: ‘Open, Sesame.’ No sooner had he said this than a door opened” (p. 932).
Open, Sesame, indeed. A doorway thus opens to a world of adventure, for all of us. What stood out to me from this return to the story of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” was the story’s rich characterization and powerful sense of poetic justice. Ali Baba’s simplicity of character and goodness of heart, even after he has become a rich man by taking treasure from the thieves, contrast with the selfish and conniving nature of his brother Qasim; and Qasim’s greed and selfishness lead directly to his downfall. And what may surprise the reader who returns to this story after a long time away from it is the courage and resourcefulness of Marjana, an enslaved woman in Ali Baba’s household; Marjana’s incisive observations make her aware of the danger that Ali Baba and his family face from the vengeance-minded thieves, and she takes decisive action to protect the family and stop the thieves once and for all. The tale could almost have been called “The Story of Marjana.”
The pleasures of reading The Arabian Nights include looking on as King Shahriyar, listening to Shahrazad, starts to realize that he has done wrong in seeking to revenge himself upon all women for the way in which one woman wronged him. This element of the tales may serve as a vindication of the humanizing power of storytelling. Don’t all of us finish a good story wanting to be more like the good people in the story, and less like the bad ones?
This edition of Tales of 1001 Nights – with a glossary, a chronology of the tales’ compilation, maps, suggestions for further reading, and a helpful introduction – sweeps one away into a fascinating world of mystery and intrigue. I took up this copy of The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1 in the context of a visit to friends in the United Arab Emirates. It feels good to have read Night 1 through Night 294; now, I look forward to hearing Shahrazad continue to weave her storytelling magic on Nights 295 through 1001.
September 13, 2016
Shahrazad (Haiku)
Let me detain you
For a thousand and one nights
And so entertain.
An Introduction to the Frame Story
In the essays "Muse, Spare Me" and "Tales within Tales within Tales" (from "The Friday Book"), John Barth expresses his admiration for the frame story of "1,001 Nights".
It's clear from the structure of every story that Shahrazad is telling them to King Shahriyar, and that she stops each tale shortly before sunrise, before resuming the following night.
Thus, Shahrazad extends her life one tale and one day at a time. As John Barth says so colloquially, Shahrazad "[yarns] tirelessly through the dark hours to save her neck."
The introduction reveals a bit more about the framework of the book.
The implied narrator mentions that the story comes from "the histories of past peoples".
So Shahrazad herself is an historical or legendary character within the introductory story, as are her younger sister Dunyazad and the two cuckolded princes (King Shahriyar and Shah Zaman).
While we're used to believing that it is Shahrazad who is telling these stories to King Shahriyar, it is also her tale that is being told by someone else. These are literally tales within tales within tales, or stories within stories within stories.
Ironically, the tales told by Shahrazad are actually a compendium of disparate stories collected over time and recorded in the shape of one work.
Thus, the frame story is ultimately just an imaginative narrative vehicle by which a miscellany of diverse tales is brought and held together as a treasury or discrete work.
Treasuring the Tale
Apart from the frame story structure, two aspects of (oral) tale-telling stand out.
One is that the story must be worth telling. The other is that, if it is told well, then the response is that it must be written down and kept in the caliph's or sultan's treasury. Thus, a story well told is an item of value that deserves to be archived and preserved for posterity. Fiction is beginning to emerge from the transcription of the oral tradition:
"Your tale is a wonder of wonders."
"The story of the two of you ought to be recorded in books and recited from generation to generation after you have gone."
"The story of your prowess will remain until the end of time."
The Pattern of the Tales
This volume contains tales told on only 294 nights (plus "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"), even though it's 984 pages long. (The three volumes total around 3,000 pages.)
Still, it's possible to detect patterns in the subject matter. The tales can be categorised as:
Kings' Tales
Thieves' Tales
Tricksters' Tales
Traitors' Tales
Viziers' Tales
Slaves' Tales
Merchants' Tales
Travellers' Tales
Sibling Tales
Lovers' Tales
Coquettes' Tales
Cuckolds' Tales.
In a way, they are cautionary tales that warn the audience against the vicissitudes of life that they might one day experience, especially if they are young people of high social status.
The Kings' Tales contain wisdom about the challenges of gaining, exercising, transmitting and maintaining power, almost as if they were an Arabic version of Machiavelli's "The Prince".
The Lovers' Tales are stories of passionate love, lust, obsession, bewilderment and love at first sight:
"Know that I shall sleep in your room tonight and tell you things that I have heard, diverting you with tales of infatuated lovers, sick with love."
The Coquettes' Tales often question the wiles and trickery, the guile, the cunning and the treachery of women. Thus, even though the tales are being recounted by a woman, there is a misogynistic undertone.
On the other hand, women are often praised for their education, culture and eloquence, not just their beauty, their elegance and their shapeliness.
"I never saw any man to match al-Ma'mun or any woman to match Khadija or to come near her in understanding, intelligence or powers of expression."
One princess asserts her independence in the following terms:
"I have no intention of marrying. As a princess, I am a mistress of power and authority, ruling over the people, and I have no wish for a man to rule over me."
Versed in Translation
There is a lot of verse, some original, some quoted, in the book. However, the translator made a conscious decision not to seek rhymes where it was rhyming in the original Arabic. It presents as blank verse, usually with little lyricism at all.
In the poems and haiku below, I've tried to capture some of the lyricism of what remains, without compromising the integrity of the original translation. I hope it gives you a sense of the style of the work.
The King's Treasury
"People like you should be treasured by kings to help in times of peril."
The King's Treasury of Tales (Haiku)
Stories like this should
Be treasured by kings - to ease
In times of fatigue.
The Uncovered Face (Haiku)
She revealed her face,
At the sight of which, the king's
Wits departed him.
The Sword of the Messiah (Haiku)
To be near him was
Harder to bear than to part
From a beloved.
Prince Taj al-Muluk (Haiku)
Observe on his face
A mark like the black banner
Of the caliphate.
The Lover Parted from His Beloved (Haiku)
Tears flow from my eyes;
I took leave of my heart on
The day of parting.
Beware of Her Glance (Haiku)
Beware of her glance,
Because it works sorcery
That can't be escaped.
The Gazelle Lady (Haiku)
When I first saw her,
Fire broke out in my heart;
I was bewildered.
Sweet Torture (Haiku)
Call love sweet torture,
In which the soul finds pleasure
Or is lost instead.
Parting Time
Time's nature is
Treacherous;
The end of
Companionship
Lies in parting.
Better Then to Die
If he finds no patience
To conceal his secret,
Nothing will serve him
Better than to die.
Kiss
Give me a kiss or at least lend it to me.
May you not perish; I shall give it back
Exactly in the form in which it was.
If you want more, be pleased to take it now.
Gone
Your image is in my eye; your name is on my lips;
You dwell in my heart, so how can you be gone?
My only grief is for a life that ends
Before we have enjoyed our share of union.
Let me detain you
For a thousand and one nights
And so entertain.
An Introduction to the Frame Story
In the essays "Muse, Spare Me" and "Tales within Tales within Tales" (from "The Friday Book"), John Barth expresses his admiration for the frame story of "1,001 Nights".
It's clear from the structure of every story that Shahrazad is telling them to King Shahriyar, and that she stops each tale shortly before sunrise, before resuming the following night.
Thus, Shahrazad extends her life one tale and one day at a time. As John Barth says so colloquially, Shahrazad "[yarns] tirelessly through the dark hours to save her neck."
The introduction reveals a bit more about the framework of the book.
The implied narrator mentions that the story comes from "the histories of past peoples".
So Shahrazad herself is an historical or legendary character within the introductory story, as are her younger sister Dunyazad and the two cuckolded princes (King Shahriyar and Shah Zaman).
While we're used to believing that it is Shahrazad who is telling these stories to King Shahriyar, it is also her tale that is being told by someone else. These are literally tales within tales within tales, or stories within stories within stories.
Ironically, the tales told by Shahrazad are actually a compendium of disparate stories collected over time and recorded in the shape of one work.
Thus, the frame story is ultimately just an imaginative narrative vehicle by which a miscellany of diverse tales is brought and held together as a treasury or discrete work.
Treasuring the Tale
Apart from the frame story structure, two aspects of (oral) tale-telling stand out.
One is that the story must be worth telling. The other is that, if it is told well, then the response is that it must be written down and kept in the caliph's or sultan's treasury. Thus, a story well told is an item of value that deserves to be archived and preserved for posterity. Fiction is beginning to emerge from the transcription of the oral tradition:
"Your tale is a wonder of wonders."
"The story of the two of you ought to be recorded in books and recited from generation to generation after you have gone."
"The story of your prowess will remain until the end of time."
The Pattern of the Tales
This volume contains tales told on only 294 nights (plus "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"), even though it's 984 pages long. (The three volumes total around 3,000 pages.)
Still, it's possible to detect patterns in the subject matter. The tales can be categorised as:
Kings' Tales
Thieves' Tales
Tricksters' Tales
Traitors' Tales
Viziers' Tales
Slaves' Tales
Merchants' Tales
Travellers' Tales
Sibling Tales
Lovers' Tales
Coquettes' Tales
Cuckolds' Tales.
In a way, they are cautionary tales that warn the audience against the vicissitudes of life that they might one day experience, especially if they are young people of high social status.
The Kings' Tales contain wisdom about the challenges of gaining, exercising, transmitting and maintaining power, almost as if they were an Arabic version of Machiavelli's "The Prince".
The Lovers' Tales are stories of passionate love, lust, obsession, bewilderment and love at first sight:
"Know that I shall sleep in your room tonight and tell you things that I have heard, diverting you with tales of infatuated lovers, sick with love."
The Coquettes' Tales often question the wiles and trickery, the guile, the cunning and the treachery of women. Thus, even though the tales are being recounted by a woman, there is a misogynistic undertone.
On the other hand, women are often praised for their education, culture and eloquence, not just their beauty, their elegance and their shapeliness.
"I never saw any man to match al-Ma'mun or any woman to match Khadija or to come near her in understanding, intelligence or powers of expression."
One princess asserts her independence in the following terms:
"I have no intention of marrying. As a princess, I am a mistress of power and authority, ruling over the people, and I have no wish for a man to rule over me."
Versed in Translation
There is a lot of verse, some original, some quoted, in the book. However, the translator made a conscious decision not to seek rhymes where it was rhyming in the original Arabic. It presents as blank verse, usually with little lyricism at all.
In the poems and haiku below, I've tried to capture some of the lyricism of what remains, without compromising the integrity of the original translation. I hope it gives you a sense of the style of the work.
The King's Treasury
"People like you should be treasured by kings to help in times of peril."
The King's Treasury of Tales (Haiku)
Stories like this should
Be treasured by kings - to ease
In times of fatigue.
The Uncovered Face (Haiku)
She revealed her face,
At the sight of which, the king's
Wits departed him.
The Sword of the Messiah (Haiku)
To be near him was
Harder to bear than to part
From a beloved.
Prince Taj al-Muluk (Haiku)
Observe on his face
A mark like the black banner
Of the caliphate.
The Lover Parted from His Beloved (Haiku)
Tears flow from my eyes;
I took leave of my heart on
The day of parting.
Beware of Her Glance (Haiku)
Beware of her glance,
Because it works sorcery
That can't be escaped.
The Gazelle Lady (Haiku)
When I first saw her,
Fire broke out in my heart;
I was bewildered.
