An interesting read as historical artifact. Full of romance and violence and sexism and sentiments like: A woman needs a husband or a grave. Pretty entertaining overall. ( )

This is as good as it gets. I don't know Arabic so there's no way I can judge the accuracy of the translation -- all I know is how it reads, and it reads superbly. I'd rather not get into any "oh, but there's only 271 nights here, what the --" patter. I have the newer, bigger Penguin translation on my shelves too & it presumably uses the (much!) longer Egyptian 'version' (version is the wrong word but I can't think of the right one at the moment) ... but I doubt it could be, well, better than this. What's here is simply the rapture of tales, tales, tales ... and it's a volume that makes it eminently clear why people get obsessed with this thing. I'm a bit obsessed with it, right now. ( )

The famous tale ("Open Sesame") is magical. The rest are barely mediocre aside from historical interest. ( )

This edition is translated into the English from Arabic by Husain Haddawy. The Arabic source is a 14th century Syrian manuscript edited by Muhsin Mahdi.

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2548075.html

A translation of one of the classic Arabian Nights manuscripts, with some familiar stories absent (Aladdin, Sinbad, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves) but lots more, all giving a very vivid picture of a time and a number of places in a world stretching from Egypt to India as a single cultural unit, but centred on Baghdad and Persia. There's a lot of fairly intricate nesting of stories within stories - I think it was four layers deep at one point - but all rather entertaining, with of course some stories displaying the prejudices of the day, but others giving women agency - including the framing narrative. I actually started with the Burton translation, but found it unreadable; this is much better. ( )

This is the best version out there and excellent on the history of the Nights and where previous translators were amiss. ( )

There are many versions of The Arabian Nights that have floated about over the centuries; this one is a translation of the Mahdi edition, based on the oldest known copy from 14th century Syria. It has 271 “nights”, tales that were collected from Persia, Arabia, and India and containing stories within stories (and sometimes within stories, and so on). The collection was expanded over the centuries to reach the well-known 1,001 nights, including “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp", "The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor", and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" – none of this later content is present in this version.

With that said, it’s an enjoyable read, and there is plenty of 700 year old sex and violence from the Middle East to hold one’s interest. :)

The stage is set in the prologue in a way that certainly opens the eyes. There are two kings, one named Shahrayar, the other Shahzaman, who are brothers. Shahzaman is sent for by his brother to visit, but before leaving, discovers his wife in the arms of one of the kitchen boys. Naturally, he strikes them with his sword, drags them by their heels, and throws them from the top of the palace to the trench below. He then arrives in Shahrayar’s domain in a dejected mood. As he’s agonizing over his sorrow, he finds himself a witness to an interracial orgy involving Shahrayar’s wife, ten white slave girls, ten black slaves who had been dressed as girls, and Mas’ud, another black slave who, upon being summoned, jumps out of a tree to have his way with the Queen. Yeah, wow.

Shahrayar can’t believe his ears when he hears of this, and so the two of them have to watch a repeat performance to convince him. They are so disheartened that they decide to take to the road and leave the palace. That night they see what seems to be a giant pillar, one that grows to touch the clouds, emerging from the sea. They flee in terror and hide in a tree, and when they look again discover that the pillar is actually a mighty demon, who approaches without seeing them, carrying a large glass chest with four locks. He sets it down in the meadow beneath them and unlocks it, and what emerges is a beautiful woman, with a face “like the full moon, and a lovely smile.” The demon then proceeds to fall asleep, whereupon the woman notices Shahrayar and Shahzaman in the tree, and asks them to come down and make love to her, otherwise she’ll wake her husband the demon and have him kill them. They comply, one after the other, and she then asks for a ring as a souvenir from each; she’s collected one from each of her lovers and has now reached a full hundred, despite the demon keeping her locked up. Again, yeah, wow.

The brothers decide to return to their kingdoms and never marry again. Shahrayar has his wife and all her slave girls killed, but then formulates a new plan, to marry a new woman each night and then kill her in the morning to prevent her from cheating on him. After he’s done this for so long that girls in the kingdom are becoming a little scarce, Shahrazad (sometimes spelled Scheherazade), the vizier’s daughter, volunteers to marry the king. She is smart and very well read, and her plan for survival is to tell the king a new story each night, but to not finish it, betting on his curiosity to postpone the execution from night to night.

And thus begin the stories, each ‘tale’ or night of which are generally just a couple pages each, but which are grouped into larger stories, such as The Fisherman and the Demon, The Porter and the Three Ladies, and The Hunchback. The prologue is so classic that frankly it’s a tough act to follow, and I have to say the tales tend to get a bit tedious. If you’re not a fan of misogyny or body parts getting lopped off you may not enjoy them, but they are certainly not dry, and there is something special about reading stories this old that provided entertainment for the medieval Islam world, similar to The Decameron or The Canterbury Tales. I prefer those other books to this one, but wonder if the inclusion of the other stories in the 1,001 Nights version would have upped my rating. ( )

The Haddawy translation of the Nights is by far my favorite. It doesn't have every possible story (although many more are covered in the second volume) and it's not a huge 19 volume set or anything but the translation is so readable and enjoyable. The poetry is translated well and in most cases actually is still quite poetic even in translation (and many times those kinds of things don't translate well). There are brief footnotes to explain things the translator doesn't think the reader will automatically know which is helpful in understanding the context of the story. This translation is also fairly concise and doesn't add any extra's to draw out the stories length. Overall it's a great introduction to Alf Layla we Layla for new readers of this fantastic set of stories within stories (probably why this and the 2nd volume tend to be so popular for college literature classes) and it's also a nice read for those already familiar with the Arabian Nights as translated by Lang, Lane, Burton, or any other translator. It does contain some scenes of sexual intercourse and such so it's still not a children's version but it's also not overly excessive graphic content either. If your only going to read one version of the Arabian Nights make it this one. ( )

The ultimate "story within a story" - think How I Met Your Mother, only a few hundred years earlier, and a lot more gruesome. The episodic setup makes it easy to read this book in short bursts, and each little story is interesting in its own way. ( )

While I can't comment on the quality of the translation, The Arabian Nights is a dizzying array of stories within stories within stories, playing with the idea that our narrative impulse is the connective tissue that makes civilization possible. The stories are at their best when they fully indulge in fantasy, recounting tales of demons, transformative magic, and epic romance.

