Arabian Night's Entertainments (World's Classics) [Paperback]

Robert L. Mack (Editor)

Book Description

Series: World's Classics | Publication Date: December 21, 1995

The Sultan Schahriar's misguided resolution to shelter himself from the possible infidelities of his wives leads to an outbreak of barbarity in his realm and to a reign of terror in his court, stopped only by the resourceful Scheherazade. The tales with which she nightly postpones the Sultan's murderous intent have entered our language and our lives like no other collection of stories before or since. Sinbad, Ali Baba, Aladdin: all make their appearance in Arabian Nights' Entertainments. This edition is the only one to offer the complete text of the earliest English translation, and also provides full notes and plot summaries, especially important in a such a sprawling work of great complexity.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Arabic

About the Author

Robert Mack is Assistant Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. He is also the editor of Oriental Tales in World's Classics. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 976 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 21, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192828320
• ISBN-13: 978-0192828323
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,002,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greatest non-novel fiction of its century, December 26, 2008

By 

Mike (NYC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Arabian Night's Entertainments (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Another reviewer commented on the fact that this is "less true" to the "original text" than a recent translation by a learned scholar.

Arguing over which manuscript of the Arabian Nights is the authoritative one is about as political as arguing over Bible manuscripts. It's also about as pointless. They're all good, though this is probably the most readable translation (devoid of the literal-ness of Haddaway and Burton's flowery language). The question you need to answer is what are you looking for?

If it's literature, especially the complex narrative framing that's enthralled writers for centuries, this is probably your best bet. If you're looking at it from the perspective of Orientalism as a discipline and post-colonial studies, definitely look at the Burton. If you're looking for an honest depiction of the work as an Arab cultural text or just like things a bit more sexed up, look at the Haddawy. Look them over and decide for yourself.

This is the manuscript with the stories most frequently associated with the 1001 Nights, and the most of them. It's more westernized than the recent Haddawy translation, comparatively more orientalized (though not egregiously like Burton's, which I find unreadable) and the longest. It's bowdlerized, yes, compared to the Burton and the Haddawy but it's still a significant text in its own right.

Personally, I would caution against the Haddawy, especially for writers interested in material or casual readers since the "original text" is missing most of the stories found in the Galland like Aladdin and Ali baba and the 40 thieves, the stories most often associated with Arabian Nights. They were mostly inserted much later than the manuscript Haddawy is working from. Just remember, there is not a single definitive version of a text this old. There are several. Each have relative merits, though the Burton doesn't hold up very well to casual reading.

Decide for yourself.

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely love this book, September 22, 2010

By 

Nishadee Perera - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Arabian Night's Entertainments (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

I would have loved to buy the hard cover book with the big font size. But when comparing costs, this is absolutely worth for the money paid. Totally in love with this book. Love the writing style and it gives the feeling which it should give. This takes me to a wonderful world which I prefer to stay back. Unless you hate reading small size letters, I can recommend you to buy this. Even though this is an Oxford World's classic, its not hard for a kid to understand. Very interesting book. It has a good introduction section and other notes to explain the back ground to this stories and how it evolved. Its good to read for any child or adult who is interested in learning literature. As per my understanding this has all the stories of Arabian Nights. This has roughly 60 stories and covers all nights. You can read these and tell the stories to the kids until they sleep. I can rate this as excellent.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Buyer Beware, June 19, 2007

By 

T. Webster (Alaska) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arabian Night's Entertainments (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

The publisher's description of this book is misleading. The translation dates from 1706-1721 but has been typographically modernized (e.g., long "s" that looks like "f" has been replaced). The blather about "textual apparatus" sounds scholarly but amounts to a few pages of notes, an appendix containing plot summaries of the selections represented in this translation, a glossary of foreign terms, and an index. The introduction is plodding, patched together from other introductions, and tendentious.

Example: "For [Scheherazade] ... story-telling is nothing less than a matter of life and death. Again and again in the collection we encounter individuals whose lives depend upon the responses of their listeners to their tales. If, in the frame story which structures the entire body of narratives, for example, Scheherazade fails to persuade the sultan Schahriar to rescind his pledge to execute each of his new wives on the morning following their marriage, she will not only forfeit her own life, but effectively will be Schahriar's accomplice in sentencing an untold number of young women to a similar fate." The heroine's failure would make her an accomplice in murder? I think not. The point of the frame story is that she does indeed succeed in delaying Schahriar's demented vengeance and ultimately cures him of his psychopathy. Whether this is realistic is beside the point: it's a story.

The translation in this edition was extensively bowdlerized, making funny, bawdy, and fairly raw stories suitable for reading by gentlewomen of early 18th century England. This translation of the French Galland translation (1704-1721) from the Arabic has historical interest as the most widely available version of the "Nights" in English throughout the 18th century, but if you are looking for a good, honest translation of these wonderful stories, this is not it. I suggest the translation by Husain Haddawy, which is varied, strange, and wonderful, but not for the squeamish.