Sweet Torture (Haiku)
Call love sweet torture,
In which the soul finds pleasure
Or is lost instead.
Parting Time
Time's nature is
Treacherous;
The end of
Companionship
Lies in parting.
Better Then to Die
If he finds no patience
To conceal his secret,
Nothing will serve him
Better than to die.
Kiss
Give me a kiss or at least lend it to me.
May you not perish; I shall give it back
Exactly in the form in which it was.
If you want more, be pleased to take it now.
Gone
Your image is in my eye; your name is on my lips;
You dwell in my heart, so how can you be gone?
My only grief is for a life that ends
Before we have enjoyed our share of union.
September 10, 2022
"Fate is volatile, as you can see, sometimes there is joy, then sadness"
I really enjoyed reading this classic. For the sake of clarity: I have been selective, of course, because digesting all 3100 pages of the Dutch edition I read (De vertellingen van duizend-en-één nacht: 3 Volumes in Slipcase) in such a short time (one month) would have been too much, but I think I have certainly gone through half of the stories.
What is particularly striking is the enormous diversity of this collection. To begin with, geographically: of course, the stories are largely situated in the Arab world, but in the time of the editing of the collection (roughly between the 8th and the 12th century) that world really did occupy a considerable space: the scene is constantly shifting from Baghdad to Damascus, to Cairo, to Andalusia, Persia, Turkey and central Asia; in some - more adventurous - stories there are hints in the direction of India, China, East-Asia and East Africa. The main characters are also very diverse: kings, caliphs, sultans and visors often play the leading role (especially the illustrious caliph Harun al-Rasjid), but also merchants (Sinbad the Sailor), fishermen and ordinary artisans and even slaves are regularly put in the spotlight. To a limited extent there also are fantastic characters: jinns (good spirit), ifrites (evil spirits), sorceresses and exotic magicians.
The diversity also manifests itself in the scope and approach of the stories: there are short, edifying stories of barely half a page, but also epic stories of 130 pages. There is always an element of suspense: a challenge, an adventure, a conflict or a threat; and what stands out is that when the need is highest, the character concerned usually manages to save him/herself by telling a good story. That means that you get a very complicated and quirky structure: stories within stories, within stories, and one mustn’t forget that all this - spread over 1001 nights - is told by Sheherazade, in the hope of reversing her death sentence and moving the king to whom she tells the stories into clemency. This very ingenious structure apparently goes back to an ancient, Indian storytelling tradition.
Love, of course, is one of the main themes: almost always someone (mostly men but also a few women) falls in love and both the lusts and the sorrows of that condition are highlighted. What struck me is how much poetry is put into the stories, sometimes refined and often rich and languorous, but sometimes also dull and once in a while very obscene.
You could write an entire book about the image of women in these Arabian stories, because - in contrast to the common image in the West, diversity is also striking here. In most stories women are presented as almost unrealistically beautiful beings, their (bodily) beauty is praised in the most diverse tonalities; only in a few stories also intelligent women appear, who impress by their knowledge and refined insight. Although there are also some independent women (acting as merchants for example), most female characters are subordinate to men, both princesses and slaves have to follow their orders. And in contrast to the hymns of praise to women, women are also often represented as false and cunning, and in some stories as real shrews. But finally, let us not forget that the narrator of all these stories, Sheherazade, is the intelligent woman par excellence: she knows how to affect the cruel king through her stories and ultimately to move him into more humanity. Unfortunately, in the Dutch translation I read (by Richard Van Leeuwen) that aspect is almost entirely omitted: the gradual evolution of the king, under the influence of the stories of Sheherazade, his self-reflection and ultimately repentance, remain completely out of the picture, and that is very regrettable.
There always had been a lot of fuss about the hedonistic and erotic nature of the 1001 stories, and that is understandable: in almost every story physical love is a recurring theme and sometimes is described very explicitly (there are even some homosexual and pedo-sexual scenes); wine flows abundantly and the extravagant banquets, refined smells and tastes constantly recur. In this sense too, this is a 'rich' collection, which gives a picture of the phenomenal civilization that the Arab world must have been between the 8th and 12th century.
But do not be mistaken: both the frame of reference and the morality of the stories are both implicit and explicitly Islamic. No page goes by or there is a reference to God/Allah who directs everything, who represents the ultimate justice and to whom the human destiny (also that of the powerful and the rich) is subordinated. In some stories Jews and Christians come into the picture, usually in negative terms (especially the 'Frankish knights', the crusaders, are represented as cruel and uncivilized), unless they convert to islam.
As mentioned, most of the stories are very entertaining and surprising because of their liveliness, creative intrigues, pointed dialogues and refined poetry. But honesty dictates that in the long run it all becomes a bit much: all those adventures, all those edifying stories, there is no end to it, and after a while, whilst reading, you can discern a sense of monotony and tediousness, despite the previously mentioned diversity. The wise advice is to take these stories to you one at a time and preferably every night before bedtime. Because if there’s one comforting lesson to be drawn from this classic collection it’s that even when times are bad, a good story can save the day (or even your life).
I really enjoyed reading this classic. For the sake of clarity: I have been selective, of course, because digesting all 3100 pages of the Dutch edition I read (De vertellingen van duizend-en-één nacht: 3 Volumes in Slipcase) in such a short time (one month) would have been too much, but I think I have certainly gone through half of the stories.
What is particularly striking is the enormous diversity of this collection. To begin with, geographically: of course, the stories are largely situated in the Arab world, but in the time of the editing of the collection (roughly between the 8th and the 12th century) that world really did occupy a considerable space: the scene is constantly shifting from Baghdad to Damascus, to Cairo, to Andalusia, Persia, Turkey and central Asia; in some - more adventurous - stories there are hints in the direction of India, China, East-Asia and East Africa. The main characters are also very diverse: kings, caliphs, sultans and visors often play the leading role (especially the illustrious caliph Harun al-Rasjid), but also merchants (Sinbad the Sailor), fishermen and ordinary artisans and even slaves are regularly put in the spotlight. To a limited extent there also are fantastic characters: jinns (good spirit), ifrites (evil spirits), sorceresses and exotic magicians.
The diversity also manifests itself in the scope and approach of the stories: there are short, edifying stories of barely half a page, but also epic stories of 130 pages. There is always an element of suspense: a challenge, an adventure, a conflict or a threat; and what stands out is that when the need is highest, the character concerned usually manages to save him/herself by telling a good story. That means that you get a very complicated and quirky structure: stories within stories, within stories, and one mustn’t forget that all this - spread over 1001 nights - is told by Sheherazade, in the hope of reversing her death sentence and moving the king to whom she tells the stories into clemency. This very ingenious structure apparently goes back to an ancient, Indian storytelling tradition.
Love, of course, is one of the main themes: almost always someone (mostly men but also a few women) falls in love and both the lusts and the sorrows of that condition are highlighted. What struck me is how much poetry is put into the stories, sometimes refined and often rich and languorous, but sometimes also dull and once in a while very obscene.
You could write an entire book about the image of women in these Arabian stories, because - in contrast to the common image in the West, diversity is also striking here. In most stories women are presented as almost unrealistically beautiful beings, their (bodily) beauty is praised in the most diverse tonalities; only in a few stories also intelligent women appear, who impress by their knowledge and refined insight. Although there are also some independent women (acting as merchants for example), most female characters are subordinate to men, both princesses and slaves have to follow their orders. And in contrast to the hymns of praise to women, women are also often represented as false and cunning, and in some stories as real shrews. But finally, let us not forget that the narrator of all these stories, Sheherazade, is the intelligent woman par excellence: she knows how to affect the cruel king through her stories and ultimately to move him into more humanity. Unfortunately, in the Dutch translation I read (by Richard Van Leeuwen) that aspect is almost entirely omitted: the gradual evolution of the king, under the influence of the stories of Sheherazade, his self-reflection and ultimately repentance, remain completely out of the picture, and that is very regrettable.
There always had been a lot of fuss about the hedonistic and erotic nature of the 1001 stories, and that is understandable: in almost every story physical love is a recurring theme and sometimes is described very explicitly (there are even some homosexual and pedo-sexual scenes); wine flows abundantly and the extravagant banquets, refined smells and tastes constantly recur. In this sense too, this is a 'rich' collection, which gives a picture of the phenomenal civilization that the Arab world must have been between the 8th and 12th century.
But do not be mistaken: both the frame of reference and the morality of the stories are both implicit and explicitly Islamic. No page goes by or there is a reference to God/Allah who directs everything, who represents the ultimate justice and to whom the human destiny (also that of the powerful and the rich) is subordinated. In some stories Jews and Christians come into the picture, usually in negative terms (especially the 'Frankish knights', the crusaders, are represented as cruel and uncivilized), unless they convert to islam.
As mentioned, most of the stories are very entertaining and surprising because of their liveliness, creative intrigues, pointed dialogues and refined poetry. But honesty dictates that in the long run it all becomes a bit much: all those adventures, all those edifying stories, there is no end to it, and after a while, whilst reading, you can discern a sense of monotony and tediousness, despite the previously mentioned diversity. The wise advice is to take these stories to you one at a time and preferably every night before bedtime. Because if there’s one comforting lesson to be drawn from this classic collection it’s that even when times are bad, a good story can save the day (or even your life).
March 12, 2020
Editorial Note
Introduction, by Robert Irwin
A Note on the Translation
A Note on the Text
Translating Galland
--The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1: Nights 1 to 294
--The story of Ali Baba and the forty thieves killed by a slave girl
Glossary
Chronology
Further Reading
Maps
Index of Nights and Stories
Introduction, by Robert Irwin
A Note on the Translation
A Note on the Text
Translating Galland
--The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1: Nights 1 to 294
--The story of Ali Baba and the forty thieves killed by a slave girl
Glossary
Chronology
Further Reading
Maps
Index of Nights and Stories
June 5, 2022
I think I may have acquired the magical abilities I was talking about earlier….
❗warning: large amounts of sticky notes were harmed in the production of this review❗
I doubt my review could do this book just justice but here we go:
05/06/2022 :
When King Shahriyar discovers his wife to be unfaithful and declares all women deceitful he begins to marry young women only to behead them at dawn. To save the young women of the region, Shahrazad gives herself to the bloody-handed King Shahriyar. She is not expected to survive beyond dawn, but during the night she begins to tell a sequence of interweaved tales, each night ending the story in the middle, leaving the king desperate to learn the ending and allowing Shahrazad to live another day. Through her, we begin to dive into stories of jinns, ifrits and other magical creatures, wealthy merchants, bewitching women, tyrannical kings, hunchbacked and one-eyed men, slave girls, fishermen and queens.
Now I did try to read this book a few months ago before giving up and writing my review. I just couldn't do it, the length of this book was bonkers and that was only the first volume. After a delay in returning the book, I found myself giving it another chance with a whole new mindset. See, I read this like one would read a normal book, hours on end trying to read it looking for the excitement. Of course, I was not satisfied, it's a collection of short tales, not one long story. After rectifying that mistake the book certainly became more enjoyable. No doubt it's a heavy book and some might find it difficult of course but if you take this book slowly perhaps one or two tales a night, you could do it. I found nighttime to be the best atmosphere for reading this.
The language is more formal and slightly different but that shouldn't bother you much, after translating a few easier sentences to Arabic it made a lot more sense to me. We're not getting the full value of the book in English which can be seen by the many footnotes (quite helpful ) and many rhymes and rhythmic tones that would have been achieved in Arabic.