As much as I liked the book, however, I had a few complaints, principally the lack of development in the frame story of Shahrazad and its disappointingly abrupt ending. While her story does exist primarily as a means of telling other stories, I really regretted that after her first night with the king, she becomes nothing more than a chapter break. If The Arabian Nights exists as a tribute to her bravery, skill, wit, and inventiveness as a storyteller, I would have appreciated the chance to see her put to use in other ways. The constant interpolations to remind us that she is narrating for her very survival only serve as a reminder that we're learning nothing else about her.

As with any compendium of stories, some are less interesting than others, and I enjoyed the earlier stories a great deal more than those which ended the book. The introduction made mention of the fact that the book was probably the result of a number of different writers, and reading the stories makes that more than plain. The interlocking stories and cliffhanger endings that I found so interesting disappear entirely as the book goes on, to its detriment.

In addition to the sheer pleasure of the book as an exploration of storytelling, I found it a work of great cultural interest as well. Many of the stories have a decidedly foreign flavor, not just in terms of locale but in what the narrator chooses to emphasize. I found myself thinking on many occasions that I wished the Qur'an had been more like this book, as it seems to provide a much greater insight into a culture about which I know depressingly little. ( )

Stories help make us who we are - it is that simple.

This is a very accessible translation, and a beautiful paperback, which delivers the stories in contemporary language. Not only does the work bring Shadrazad back to life for us but it gives us a glimpse into societies quite remote from our own. The stories show the triumph of humans over adversity, on occasion the succumbing of them to it, and generally the love of the tall tale that helps make us social beings.

Long live Shadrazad and all the storytellers... ( )

This is supposed to be an accurate translation of the Arabian Nights, but having read no other version, I can't be the judge of that. I can say that these are very entertaining stories, though it would probably be better not to read them all at once. When you do, a certain sort of tedium sets in. Prepare to put yourself in a different mindset to enjoy these. ( )

The Arabian Nights tell plain crude stories that cater to the basest of instincts: sex, betrayal, alcohol, and thievery to name just a few. But beyond the magical elements and the crudity, the tales themselves claim a higher place as they emphasize the import of story-telling in general, as the tales themselves are tales within tales within tales.

These stories applaud and reverence stories themselves. The original, now anonymous, author of The Nights wrote something that championed a good story teller. And anyone who loves stories can appreciate that.

More detailed review on my blog

This edition of Arabian Nights is followed by a second edition that includes the better-known stories (including Aladdin). I didn't recognize any of the stories in this edition. Granted, I didn't read every story.

I think the trouble with getting together an "authoritative text" on the Arabian Nights is that the stories were never meant to be compiled into a book and read straight through. The stories are part of a rich oral culture that involved sitting around a fire with fine musical instruments, good food, great company and a storyteller who could draw in extra details and add in any embellishments that he thought the crowd would appreciate. Meaning- you never really heard the same story twice.

All of this is lost in a print copy. The stories begin to seem repetitive (which they wouldn't, if they were told over the course of a few years by a traveling storyteller) and the language becomes onerous to continue reading again and again.

However, the stories are a lot of fun :-) If you're interested in the Arabian Nights, I would certainly recommend this edition- Haddawy does well in his translation. But I'd also only read a story or two here and there, so that you don't become tired of it. And that way, the magic will still hit you. Or maybe, you can become the storyteller and read it aloud to someone else- it would probably be excellent in that form! ( )

Why do the husbands always believe the other person when they say "hey your wife just gave birth to puppies! Better lock her in a tower!" I mean doesn't everyone love puppies? ( )

This review is of the Everyman's Library Haddawy translation.

This is the original "Arabian Nights", a collection of stories from Persia from the 7th century to the 13th century. Haddawy's translation is considered the modern definitive, going back to the original sources and removing the stories that are not original added in the 17th and later centuries (such as Ali Babba the thief and Sinbad the Sailor). There is a lot of sex and violence but also incredible stories of love, redemption and heroic quest. On par with the "Decameron", perhaps better. Very enjoyable, the world was a magical place where the supranatural and extraordinary affairs merge with every day life. Leaves a strong impression of place and time, it is easy to see how this has influenced generations and the strong cultural myths it created, truely one of the greats of World Literature. ( )

I enjoyed this much more than I expected to. The stories are constantly fresh and interesting, and I also found it pretty remarkable how sophisticated the storytelling is. A lot of narrative trickery keeps the constant flow of plot entertaining and new; this is nothing like reading a stale collection of fairy tales. Note that this book doesn't contain the tales usually, and apparently spuriously, associated with Arabian Nights, such as Sinbad, Ali Baba, and Aladdin. ( )

This is a fantastic new translation of the Arabian nights. As rich and wonderful as the Burton translation is, it can tend to be overwrought. These stories are from a facinating compliation project trying to determine the oldest tales in the collection, and the stories are cleanly told, well and entertaingly written.

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