I can't say I loved it all but I'd did appreciate it. while I enjoyed a good number of tales, some just didn't cut it. That is to be expected from a book containing many collected and unrelated stories. There were some repetitive themes and some uncomfortable/disturbing themes as well that can be discouraging but I do not think one should give up on the book as a whole. Some tales manage to break free of these . Budur and Abriza as well as the slave in the last tale rock! The stories are intriguing and the poetry is beautiful, most of the time I found myself constantly tabbing or taking notes of a particularly wise, relatable or touching poem. The book can be re-read a thousand and one times if not more, it feels as if you have forgotten the story as soon as you have read the next two! It is certainly a magical thing and I would aspire to be able to recite them from memory, what great tales they would make. The tales are interweaved together quite abruptly sometimes and I feel you must pay attention to this or you shall be left confused when thrust back into the story for there are countless stories within stories.
personally, I was more entertained by the longer tales rather than the shorter ones, they had more depth and plot to them which I certainly enjoyed. I was Especially fond of night 45. ( my favs were Ali baba and the forty thieves , the hunchback and the tale including abriza) It was a long tale with enjoyable characters and an extremely interesting and epic plot(not to mention plot twist too, genuinely surprised to have found one )The animal tales held a little less appeal to me and tales such as night 9 were uhmmm explicit 😂 do not read them to the kiddos. , admittedly parts of the book are pretty weird and slightly upsetting. Obviously, the book is filled with drama, everyone here is dramatic and I can see that even today, do not be surprised to hear of lovers fainting at the sight of each other and murder/ running away after an unpleasant experience. It is certainly a book of burning passion and extreme emotion with scheming plots and lots of cunning
I cannot comment on the quality of this edition in particular as it is my first. I am also not sure of when or whether I shall read the next volume but I am certainly curious about the tale of Sinbad as it was not found in this volume perhaps a breather 😅. I do plan on trying an abridged or slightly simpler edition. The tales found here differ quite vastly from those we know such as Aladdin and the forty thieves. Though it is a challenging read I did eventually come to appreciate it, once you get past these obstacles it can be quite fun and amusing
19/01/2022
DNF
I actually think i went pretty far for my 16 year old self before i gave up and just skipped to 'Ali baba and the 40 thiefs ' . sorry i just could not go through almost 1000 pages for that ( AND ITS ONLY VOLUME 1!)I dont know wether to admire you lot who finished or be suspicous of your magical abilities coz DAMN . For those who couldnt finish arabian nights , an easier way might be a retelling might be the way ( go check out the wrath and the dawn !) are you allowed to promote another book in a book review ?
anywhoo . the stories are interweaved and not in a very smart way either .There were times when moving to another story they would just use " This reminds me of the tale of ....." and then a whole other story would begin , IDK it felt the tiniest bit sloppy after it got repeated more than once.You had to pay attention or you might find yourself lost .Its not an easy book but its not necessarily bad .
Also people would just spout verses of poetry and quran whenever ,its enviable .I did like some aspects of the book. some of the stories , the arabian vibes .....
LOVE this qoute "Mine is a marvellous tale which were it written with needles on the inner corners of the eyes o men ,would serve as a warning (to take heed)"
Theres patience and then theres something else . yall who finished have got that something else . the rest of you read to find that something else. Idk if i will reread this later on when im more 'matured and have more patience' ill leave it to god but either way youll be sure to hear of it .
To ‘night star’ . For actually having finished this book , bet you didnt think i would manage huh ? yeahhhh
❗warning: large amounts of sticky notes were harmed in the production of this review❗
I doubt my review could do this book just justice but here we go:
05/06/2022 :
When King Shahriyar discovers his wife to be unfaithful and declares all women deceitful he begins to marry young women only to behead them at dawn. To save the young women of the region, Shahrazad gives herself to the bloody-handed King Shahriyar. She is not expected to survive beyond dawn, but during the night she begins to tell a sequence of interweaved tales, each night ending the story in the middle, leaving the king desperate to learn the ending and allowing Shahrazad to live another day. Through her, we begin to dive into stories of jinns, ifrits and other magical creatures, wealthy merchants, bewitching women, tyrannical kings, hunchbacked and one-eyed men, slave girls, fishermen and queens.
Now I did try to read this book a few months ago before giving up and writing my review. I just couldn't do it, the length of this book was bonkers and that was only the first volume. After a delay in returning the book, I found myself giving it another chance with a whole new mindset. See, I read this like one would read a normal book, hours on end trying to read it looking for the excitement. Of course, I was not satisfied, it's a collection of short tales, not one long story. After rectifying that mistake the book certainly became more enjoyable. No doubt it's a heavy book and some might find it difficult of course but if you take this book slowly perhaps one or two tales a night, you could do it. I found nighttime to be the best atmosphere for reading this.
The language is more formal and slightly different but that shouldn't bother you much, after translating a few easier sentences to Arabic it made a lot more sense to me. We're not getting the full value of the book in English which can be seen by the many footnotes (quite helpful ) and many rhymes and rhythmic tones that would have been achieved in Arabic.
I can't say I loved it all but I'd did appreciate it. while I enjoyed a good number of tales, some just didn't cut it. That is to be expected from a book containing many collected and unrelated stories. There were some repetitive themes and some uncomfortable/disturbing themes as well that can be discouraging but I do not think one should give up on the book as a whole. Some tales manage to break free of these . Budur and Abriza as well as the slave in the last tale rock! The stories are intriguing and the poetry is beautiful, most of the time I found myself constantly tabbing or taking notes of a particularly wise, relatable or touching poem. The book can be re-read a thousand and one times if not more, it feels as if you have forgotten the story as soon as you have read the next two! It is certainly a magical thing and I would aspire to be able to recite them from memory, what great tales they would make. The tales are interweaved together quite abruptly sometimes and I feel you must pay attention to this or you shall be left confused when thrust back into the story for there are countless stories within stories.
personally, I was more entertained by the longer tales rather than the shorter ones, they had more depth and plot to them which I certainly enjoyed. I was Especially fond of night 45. ( my favs were Ali baba and the forty thieves , the hunchback and the tale including abriza) It was a long tale with enjoyable characters and an extremely interesting and epic plot(not to mention plot twist too, genuinely surprised to have found one )The animal tales held a little less appeal to me and tales such as night 9 were uhmmm explicit 😂 do not read them to the kiddos. , admittedly parts of the book are pretty weird and slightly upsetting. Obviously, the book is filled with drama, everyone here is dramatic and I can see that even today, do not be surprised to hear of lovers fainting at the sight of each other and murder/ running away after an unpleasant experience. It is certainly a book of burning passion and extreme emotion with scheming plots and lots of cunning
I cannot comment on the quality of this edition in particular as it is my first. I am also not sure of when or whether I shall read the next volume but I am certainly curious about the tale of Sinbad as it was not found in this volume perhaps a breather 😅. I do plan on trying an abridged or slightly simpler edition. The tales found here differ quite vastly from those we know such as Aladdin and the forty thieves. Though it is a challenging read I did eventually come to appreciate it, once you get past these obstacles it can be quite fun and amusing
19/01/2022
DNF
I actually think i went pretty far for my 16 year old self before i gave up and just skipped to 'Ali baba and the 40 thiefs ' . sorry i just could not go through almost 1000 pages for that ( AND ITS ONLY VOLUME 1!)I dont know wether to admire you lot who finished or be suspicous of your magical abilities coz DAMN . For those who couldnt finish arabian nights , an easier way might be a retelling might be the way ( go check out the wrath and the dawn !) are you allowed to promote another book in a book review ?
anywhoo . the stories are interweaved and not in a very smart way either .There were times when moving to another story they would just use " This reminds me of the tale of ....." and then a whole other story would begin , IDK it felt the tiniest bit sloppy after it got repeated more than once.You had to pay attention or you might find yourself lost .Its not an easy book but its not necessarily bad .
Also people would just spout verses of poetry and quran whenever ,its enviable .I did like some aspects of the book. some of the stories , the arabian vibes .....
LOVE this qoute "Mine is a marvellous tale which were it written with needles on the inner corners of the eyes o men ,would serve as a warning (to take heed)"
Theres patience and then theres something else . yall who finished have got that something else . the rest of you read to find that something else. Idk if i will reread this later on when im more 'matured and have more patience' ill leave it to god but either way youll be sure to hear of it .
To ‘night star’ . For actually having finished this book , bet you didnt think i would manage huh ? yeahhhh
May 7, 2022
I swear by the softness of your swaying form
That I suffer fire from your parting.
Pity these entrails burning with your love,
You who are the full moon shining in dark night.
Grant me your union, for I have not ceased
To unveil your beauty in the wine glass’s light,
While roses of all colours surround us,
Whose beauties bloom among the myrtle leaves.
When she had finished her poem, I took the lute from her, struck up a strange air and sang these lines:
Praise be to God, Who has given you all beauty,
So that I have remained among your prisoners.
You whose glance enslaves all of mankind,
Pray that I may be saved from the arrows that you shoot.
Two opposites, water and a burning flash of fire,
Are found combined as a marvel in your cheeks.
For my heart you are hellfire and the delight of Paradise.
How bitter and how sweet you are for it!
That I suffer fire from your parting.
Pity these entrails burning with your love,
You who are the full moon shining in dark night.
Grant me your union, for I have not ceased
To unveil your beauty in the wine glass’s light,
While roses of all colours surround us,
Whose beauties bloom among the myrtle leaves.
When she had finished her poem, I took the lute from her, struck up a strange air and sang these lines:
Praise be to God, Who has given you all beauty,
So that I have remained among your prisoners.
You whose glance enslaves all of mankind,
Pray that I may be saved from the arrows that you shoot.
Two opposites, water and a burning flash of fire,
Are found combined as a marvel in your cheeks.
For my heart you are hellfire and the delight of Paradise.
How bitter and how sweet you are for it!
January 27, 2015
I gave this a solid try, and I tried to keep in mind that it was written in a very different time in a very different culture, but it was just way too rapey. I was expecting more Ali Baba and "open sesame" and genies granting wishes, but all the genies actually did was rape women before killing them horribly in story after story. I made it about 35 nights before I couldn't take anymore. Don't rub the lamp, ladies.
February 7, 2019
If I were the publisher’s editor during the Islamic Golden Age (8th to 13th centuries) during the time when these stories were being compiled into a Tale of 1001 Nights, I would have strongly recommended that it be pared down to 101 Nights. 1001 is too many. These three volumes (2008 edition by Penguin Classics) are in essence 270 short stories divided into 1001 sessions to fit the setting of the woman named Scheherazade telling a story per night with tantalizing incomplete endings in order to keep her bloody handed husband/king from killing her.
The three volumes total 2,784 pages. Any reader who manages to make it through to the end of the collection will find that their memory of the stories will be muddled and mixed because of their similar themes and motifs. Most books of short stories can have the same effect on a reader, but it’s worse in this case because of the large number of stories.
The experience of taking time to read all of this three volume set is something I can’t recommend to others. I was obligated to give it a try because I was a member of a reading group that decided to discuss the Arabian Nights in three meetings during the summer months of 2013. I managed to read only parts of Volume 1, none of Volume 2 (I was out of town), and with extra effort (and listening to audio) I managed to get through Volume 3.
This collection of stories does provide a glimpse into Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales of the 8th to 13th centuries. Since all my reading was in the first and third volumes I can offer some generalizations about the differences I noticed between the early and late stories. The earlier stories are shorter, less complex and contain fewer references to religion. The later stories are mostly longer and more religious. One story in Volume 3 takes up to 31 nights to get the story told. And Volume 3 is steeped in praise of the Muslim religion. As a matter of fact some of the stories in Volume 3 go out of their way to make it clear that the Christians (i.e. the Franks) are the bad guys and the Moslems are the good guys.
Here's a summary of the nights per story for the three volumes:
One little detail which is probably left out of the children's version of these stories is the fact that 1001 nights is sufficient time to get pregnant three times and have three children by the end of all these stories. That is exactly what happens in this book. So the king was doing more than listening to the stories. Scheherazade must have been quite a woman to be able to not miss a night, and apparently deliver her babies without her husband noticing because at the end of the book the king seems to have not been previously aware of the existence of his children.
The following are some comments about this edition of the Arabian Nights taken from Wikipedia:
The following short review (of another edition) of this book is from the 2007 PageADay Book Lover's Calendar:
Fiction Classics
For swashbuckling heroes, star-crossed lovers, daring thieves, and a little magic, you can’t do much better than The Arabian Nights. The best of Shahrazad’s wonderful stories are here in Richard Burton’s classic translation. Some tales will ring bells (“Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” “Alaeddin”), but others will be new and fresh (“The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad”). The romance, mystery, and wonder of the ancient Near East come alive in fables that still enchant.
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS: TALES FROM A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, translated by Sir Richard F. Burton; introduced by A. S. Byatt (1885-88; Modern Library, 2001)
_____________
Here's a trivia question taken from the November 21, 2016 PageADay Book Lover's Calendar:
Q: True or false: None of the three most famous tales from the Arabian Nights actually comes from the original book.
Answer:
True. The stories of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Sinbad the Sailor, and Aladdin were later additions to the original opus.
____________
The following link is to an excerpt from the book "Naming of Parts -- or not" which explains the history of "The Arabian Nights."
https://mailchi.mp/delanceyplace.com/...
The three volumes total 2,784 pages. Any reader who manages to make it through to the end of the collection will find that their memory of the stories will be muddled and mixed because of their similar themes and motifs. Most books of short stories can have the same effect on a reader, but it’s worse in this case because of the large number of stories.
The experience of taking time to read all of this three volume set is something I can’t recommend to others. I was obligated to give it a try because I was a member of a reading group that decided to discuss the Arabian Nights in three meetings during the summer months of 2013. I managed to read only parts of Volume 1, none of Volume 2 (I was out of town), and with extra effort (and listening to audio) I managed to get through Volume 3.
This collection of stories does provide a glimpse into Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales of the 8th to 13th centuries. Since all my reading was in the first and third volumes I can offer some generalizations about the differences I noticed between the early and late stories. The earlier stories are shorter, less complex and contain fewer references to religion. The later stories are mostly longer and more religious. One story in Volume 3 takes up to 31 nights to get the story told. And Volume 3 is steeped in praise of the Muslim religion. As a matter of fact some of the stories in Volume 3 go out of their way to make it clear that the Christians (i.e. the Franks) are the bad guys and the Moslems are the good guys.
Here's a summary of the nights per story for the three volumes:
Volume 1:At my book club it was pointed out that there is a story in Volume 2 that is almost exactly the same as another story in Volume 3. Again this indicates lack of an editor to correct this sort of thing.
74 stories over 294 nights for an average of 3.9 nights/story
Volume 2:
158 stories over 425 nights for an average of 2.7 nights/story
Volume 3:
38 stories over 282 nights for an average of 7.4 nights/story
One little detail which is probably left out of the children's version of these stories is the fact that 1001 nights is sufficient time to get pregnant three times and have three children by the end of all these stories. That is exactly what happens in this book. So the king was doing more than listening to the stories. Scheherazade must have been quite a woman to be able to not miss a night, and apparently deliver her babies without her husband noticing because at the end of the book the king seems to have not been previously aware of the existence of his children.
The following are some comments about this edition of the Arabian Nights taken from Wikipedia:
“In 2008 a new English translation was published by Penguin Classics in three volumes. It is translated by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons with introduction and annotations by Robert Irwin. This is the first complete translation of the Macnaghten or Calcutta II edition (Egyptian recension) since Sir Richard Burton. It contains, in addition to the standard text of 1001 Nights, the so-called "orphan stories" of Aladdin and Ali Baba as well as an alternative ending to The seventh journey of Sindbad from Antoine Galland's original French. As the translator himself notes in his preface to the three volumes, "No attempt has been made to superimpose on the translation changes that would be needed to 'rectify' ... accretions, ... repetitions, non sequiturs and confusions that mark the present text," and the work is a "representation of what is primarily oral literature, appealing to the ear rather than the eye". The Lyons translation includes all the poetry, omitted in some translations, but does not attempt to reproduce in English the internal rhyming of some prose sections of the original Arabic.”The following excerpt from Wikipedia seems to indicate that Arabian Nights is given more attention within Western Literature than found in the study of Arabic culture and literature:
“There is little evidence that the Nights was particularly treasured in the Arab world. It is rarely mentioned in lists of popular literature and few pre-18th century manuscripts of the collection exist. Fiction had a low cultural status among Medieval Arabs compared with poetry, and the tales were dismissed as khurafa (improbable fantasies fit only for entertaining women and children). According to Robert Irwin, "Even today, with the exception of certain writers and academics, the Nights is regarded with disdain in the Arabic world. Its stories are regularly denounced as vulgar, improbable, childish and, above all, badly written."I guess the above indicates that Western Literature has lower standards than Arabic Literature. I actually agree with the last sentence of the above quotation.
The following short review (of another edition) of this book is from the 2007 PageADay Book Lover's Calendar:
Fiction Classics
For swashbuckling heroes, star-crossed lovers, daring thieves, and a little magic, you can’t do much better than The Arabian Nights. The best of Shahrazad’s wonderful stories are here in Richard Burton’s classic translation. Some tales will ring bells (“Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” “Alaeddin”), but others will be new and fresh (“The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad”). The romance, mystery, and wonder of the ancient Near East come alive in fables that still enchant.
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS: TALES FROM A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, translated by Sir Richard F. Burton; introduced by A. S. Byatt (1885-88; Modern Library, 2001)
_____________
Here's a trivia question taken from the November 21, 2016 PageADay Book Lover's Calendar:
Q: True or false: None of the three most famous tales from the Arabian Nights actually comes from the original book.
Answer:
True. The stories of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Sinbad the Sailor, and Aladdin were later additions to the original opus.
____________
The following link is to an excerpt from the book "Naming of Parts -- or not" which explains the history of "The Arabian Nights."
https://mailchi.mp/delanceyplace.com/...
November 1, 2012
This first volume of the Arabian Nights is fun. It's massive (especially considering it's the first of three volumes), but the tales are easy to read and jammed with the stuff of fantasy. Djinn, princesses, romances, deaths, wars, metamorphoses, and all other sorts of great fodder for ripping good yarns.
The structure truly is amazing. The couching story of Shahrazad telling tale after tale is fairly well known. What I wasn't expecting is just how deeply complex, yet eminently readable, the multiple tales are. Within the first 50 pages, I was reading a story within a story within a story within a story (that's no joke), and I was keeping up with it all. It's a testament to the narrative devices used by the original oral storytellers of the Middle East who concocted and preserved these stories.
It's not a picnic all the way through or in all respects, though. After several hundred pages of the tales, some of the repetitive themes and linguistic devices tend to wear thin to me. I understand that these are meant to be very romantic stories, but if I had read one more lover faint at the sight of their beloved, or tear their robe and hair at the sight of their beloved's death, I might have given up. Also, the misogyny is pretty thick, let's not kid ourselves. I understand that these stories were composed over a millennium ago, but it gets a bit wearying seeing virtually every female character in all of the stories be either a treacherous whore, a deceitful old crone, or a helpless object of sex or desire. Again, I understand that these are fairy tales, but in the 21st century, certain themes are stale, if not outright offensive. A saving grace, though, is the "bastard" tale of Ali Baba, which is featured at the end of the "Nights" stories in this volume. "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" is a great story, which features a female character who actually kicks ass and saves the bacon of her master and his son, repeatedly. It was a solid way to end the volume.
It's a good read, but I'll need a breather before I start volume II.
The structure truly is amazing. The couching story of Shahrazad telling tale after tale is fairly well known. What I wasn't expecting is just how deeply complex, yet eminently readable, the multiple tales are. Within the first 50 pages, I was reading a story within a story within a story within a story (that's no joke), and I was keeping up with it all. It's a testament to the narrative devices used by the original oral storytellers of the Middle East who concocted and preserved these stories.
It's not a picnic all the way through or in all respects, though. After several hundred pages of the tales, some of the repetitive themes and linguistic devices tend to wear thin to me. I understand that these are meant to be very romantic stories, but if I had read one more lover faint at the sight of their beloved, or tear their robe and hair at the sight of their beloved's death, I might have given up. Also, the misogyny is pretty thick, let's not kid ourselves. I understand that these stories were composed over a millennium ago, but it gets a bit wearying seeing virtually every female character in all of the stories be either a treacherous whore, a deceitful old crone, or a helpless object of sex or desire. Again, I understand that these are fairy tales, but in the 21st century, certain themes are stale, if not outright offensive. A saving grace, though, is the "bastard" tale of Ali Baba, which is featured at the end of the "Nights" stories in this volume. "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" is a great story, which features a female character who actually kicks ass and saves the bacon of her master and his son, repeatedly. It was a solid way to end the volume.
It's a good read, but I'll need a breather before I start volume II.
April 14, 2014
When King Shahriyar discovers his wife to be unfaithful, he begins to marry young women, only to behead them in the morning. In order to save the young women of the region, Shahrazad gives herself to the King Shahriyar. She is not expected to survive beyond dawn, but during the night she begins to tell tales, each night ending the story in the middle, leaving the king desperate to learn the ending and allowing Shahrazad to live another day.
One of my reading goals for this year is to read the complete version of A Thousand and One Nights . My aim was to find a translation that was as complete as possible, including "Aladdin" and "Ali Babba and the Forty Thieves", both of which were added in the 1700-1800s. Since there are many translations, I eventually settled in the Penguin Classics version, The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights, which comes in three giant volumes and claims to be as complete as possible. (Plus I really liked the covers.)
Volume 1 is 980 pages long. It includes the beginning of Shahrazad's marriage to Shahriyar and provides up through night 294 of tales, as well as "Ali Babba and the Forty Thieves" as an appendix.
Shahrazad's tales range from adventure yarns with djinn to morality tales, love stories, fables, and war epics. Despite the variety of tales, there was also a great level of repetition, with similar descriptions of characters or expected outcomes. Though this should be expected due to how many stories there are, it can get burdensome for some readers, I'm sure.
The stories are also often nested, a tale within a tale within a tale. Just as Shahrazad saves herself through the telling of the tales, many of the characters within her stories also save themselves from death in a similar way. For example, kings are of ten saying, tell me story more wonderful than what has just happened or I'll cut off your head. The nesting not only allows Shahrazad a longer tale to tell, which keeps her alive for more nights, but also shows how valuable the act of storytelling was thought to be. Sometimes the nesting becomes a bit too much, though, and there are so many stories within stories, it can be easy to forget the original story, until it's finally returned many pages (and nights) later.
Some Similarities to Arthurian Tales
Over the course of reading the first volume, I've noticed that a number of stories have themes or aspects similar to traditional Arthurian tales, such as those written by Chrétien de Troyes. My guess is that scholars in the Middle Ages were likely knew of and were influenced by the tales of the Arabian Nights, so that the themes crossed over. Or perhaps there was some cross-cultural influence going both directions. Here are a few of the themes I noticed.
1. Chivalry, or knightly behavior - Though this is not as pronounce in the Arabian Nights, there was an ongoing element of proper behavior for a gentleman. Often this involved how to be a guest or a host in one's home, however this also related to a code of conduct in battle. A wandering young man in the Arabian nights may fall into a crowd of armed men that wish to defeat him. But rather than attacking all at once, the fighters go up against the young man one by one, because it's the right thing to do. At which point the young man will take up a horse and a spear and charge against each fighter one by one, similar to a joust in the Arthurian tales. And both the Arabian Nights and the Arthurian tales use similar language, describing the knight or warrior as fighting "like a lion" or some other noble and fierce beast.
2. Courtly Love - Love requires adherence to a strict set of rules, which often involves falling in Love at First Sight and total loyalty to one's lover. However, I don't remember quite as many lovers wasting away and dying from their affliction of romance in the Arthurian tales as they do in the Arabian Nights.
3. Beauty = Good - Ugly creatures are always wicked, cruel, and/or ridiculous. The ugly are never noble or wise or good. Characters often look at someone and know they are from good breeding and wealth and have a good heart, based on the beauty of their features and elegance and grace of their body.
4. Fainting - Seriously, in cases of high emotion the only thing to do is to fall over in a faint. Terrified you're going to die? Faint. Thrilled to have your long-lost son to return? Faint. Hear a poem that makes you think of your secret lover? Faint. It's the only reasonable thing to do.
Women are Evil, Except When They're Awesome
There is a general belief of the characters throughout these stories that women are he the root of all evil and are the downfall of men, which is revealed in many of the stories in which wives commit adultery or murder or other misdeeds. It made sense to me that Shahrazad would tell Shahriyar these kinds of stories in the beginning, because of his own distrust of women.
However, as the tales progressed, different kinds of women began to be prevalent, too. There were lots of women in these tales, and while their stories often end in marriage, they often had their own adventures. Women sometimes have power. Women were merchants or travelers, some got to go on pilgrimages. In fact, two of my favorite moments in this book involved women being awesome.
Princess Abriza, the daughter of the King of Constantinople (a Christian city), is a small character in a much. Longer epic narrative. She is discovered wrestling with her female friends in the woods by a great Muslim warrior, Sharkan. She challenges him to a wrestling bout and throws him each time (though it's thought that he was distracted by her beauty) and then she invites him home. Later, she follows him disguised as a man and again beats him repeatedly in battle. And, she leads an army of female warriors who all defeat the men they come across.
In another story, Budur is in a strange land and has lost her husband, so she dresses herself as a young man and goes looking for her him. Along the way, she comes to a kingdom and through adventure marries the princess and becomes king of the land, where with the complicity of her wife she rules the kingdom and earns much fame for a number of years.
Both of these stories are awesome, though neither have great endings, which makes me sad.
Xenophobia
The hardest part of reading these stories was definitely the prejudice shown toward certain groups, most notably in the descriptions of the black characters, all of whom were described as villainous and ugly. I cringed every time I read one of these passages and it certainly lessened my enjoyment. Prejudice was also shown toward the Christian, Jewish, and Bedouin populations, though this was not as overt to me as some of them could be shown to have good points at different points in the stories.
A Random Aside
My copy of the book has an amusing printing flaw: At page 790, the book jumps back to 743 and repeats 47 pages before continuing on.
I'm sure I could think up a few more things to mention, while I'm sitting here, but I think this post is long enough.
I have two more volumes to get through, but I'm going to take a break from readings the tales for a little bit before jumping back in. At least the next two volumes are slightly shorter.
One of my reading goals for this year is to read the complete version of A Thousand and One Nights . My aim was to find a translation that was as complete as possible, including "Aladdin" and "Ali Babba and the Forty Thieves", both of which were added in the 1700-1800s. Since there are many translations, I eventually settled in the Penguin Classics version, The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights, which comes in three giant volumes and claims to be as complete as possible. (Plus I really liked the covers.)
Volume 1 is 980 pages long. It includes the beginning of Shahrazad's marriage to Shahriyar and provides up through night 294 of tales, as well as "Ali Babba and the Forty Thieves" as an appendix.
Shahrazad's tales range from adventure yarns with djinn to morality tales, love stories, fables, and war epics. Despite the variety of tales, there was also a great level of repetition, with similar descriptions of characters or expected outcomes. Though this should be expected due to how many stories there are, it can get burdensome for some readers, I'm sure.
The stories are also often nested, a tale within a tale within a tale. Just as Shahrazad saves herself through the telling of the tales, many of the characters within her stories also save themselves from death in a similar way. For example, kings are of ten saying, tell me story more wonderful than what has just happened or I'll cut off your head. The nesting not only allows Shahrazad a longer tale to tell, which keeps her alive for more nights, but also shows how valuable the act of storytelling was thought to be. Sometimes the nesting becomes a bit too much, though, and there are so many stories within stories, it can be easy to forget the original story, until it's finally returned many pages (and nights) later.
Some Similarities to Arthurian Tales
Over the course of reading the first volume, I've noticed that a number of stories have themes or aspects similar to traditional Arthurian tales, such as those written by Chrétien de Troyes. My guess is that scholars in the Middle Ages were likely knew of and were influenced by the tales of the Arabian Nights, so that the themes crossed over. Or perhaps there was some cross-cultural influence going both directions. Here are a few of the themes I noticed.
1. Chivalry, or knightly behavior - Though this is not as pronounce in the Arabian Nights, there was an ongoing element of proper behavior for a gentleman. Often this involved how to be a guest or a host in one's home, however this also related to a code of conduct in battle. A wandering young man in the Arabian nights may fall into a crowd of armed men that wish to defeat him. But rather than attacking all at once, the fighters go up against the young man one by one, because it's the right thing to do. At which point the young man will take up a horse and a spear and charge against each fighter one by one, similar to a joust in the Arthurian tales. And both the Arabian Nights and the Arthurian tales use similar language, describing the knight or warrior as fighting "like a lion" or some other noble and fierce beast.
2. Courtly Love - Love requires adherence to a strict set of rules, which often involves falling in Love at First Sight and total loyalty to one's lover. However, I don't remember quite as many lovers wasting away and dying from their affliction of romance in the Arthurian tales as they do in the Arabian Nights.
3. Beauty = Good - Ugly creatures are always wicked, cruel, and/or ridiculous. The ugly are never noble or wise or good. Characters often look at someone and know they are from good breeding and wealth and have a good heart, based on the beauty of their features and elegance and grace of their body.
4. Fainting - Seriously, in cases of high emotion the only thing to do is to fall over in a faint. Terrified you're going to die? Faint. Thrilled to have your long-lost son to return? Faint. Hear a poem that makes you think of your secret lover? Faint. It's the only reasonable thing to do.
Women are Evil, Except When They're Awesome
There is a general belief of the characters throughout these stories that women are he the root of all evil and are the downfall of men, which is revealed in many of the stories in which wives commit adultery or murder or other misdeeds. It made sense to me that Shahrazad would tell Shahriyar these kinds of stories in the beginning, because of his own distrust of women.
However, as the tales progressed, different kinds of women began to be prevalent, too. There were lots of women in these tales, and while their stories often end in marriage, they often had their own adventures. Women sometimes have power. Women were merchants or travelers, some got to go on pilgrimages. In fact, two of my favorite moments in this book involved women being awesome.
Princess Abriza, the daughter of the King of Constantinople (a Christian city), is a small character in a much. Longer epic narrative. She is discovered wrestling with her female friends in the woods by a great Muslim warrior, Sharkan. She challenges him to a wrestling bout and throws him each time (though it's thought that he was distracted by her beauty) and then she invites him home. Later, she follows him disguised as a man and again beats him repeatedly in battle. And, she leads an army of female warriors who all defeat the men they come across.
In another story, Budur is in a strange land and has lost her husband, so she dresses herself as a young man and goes looking for her him. Along the way, she comes to a kingdom and through adventure marries the princess and becomes king of the land, where with the complicity of her wife she rules the kingdom and earns much fame for a number of years.
Both of these stories are awesome, though neither have great endings, which makes me sad.
Xenophobia
The hardest part of reading these stories was definitely the prejudice shown toward certain groups, most notably in the descriptions of the black characters, all of whom were described as villainous and ugly. I cringed every time I read one of these passages and it certainly lessened my enjoyment. Prejudice was also shown toward the Christian, Jewish, and Bedouin populations, though this was not as overt to me as some of them could be shown to have good points at different points in the stories.
A Random Aside
My copy of the book has an amusing printing flaw: At page 790, the book jumps back to 743 and repeats 47 pages before continuing on.
I'm sure I could think up a few more things to mention, while I'm sitting here, but I think this post is long enough.
I have two more volumes to get through, but I'm going to take a break from readings the tales for a little bit before jumping back in. At least the next two volumes are slightly shorter.
August 31, 2020
I really struggled to get through this and I'm not tempted to read the other 2 volumes. Many of the stories repeated the same themes with identikit characters (caliphs, princes, princesses, viziers (good and evil) slave girls, eunuchs etc)
What's startling is that so many of the locations mentioned (Basra, Aleppo, Damascus and Baghdad) are now known so well for all the wrong reasons.
Interesting to compare this with 2 other foundational texts of world literature that I've previously read. Homer's Odyssey and Iliad are concerned with Fate. The Icelandic Sagas with Revenge. The Arabian Nights with Symmetry and Repetition.
By far the best tale is the "bonus" one of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
What's startling is that so many of the locations mentioned (Basra, Aleppo, Damascus and Baghdad) are now known so well for all the wrong reasons.
Interesting to compare this with 2 other foundational texts of world literature that I've previously read. Homer's Odyssey and Iliad are concerned with Fate. The Icelandic Sagas with Revenge. The Arabian Nights with Symmetry and Repetition.
By far the best tale is the "bonus" one of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
December 8, 2021
This is the first volume of a collection of fairy-tales written and compiled during Islamic Golden Age, from 8th to 14th century.
December 14, 2018
Ik heb nu eenmaal besloten om álle 1001 nachten te lezen, en in mijn koppigheid hou ik daaraan vast, ook al kan ik nu (na het lezen van het eerste van de drie delen) al zeggen dat dat eigenlijk niet nodig is om een idee te krijgen van deze vertellingen. Hoewel geen enkel verhaal hetzelfde is, wordt het op den duur toch wat repetitief.
Kleine samenvatting:
- De eerste keuze voor een huwelijkspartner is een neef of nicht.
- (Maar als je zonder het te weten met je halfzus trouwt, dan is het hel op aarde.)
- Zo goed als elke vrouw die aan bod komt is maagd, met veel “deflowering” going on.
- Superhandig ook: bijna elke vrouw wordt al direct van de eerste keer zwanger, en weet dit al onmiddellijk bij de conceptie, geen zwangerschapstest nodig!
- Als iemand u niet aanstaat, dan hak je gewoon het hoofd af.
- Als iemand dood lijkt, is ie dat daarom nog niet. (Tenzij je het hoofd afgehakt hebt, dan is het vrij duidelijk)
- Als je (als man) veranderd wordt in een dier, gewoon zorgen dat je ergens binnenkomt waar een maagd aanwezig is: die zeggen direct “Waarom heb je hier een man binnengebracht?!”
- Christenen = SLECHT. Moslims = GOED.
- Zwarte slaven = SLECHT.
- Vrouwen: vaak sluw (SLECHT), maar als ze heel mooi zijn, dan zijn ze GOED.
Op naar het tweede deel.
Kleine samenvatting:
- De eerste keuze voor een huwelijkspartner is een neef of nicht.
- (Maar als je zonder het te weten met je halfzus trouwt, dan is het hel op aarde.)
- Zo goed als elke vrouw die aan bod komt is maagd, met veel “deflowering” going on.
- Superhandig ook: bijna elke vrouw wordt al direct van de eerste keer zwanger, en weet dit al onmiddellijk bij de conceptie, geen zwangerschapstest nodig!
- Als iemand u niet aanstaat, dan hak je gewoon het hoofd af.
- Als iemand dood lijkt, is ie dat daarom nog niet. (Tenzij je het hoofd afgehakt hebt, dan is het vrij duidelijk)
- Als je (als man) veranderd wordt in een dier, gewoon zorgen dat je ergens binnenkomt waar een maagd aanwezig is: die zeggen direct “Waarom heb je hier een man binnengebracht?!”
- Christenen = SLECHT. Moslims = GOED.
- Zwarte slaven = SLECHT.
- Vrouwen: vaak sluw (SLECHT), maar als ze heel mooi zijn, dan zijn ze GOED.
Op naar het tweede deel.
August 6, 2021
Something that made my childhood better, and me a even better person. ❤️
September 18, 2021
Shahryar whispered: “See brother. Is she not as lovely as the moon and as graceful as a gazelle?”
But Zaman, replied: “Do not let your eyes deceive you. Although you are older than me, and more powerful, yet I am more experienced in the ways of women, for I already have a wife. I tell you no woman on earth has a pure and faithful heart.
And she cheated on Shahryar….. and his heart was filled with hatred… and he ordered to bring bride for him to marry every night and strike off her head at the morning, for three years.
And…Scheherzade decided to volunteer and tell him a legend every night ….. for one thousand and one nights
This book includes the legends that Scheherezade read for Shahryar every night.
The best points about this book are the details and characters that have been chosen very cleverly. But what attracted me to this book was its historical aspect…. I don't know why they call it Arabian nights, the legends came from India and Ancient Persia...
+no need to read it again kim
But Zaman, replied: “Do not let your eyes deceive you. Although you are older than me, and more powerful, yet I am more experienced in the ways of women, for I already have a wife. I tell you no woman on earth has a pure and faithful heart.
And she cheated on Shahryar….. and his heart was filled with hatred… and he ordered to bring bride for him to marry every night and strike off her head at the morning, for three years.
And…Scheherzade decided to volunteer and tell him a legend every night ….. for one thousand and one nights
This book includes the legends that Scheherezade read for Shahryar every night.
The best points about this book are the details and characters that have been chosen very cleverly. But what attracted me to this book was its historical aspect…. I don't know why they call it Arabian nights, the legends came from India and Ancient Persia...
+no need to read it again kim
August 7, 2016
An amazing collection of divine stories filled with a lot of emotions, magical creatures, great kings, beautiful ladies and marvelous treasures. These stories are told by the wise and beautiful Scheherazade, a maiden who intends to change the king's life with these great stories by trying to save her life from the death that is already determined. Each night she tells him stories and ends them in a cliffhanger so that he will spare her from death(this is because before her, he used to kill every bride that he would take them in the first night of their marriage because of his first wife's infidelity) because he wants desperately to know the end of the story.
"He doesn't realize that destiny cannot be averted or hindered by anything and that whatever a woman wants, she will get it, no matter how much a man miht try to prevent it."
She uses her imagination and wisdom to save herself from certain death with these wonderful stories delaying her final hour day after day.
"Tell whoever has sorrow
Grief shall never last.
Just as joy has no tomorrow,
Woe is bound not to last."
"He doesn't realize that destiny cannot be averted or hindered by anything and that whatever a woman wants, she will get it, no matter how much a man miht try to prevent it."
She uses her imagination and wisdom to save herself from certain death with these wonderful stories delaying her final hour day after day.
"Tell whoever has sorrow
Grief shall never last.
Just as joy has no tomorrow,
Woe is bound not to last."
July 1, 2007
نمی دانم هیچ کتاب دیگری به زبان های مختلف این همه متفاوت هست؟
هزار و یک شب به فارسی، ترجمه ی سروش اصفهانی، با هزار و یک شبی که در جهان عرب مشهور است و آخرین چاپش در مصر ، چند سال پیش منتشر شد، با هزار و یک شبی که در هندوستان معمول است، و ترجمه هایی که از این کتاب به زبان های اروپایی شده و...
جالب تر آن که سرگذشت تالیف این کتاب روشن است اما بسیاری از ملل منطقه آن را متعلق به خود می دانند
Just simple, I love it ...
هزار و یک شب به فارسی، ترجمه ی سروش اصفهانی، با هزار و یک شبی که در جهان عرب مشهور است و آخرین چاپش در مصر ، چند سال پیش منتشر شد، با هزار و یک شبی که در هندوستان معمول است، و ترجمه هایی که از این کتاب به زبان های اروپایی شده و...
جالب تر آن که سرگذشت تالیف این کتاب روشن است اما بسیاری از ملل منطقه آن را متعلق به خود می دانند
Just simple, I love it ...
January 21, 2024
This review is based on the first 1/3 of the book that I resisted to read. The idea is great, the beginning is intriguing. But the over and over stories of those times when all women were either witches or heartless sex addicts cheaters, or just bad luck in any man's life.. well. And I don't want to start saying about how all the men were so religious and were doing a lot of sh*t in the name of Allah. I had enough. I can't stand hearing another word.
June 5, 2022
This is a classic so it's practically illegal to give it a bad rating lol...
Read
December 9, 2023Got this one when I was 12. Dnf'd it after finding out it's 18+.
December 28, 2022
Pues termino el primero de 3 volúmenes de esta edición de las 1001 noches, que se ve será una larga lectura.
Aquí son las primeras 294 noches, más el cuento extra de Ali Baba y los 40 ladrones.
Creo que podría dividir los cuentos en 5 tipos
-Mercaderes/comerciantes, muchos cuentos donde o son los personajes principales o son de importancia en la historia, creo que tiene mucho que ver con las caravanas y la importancia del comercio de la época/zona y los hay desde los que son como enseñanza, hasta los chusco-picarescos
- Príncipes/ Reinos, aquí hay desde los que son buenos gobernantes, y los malos, hasta sagas familiares de reinos, la que recuerdo que me gusto mas fue: La de Sharkan(bueno en realidad de su padre, el sus hermanos y sobrinos). Estas historias se mezclan algunos con el que sigue
- Sobre moralidad, la religión, las enseñanzas del profeta, que bueno a veces son subpartes de otros cuentos, y va bien, pero en el de Sharkan, si hubo una parte que fue como que demasiado.
- Sobre Djinnis y seres similares, son interesantes. Me gusto una de un pescador.
- Y las que son de diferentes estilos, pero que tienen mucho que ver con aplicar el truco o lo inesperado para salir de alguna situación en su mayoría.
Una cosa que si es muy interesante es como una historia luego dentro de ella trae historias, que traen dentro otras historias, se vuelve como varias capas, y en algunas eso hace que una historia "cortita" dentro trae tantas que entr el inicio y final pasan muchas cosas, como en la del cadaver y los tres acusados, o el de los hermanos tuertos, o la casa de la fiesta.
Pero ahi, poco a poco vamos leyendo y asi con sus pausas creo que va bien para no saturarme con todo
4.7 stars
Aquí son las primeras 294 noches, más el cuento extra de Ali Baba y los 40 ladrones.
Creo que podría dividir los cuentos en 5 tipos
-Mercaderes/comerciantes, muchos cuentos donde o son los personajes principales o son de importancia en la historia, creo que tiene mucho que ver con las caravanas y la importancia del comercio de la época/zona y los hay desde los que son como enseñanza, hasta los chusco-picarescos
- Príncipes/ Reinos, aquí hay desde los que son buenos gobernantes, y los malos, hasta sagas familiares de reinos, la que recuerdo que me gusto mas fue: La de Sharkan(bueno en realidad de su padre, el sus hermanos y sobrinos). Estas historias se mezclan algunos con el que sigue
- Sobre moralidad, la religión, las enseñanzas del profeta, que bueno a veces son subpartes de otros cuentos, y va bien, pero en el de Sharkan, si hubo una parte que fue como que demasiado.
- Sobre Djinnis y seres similares, son interesantes. Me gusto una de un pescador.
- Y las que son de diferentes estilos, pero que tienen mucho que ver con aplicar el truco o lo inesperado para salir de alguna situación en su mayoría.
Una cosa que si es muy interesante es como una historia luego dentro de ella trae historias, que traen dentro otras historias, se vuelve como varias capas, y en algunas eso hace que una historia "cortita" dentro trae tantas que entr el inicio y final pasan muchas cosas, como en la del cadaver y los tres acusados, o el de los hermanos tuertos, o la casa de la fiesta.
Pero ahi, poco a poco vamos leyendo y asi con sus pausas creo que va bien para no saturarme con todo
4.7 stars
May 31, 2021
The Little Hunchback from the Arabian Nights
I the kingdom of Kashgar lived a tailor and his wife. One day a little hunchback sat a the entrance of the tailors shop and began to play his tambourine. The tailor was amused and invited him to came to his house and play his tambourine for his wife. The hunchback agreed to come.
When they reached the house they found the table ready for supper and in no time all three were sitting before a beautiful fish. Unluckily the hunchback swallowed a large bone and died to suffocation instantly on the spot. The couple were frightened thinking that the police would throw them in prison. To prevent this calamity they both sat thinking of a plan which would throw suspicion on someone else. They made up their minds and selected a Jewish doctor who lived nearby.
They carried the hunchback to the doctor's house. They knocked at the door and it opened strait on to a steep dark staircase and servant appeared and asked what they wanted. The tailor replied that they had a very sick man who needed to be cured. The servant ran to his master who was very excited to treat the patient as he had no patients from morning. Meanwhile the couple carried the body and kept it on the staircase and ran home.
As the staircase was dark the doctor could not see as he ran on top he bumped into the hunchback and it rolled down the staircase. "Get a light" he screamed! His servant came with a lantern and when the light fell on the body he was stunned and afraid thinking that he killed a sick man. He was very scared so he bought the body to his wife's room. The were thinking of a plan to get rid of the body. And then a plan was made to lower the body in tee chimney of their neighbour the mussalman. They lowered the body as planed and left immediately.
When the mussalman came home from a wedding he saw some thing in the campfire place so he took a stick and struck him with it. When saw that the person was not moving at all he went closer and that he was dead. He was too very scared so he took the body and kept it outside a Christian's shop and left for his house.
In the morning when the Christian came to his shop the hunchback fell on him. The Christian thought that someone was attacking him so he knocked him down with on blow of his fist. He cried for help whilst beating the man. Then the chief policeman of the quarter came and found a Christian ill treating a mussalman. So his was sentenced to death by the judge.
On the day of the hang when the chief of police ordered the gallows to be erected, the mussalman came and told the chief to stop and told that he killed the hunchback so they should hang him so the mussalman was about to be hanged but then the doctor came and told it was his fault and that he kill the hunchback. Then the couple showed up and told that they saw him die and he was suffocated as he swallowed a bone so they should be hanged.
After this the Sultan showed up to decide who should be hanged. But to everyone's surprise the Sultan told his servant to write down the incident in a form of a story and told each one to tell this to the younger generation so this story of the hunchback will live forever.
I the kingdom of Kashgar lived a tailor and his wife. One day a little hunchback sat a the entrance of the tailors shop and began to play his tambourine. The tailor was amused and invited him to came to his house and play his tambourine for his wife. The hunchback agreed to come.
When they reached the house they found the table ready for supper and in no time all three were sitting before a beautiful fish. Unluckily the hunchback swallowed a large bone and died to suffocation instantly on the spot. The couple were frightened thinking that the police would throw them in prison. To prevent this calamity they both sat thinking of a plan which would throw suspicion on someone else. They made up their minds and selected a Jewish doctor who lived nearby.
They carried the hunchback to the doctor's house. They knocked at the door and it opened strait on to a steep dark staircase and servant appeared and asked what they wanted. The tailor replied that they had a very sick man who needed to be cured. The servant ran to his master who was very excited to treat the patient as he had no patients from morning. Meanwhile the couple carried the body and kept it on the staircase and ran home.
As the staircase was dark the doctor could not see as he ran on top he bumped into the hunchback and it rolled down the staircase. "Get a light" he screamed! His servant came with a lantern and when the light fell on the body he was stunned and afraid thinking that he killed a sick man. He was very scared so he bought the body to his wife's room. The were thinking of a plan to get rid of the body. And then a plan was made to lower the body in tee chimney of their neighbour the mussalman. They lowered the body as planed and left immediately.
When the mussalman came home from a wedding he saw some thing in the campfire place so he took a stick and struck him with it. When saw that the person was not moving at all he went closer and that he was dead. He was too very scared so he took the body and kept it outside a Christian's shop and left for his house.
In the morning when the Christian came to his shop the hunchback fell on him. The Christian thought that someone was attacking him so he knocked him down with on blow of his fist. He cried for help whilst beating the man. Then the chief policeman of the quarter came and found a Christian ill treating a mussalman. So his was sentenced to death by the judge.
On the day of the hang when the chief of police ordered the gallows to be erected, the mussalman came and told the chief to stop and told that he killed the hunchback so they should hang him so the mussalman was about to be hanged but then the doctor came and told it was his fault and that he kill the hunchback. Then the couple showed up and told that they saw him die and he was suffocated as he swallowed a bone so they should be hanged.
After this the Sultan showed up to decide who should be hanged. But to everyone's surprise the Sultan told his servant to write down the incident in a form of a story and told each one to tell this to the younger generation so this story of the hunchback will live forever.
August 30, 2017
I've long wanted to read this eternally mutable human masterpiece all the way through, and have made several stabs over the years, including Richard Burton's classic (though now, I understand, compromised) Victorian translation. A couple of years ago, I picked up Malcolm Lyons' unabridged Penguin translation from the mid-aughties, figuring that if I owned it already, I'd feel more pressure. I tried a couple of times since, only to stall around Night 40 (out of, many will know, 1001). Having designated the Nights, the classic Chinese novel The Three Kingdoms, and Proust's Remembrance of Things Past as inescapable projects for the winter, and unsure how my trip to small-town Wisconsin last week to visit my mom would turn out, I packed the first volume, figuring I'd get through at least some of it (though hedging my bets, packed the first volume of The Three Kingdoms as well). Surprising myself, I got all the way through Night 249 by the time I left (and almost all the way through the first volume).
“The king said, 'Shahrazad, you have made me renounce my preoccupation with my kingdom and you have made me regret the excesses to which I went in killing women and girls. Do you have any more stories about birds?” That's halfway through Night 148, and in case you were starting to wonder whether King Shahriyar had some Abbasid version of ADD (as I was) that did for it. Even though I figure everyone knows the general story (though you never know; the fantasy writer and critic Lin Carter had to give a correspondent the lowdown, as he'd never heard of it before), King Shahriyar, having learned of his fellow king's cuckolding by the latter's wife, decides that women aren't to be trusted and goes on a killing spree, taking virgin subjects as wives and then executing them the morning after their wedding. His vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, is next on the list, but manages to keep him preoccupied for almost three years by telling him story after story, night after night, often stopping in the middle at the end or dropping hints of another, even more marvelous tale that keeps, as mentioned above, Shahriyar enraptured with his new wife's storytelling ability, not to mention the content she delivers. The most famous stories, of course, include those of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sindbad (all of which are apparently at least partially apocryphal, and the middle of which comes at the conclusion of the first volume).
In response to my praise of The Count of Monte Cristo on my now defunct blog several years ago, a correspondent of mine mentioned that he saw Count as akin to the Nights in the same way he saw War and Peace as akin to the Iliad--similar in preoccupations but different in form. In many ways, though, Count came closer in form, with its connotations nearly of magic and its stories within stories within stories (and I doubt Dumas missed the comparison either). Arabic scholar and critic Robert Irwin (himself a frequent interpreter of the Nights, including in his superb collection of classic Arabic literature Night, Horses, and the Desert, as well as an espionage thriller The Arabian Nightmare that I kinda want to read now) has a wonderful introduction in which he discusses the Nights' gradual accretion (mostly from Arabic and Persian sources but occasionally from farther afield; there are apparently a number of Greek or Hindu originals to certain stories or themes) and transformation (classic translations like Galland's original French rendition and then Burton's complicated Victorian curlicues) over the years, and its fundamental essence: “The Arabian Nights should be understood as the collective dreaming of commercial folk in the great cities of the medieval Arab world.” If you don't mind spoilers (and given the sheer number of stories, it's easy to forget them by the time you arrive), it's a beautiful summary and well worth reading.
As to the stories themselves, I'll single out the epic saga of King Umar ibn al-Nu'man: there's sex, intrigue, chivalry, espionage, magic, war, diplomacy... it's like the Muslim equivalent of Orlando Furioso as written by Ian Fleming (with an evil Rosa Klebb-like witch thrown into the bargain). It lasts over a hundred nights (a good tenth of the collection) and I'd be interested to see if anyone's tried to turn it into a standalone novel or something. That goes for a number of stories; some, of course, been turned into everything from Ray Harryhausen spectaculars to late Disney tentpoles, but there's just so much more to choose from that I worry I'll be depressed by the end at how much wonder will get lost among the rush of narrative. So (a) I'm pacing myself good; I'll likely stop at the end of the volume and maybe leave the other two for the holidays or even next year and (b) I'll leaven my reading as well with some of the companion volumes listed; there are some interesting references I'm curious to nail down and hopefully there'll be a catalog somewhere of the kinds of pop culture that have been spun off this pop-cultural milestone. Great stuff.
“The king said, 'Shahrazad, you have made me renounce my preoccupation with my kingdom and you have made me regret the excesses to which I went in killing women and girls. Do you have any more stories about birds?” That's halfway through Night 148, and in case you were starting to wonder whether King Shahriyar had some Abbasid version of ADD (as I was) that did for it. Even though I figure everyone knows the general story (though you never know; the fantasy writer and critic Lin Carter had to give a correspondent the lowdown, as he'd never heard of it before), King Shahriyar, having learned of his fellow king's cuckolding by the latter's wife, decides that women aren't to be trusted and goes on a killing spree, taking virgin subjects as wives and then executing them the morning after their wedding. His vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, is next on the list, but manages to keep him preoccupied for almost three years by telling him story after story, night after night, often stopping in the middle at the end or dropping hints of another, even more marvelous tale that keeps, as mentioned above, Shahriyar enraptured with his new wife's storytelling ability, not to mention the content she delivers. The most famous stories, of course, include those of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sindbad (all of which are apparently at least partially apocryphal, and the middle of which comes at the conclusion of the first volume).
In response to my praise of The Count of Monte Cristo on my now defunct blog several years ago, a correspondent of mine mentioned that he saw Count as akin to the Nights in the same way he saw War and Peace as akin to the Iliad--similar in preoccupations but different in form. In many ways, though, Count came closer in form, with its connotations nearly of magic and its stories within stories within stories (and I doubt Dumas missed the comparison either). Arabic scholar and critic Robert Irwin (himself a frequent interpreter of the Nights, including in his superb collection of classic Arabic literature Night, Horses, and the Desert, as well as an espionage thriller The Arabian Nightmare that I kinda want to read now) has a wonderful introduction in which he discusses the Nights' gradual accretion (mostly from Arabic and Persian sources but occasionally from farther afield; there are apparently a number of Greek or Hindu originals to certain stories or themes) and transformation (classic translations like Galland's original French rendition and then Burton's complicated Victorian curlicues) over the years, and its fundamental essence: “The Arabian Nights should be understood as the collective dreaming of commercial folk in the great cities of the medieval Arab world.” If you don't mind spoilers (and given the sheer number of stories, it's easy to forget them by the time you arrive), it's a beautiful summary and well worth reading.
As to the stories themselves, I'll single out the epic saga of King Umar ibn al-Nu'man: there's sex, intrigue, chivalry, espionage, magic, war, diplomacy... it's like the Muslim equivalent of Orlando Furioso as written by Ian Fleming (with an evil Rosa Klebb-like witch thrown into the bargain). It lasts over a hundred nights (a good tenth of the collection) and I'd be interested to see if anyone's tried to turn it into a standalone novel or something. That goes for a number of stories; some, of course, been turned into everything from Ray Harryhausen spectaculars to late Disney tentpoles, but there's just so much more to choose from that I worry I'll be depressed by the end at how much wonder will get lost among the rush of narrative. So (a) I'm pacing myself good; I'll likely stop at the end of the volume and maybe leave the other two for the holidays or even next year and (b) I'll leaven my reading as well with some of the companion volumes listed; there are some interesting references I'm curious to nail down and hopefully there'll be a catalog somewhere of the kinds of pop culture that have been spun off this pop-cultural milestone. Great stuff.
August 18, 2015
On yaşındaki çocukların cinsel hayatı, kölelerin tecavüz merakı (sonu kastrasyon), kralların tecavüz merakı (sonu yüzlerce kişilik haremler), toplu seks partileri, dakika başı cihat ilan edip asıp kesen padişahlar, en doğru din bizimki deyip diğer herkesi inançsız addedip yine asıp kesen çok dindar insanlar, yüreğe korku salmaktan başka bir işi olmayan o yüce tanrı, tüm kadınların büyücü-aşağılık-iş çeviren olarak gösterilmesi, para hırsı, toprak hırsı, parçalarına ayrılarak öldürülen kadınlar, vay-din-kardeşim-sen-tecavüz-mü-etmiştin-o-kadına-gel-seni-affedeyim-kadını-da-öldüreyim-bari diyen erk sahipleri, hırsızların aynı zamanda polis olması, her şeyin illa bir kralın ya da kral çocuğunun başına gelmesi, kadın-erkek fark etmeksizin herkesin aynı güzelliğe sahip olması, güzellik anlayışının her saniye göze sokulması, güzel olmayanların ölüme layık görülmesi, "biz" dedikleri şeye yaklaşamayan herkesin ölüme layık görülmesi, kılıç sallarken bile okunan şiirler, bir türlü bitmeyen mazmunlar...
1001 Gece Masalları'nın hepsini okuyan kişinin öleceğine dair bir efsane duymuştum ki buna hak vermeden edemeyeceğim çünkü insan bunları okurken yürek ağrısından veya klişeden ölebilir gibi geldi bana henüz üçte birini okumuş olmama rağmen. Okumakta çok zorlandım çünkü aşırı yorucuydu, kitabı kaç kere fırlatıp atıp yarım bırakmak istediğimi hatırlayamıyorum bile. Birbirini tekrar eden binlerce hatta belki milyonlarca ifadeyi çevirme sabrına sahip oldukları için çevirmenlere derin bir saygı duydum. Onun dışında hikâyeler korkunçtu. Gönül isterdi ki hayatımda duyduğum en cinsiyetçi ve ırkçı ifadeler burada barınıyor diyebileyim ama okudukça fark ettim ki yüzyıllar öncesinin anlatıları ile şimdinin hiçbir farkı yok. Kadına, ırklara, sınıflara bakış zerre kadar bile değişmemiş, sadece "modern dünya" diye bir süsleme edinmiş.
1001 Gece Masalları'nın hepsini okuyan kişinin öleceğine dair bir efsane duymuştum ki buna hak vermeden edemeyeceğim çünkü insan bunları okurken yürek ağrısından veya klişeden ölebilir gibi geldi bana henüz üçte birini okumuş olmama rağmen. Okumakta çok zorlandım çünkü aşırı yorucuydu, kitabı kaç kere fırlatıp atıp yarım bırakmak istediğimi hatırlayamıyorum bile. Birbirini tekrar eden binlerce hatta belki milyonlarca ifadeyi çevirme sabrına sahip oldukları için çevirmenlere derin bir saygı duydum. Onun dışında hikâyeler korkunçtu. Gönül isterdi ki hayatımda duyduğum en cinsiyetçi ve ırkçı ifadeler burada barınıyor diyebileyim ama okudukça fark ettim ki yüzyıllar öncesinin anlatıları ile şimdinin hiçbir farkı yok. Kadına, ırklara, sınıflara bakış zerre kadar bile değişmemiş, sadece "modern dünya" diye bir süsleme edinmiş.
December 8, 2024
Well, that was wild and somewhat unexpected. Where to even begin, I have a lot I want to say. It was very interesting to read stories that are so completely divorced from European culture and Christian morality that most of the time I had no idea where they were going.
They are also definitely not children’s stories. They are frequently erotic and feature a good amount of sex, sometimes amusingly explicit with metaphors that would put modern romance writers to shame in their creativity. Most of the stories are of love and lust and as such feature a surprising amount of poetry, mutual and one-sided pining, fainting and wasting away because of love. Some of the more frustrating stories are the ones that go back and forth between the pining accompanied by copious singing and poetry of course, and don’t even end happily.
I liked that both women and men’s beauty was talked about in the same way. Men are also like the moon, like gazelles etc. without it being seen as emasculating in any way. They also swoon and waste away from love as much if not more than women.
The way women are portrayed is problematic to say the least and I thought that would be the case when I started the book. What I did not expect is the amount of frankly kickass female characters that also made an appearance. From warrior-princesses and warrior-queens to willy old schemers or determined slaves, it felt like the women of 1001 nights have a lot more agency than women generally have in European stories, often saving themselves, their lovers or not shying away from cutting off a head or two and taking revenge.
They are also more pro-active in romance, can take the lead and enjoy sex about as much as the men. Although this is sometimes used to show that women and their lusty ways are untrustworthy and below the dignity of men, the women that are set up as good examples also enjoy sex. However, the men in some of the stories are also shown enjoying the company and conversation of women even without love and sex being involved.
As for the problematic things, ah, there are so many. It was funny to see that Christians in Muslim stories are about as reviled and their religion as misunderstood as Muslims are in Christian stories of the Middle Ages. I’m not going to go into any details, but I wound up cringing every time a Christian showed up in the stories after a while. The Bedouin and black slaves are also mostly portrayed as villains or untrustworthy. And of course, there are a lot of slaves in general in the stories, only a couple of which ever get freed.
I also felt that my sense of morality was sometimes going against the grain of the stories.
[SPOILER WARNING]
This was particularly true in the story of Princess Abriza, where a truly great character winds up roofied, raped, impregnated and killed as she is giving birth. The only person who thinks the person responsible for this deserves to die is her grandmother, Dhat Al-Dawahi, who proceeds to take revenge without caring the man in question was a king. The author tries to paint Dhat Al-Dawahi in the worst possible light but through things that actual endear her to the modern reader (unnaturally smart! cunning! a lesbian!). And while it was inevitable she would meet a gruesome end, I was rooting for her to escape every time she reappeared in the (ridiculously long and convoluted) story.
[END OF SPOILER]
This is another thing that gets frustrating at times, how many stories appear within the story within the story sometimes. Let me explain. Scheherazade tells the story of a merchant to the king, the merchant meets a jinn to whom he tells the story of meeting three men who each have a story to tell and maybe one of those men met another three men with another three stories and... I think you get my point. Sometimes I struggled to remember what the original story was about when we finally circled back around to it.
One way the writers try to convince you of a character’s unworthiness is through somewhat long gross descriptions of how they look, their ailments and habits which I could’ve done without. This being a book whose stories originate in the Middle Ages or earlier, there is also a fair bit of brutality in the stories. Murder, dismemberment, torture, executions, crucifixions, the whole lot. Occasionally, there is also roofing, incest both intentional and unintentional, poligamy, crossdressing of both genders and rather young kids getting married and having children.
Another interesting point I wanted to make is that while I was reading 1001 Nights, I read in parallel a book about ancient Egyptian myths and the way those stories progressed oddly echoed the logic of the 1001 Nights stories. So perhaps the 1001 Nights were the result of a natural evolution of Egyptian and Middle Eastern storytelling traditions that have existed for thousands of years. But that’s just my guess.
Will I read the other 606 remaining nights of 1001 Nights? Maybe at some point. I think I now need a break from all the craziness.
They are also definitely not children’s stories. They are frequently erotic and feature a good amount of sex, sometimes amusingly explicit with metaphors that would put modern romance writers to shame in their creativity. Most of the stories are of love and lust and as such feature a surprising amount of poetry, mutual and one-sided pining, fainting and wasting away because of love. Some of the more frustrating stories are the ones that go back and forth between the pining accompanied by copious singing and poetry of course, and don’t even end happily.
I liked that both women and men’s beauty was talked about in the same way. Men are also like the moon, like gazelles etc. without it being seen as emasculating in any way. They also swoon and waste away from love as much if not more than women.
The way women are portrayed is problematic to say the least and I thought that would be the case when I started the book. What I did not expect is the amount of frankly kickass female characters that also made an appearance. From warrior-princesses and warrior-queens to willy old schemers or determined slaves, it felt like the women of 1001 nights have a lot more agency than women generally have in European stories, often saving themselves, their lovers or not shying away from cutting off a head or two and taking revenge.
They are also more pro-active in romance, can take the lead and enjoy sex about as much as the men. Although this is sometimes used to show that women and their lusty ways are untrustworthy and below the dignity of men, the women that are set up as good examples also enjoy sex. However, the men in some of the stories are also shown enjoying the company and conversation of women even without love and sex being involved.
As for the problematic things, ah, there are so many. It was funny to see that Christians in Muslim stories are about as reviled and their religion as misunderstood as Muslims are in Christian stories of the Middle Ages. I’m not going to go into any details, but I wound up cringing every time a Christian showed up in the stories after a while. The Bedouin and black slaves are also mostly portrayed as villains or untrustworthy. And of course, there are a lot of slaves in general in the stories, only a couple of which ever get freed.
I also felt that my sense of morality was sometimes going against the grain of the stories.
[SPOILER WARNING]
This was particularly true in the story of Princess Abriza, where a truly great character winds up roofied, raped, impregnated and killed as she is giving birth. The only person who thinks the person responsible for this deserves to die is her grandmother, Dhat Al-Dawahi, who proceeds to take revenge without caring the man in question was a king. The author tries to paint Dhat Al-Dawahi in the worst possible light but through things that actual endear her to the modern reader (unnaturally smart! cunning! a lesbian!). And while it was inevitable she would meet a gruesome end, I was rooting for her to escape every time she reappeared in the (ridiculously long and convoluted) story.
[END OF SPOILER]
This is another thing that gets frustrating at times, how many stories appear within the story within the story sometimes. Let me explain. Scheherazade tells the story of a merchant to the king, the merchant meets a jinn to whom he tells the story of meeting three men who each have a story to tell and maybe one of those men met another three men with another three stories and... I think you get my point. Sometimes I struggled to remember what the original story was about when we finally circled back around to it.
One way the writers try to convince you of a character’s unworthiness is through somewhat long gross descriptions of how they look, their ailments and habits which I could’ve done without. This being a book whose stories originate in the Middle Ages or earlier, there is also a fair bit of brutality in the stories. Murder, dismemberment, torture, executions, crucifixions, the whole lot. Occasionally, there is also roofing, incest both intentional and unintentional, poligamy, crossdressing of both genders and rather young kids getting married and having children.
Another interesting point I wanted to make is that while I was reading 1001 Nights, I read in parallel a book about ancient Egyptian myths and the way those stories progressed oddly echoed the logic of the 1001 Nights stories. So perhaps the 1001 Nights were the result of a natural evolution of Egyptian and Middle Eastern storytelling traditions that have existed for thousands of years. But that’s just my guess.
Will I read the other 606 remaining nights of 1001 Nights? Maybe at some point. I think I now need a break from all the craziness.
July 18, 2019
I needed to read the introduction and other para-text in this volume to know more about this particular translation for a project I'm working on.
on-hold
February 24, 2024Reading log, because I'm probably going to take a couple years to read this volume.
Feb 2024 - Intro and Nights 1-10 - Holy shit why did no one tell me Sherherazad is such a fucking badass. Crying about how much I love her and we're ten pages in. Getting real Penelope vibes.
I think my favorite story of this bunch was the one with the 4 colored fish. It had the best narrative arc to me.
Feb 2024 - Intro and Nights 1-10 - Holy shit why did no one tell me Sherherazad is such a fucking badass. Crying about how much I love her and we're ten pages in. Getting real Penelope vibes.
I think my favorite story of this bunch was the one with the 4 colored fish. It had the best narrative arc to me.
August 18, 2017
In all fairness, I didn't finish this.
I thought the opening to the over-arching story was good, if not extremely sexist (I accept that given the time it was written), and intriguing. I also read the story at the end of Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves, which I quite enjoyed (although the very end was quite sexist despite the wits and bravery of the slave girl). But the middle. Oooh. The middle. I made it to the end of Night 1. That's it. The stories are set up to be stories-within-stories-within-stories on this horrific circular loop that was just so, so confusing. I was so mixed up trying to follow that I gave up because I wasn't having fun anymore. And there were 1000 more to go.
Mercy.
Tales: 1
Me: 0
I thought the opening to the over-arching story was good, if not extremely sexist (I accept that given the time it was written), and intriguing. I also read the story at the end of Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves, which I quite enjoyed (although the very end was quite sexist despite the wits and bravery of the slave girl). But the middle. Oooh. The middle. I made it to the end of Night 1. That's it. The stories are set up to be stories-within-stories-within-stories on this horrific circular loop that was just so, so confusing. I was so mixed up trying to follow that I gave up because I wasn't having fun anymore. And there were 1000 more to go.
Mercy.
Tales: 1
Me: 0
October 7, 2018
Marvelling with exceeding marvel!
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