The Arabian Nights (Everyman's Library) [Hardcover]

Husain Haddawy (Author), Muhsin Mahdi (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0679413383 | ISBN-13: 978-0679413387 | Publication Date: June 30, 1992

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

These stories (and stories within stories, and stories within stories within stories), told by the Princess Shahrazad under the threat of death if she ceases to amuse, first reached the West around 1700. They fired in the European imagination an appetite for the mysterious and exotic which has never left it. Collected over centuries from India, Persia, and Arabia, and ranging from vivacious erotica, animal fables, and adventure fantasies to pointed Sufi tales, the stories of The Arabian Nights provided the daily entertainment of the medieval Islamic world at the height of its glory.

The present new translation by Husain Haddawy is of the Mahdi edition, the definitive Arabic edition of a fourteenth-century Syrian manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, which is the oldest surviving version of the tales and is considered to be the most authentic. This early version is without the embellishments and additions that appear in later Indian and Egyptian manuscripts, on which all previous English translations were based.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The essential quality of these tales lies in their success in interweaving the unusual, the extraordinary, the marvelous, and the supernatural into the fabric of everyday life . . . In the [Arabian] Nights themselves, tales divert, cure, redeem, and save lives . . . They are enriched by the pleasure of a marvelous adventure and a sense of wonder, which makes life possible.” –from the Introduction by Husain Haddawy

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Arabic

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Everyman's Library (June 30, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679413383
• ISBN-13: 978-0679413387
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #220,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

185 of 191 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic adventures in the land of Arabian Nights.., May 1, 2000

By 

Charles Pinney (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Arabian Nights (Paperback)

I will say that Husain Haddawy's translations of "The Arabian Nights" are the best you'll read for quite some time. I've had these books for awhile now and they're great. Haddawy has done a remarkable job and provides great introductions for both books. A map is also provided in each book showing the locales mentioned in the stories.

There are really two volumes you will need to get the complete collection. This volume has the earlier stories as told by Shahrazad, classic tales of mystery, fun, and excitement.

The second book " The Arabian Nights II" has the more popular stores most people are familiar with. Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba and the Fourty Thieves, Ala al-Din (Aladdin) and the Magic Lamp.

Be sure to get them both and you'll be transported to the mystical lands of Arabian Nights. Enjoy.

107 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So much more than I expected! Accept no other translation!, April 20, 2002

By 

dltstl "dltstl" (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Arabian Nights (Everyman's Library) (Hardcover)

I really had no idea how much I would enjoy this! I came to it with some vague recollections of some of the tales as they had been adapted into children's stories, but I soon discovered I actually knew almost nothing about the Arabian Nights.

The introduction was extremely helpful in explaining the history of the Arabian Nights, why there are different versions, and why those different versions may contain different tales. This volume collects the oldest, "original" tales. More familiar stories that were added later--such as Sinbad and Aladdin--are collected in a separate volume, Arabian Nights II.

This translation is an absolute joy to read. The language is vivid and alive--thoroughly modern, yet (judging from the effect on me as a reader) certainly successful in conveying the nuances of the original text.

I glanced at the Modern Library Burton edition after reading this. It reads like a King James Bible. Why subject yourself to a translation that you to re-translate in order to read--especially with a wonderful modern translation like this available? How terribly that must choke the pace of the stories!

I felt like the King himself as I read this, knowing that I needed to put it down to go to sleep, but constantly telling myself, "Well, maybe I'll push on for just one more night..." Funny, sexy, violent, and packed with magic and adventure, it really had it all.

Except for children, for whom the original tales are too sexual and violent, I can hardly imagine an audience this WOULDN'T appeal to!

64 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best version of the "Nights" -- hands down!, October 21, 2002

By 

Scott Chamberlain "Historian and archaeologist" (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Arabian Nights (Everyman's Library) (Hardcover)

I have loved the Arabian Nights since I was a kid. But its fame as a "children's book" has often been a disadvantage -- most editions are simplified, hobbled and sanitized. The unedited versions geared more for adults are a hundred years old, and often show their age. Burton, for example, is an impressive edition but the language is almost a parody of High Victorian English. This edition by Haddawy is almost as perfect as it could possibly be. First, the introduction is wonderful and definately worth reading on its own -- how many times can you say *that* about a book? It sets the stage for understanding the work, the problems in translating it, and the world the Nights came from. It is clearly, smoothly written. These strengths are carried over to the main text as well. The writing is so direct, modern, vivid, and thrilling! It effortlessly takes you into this vanished world of danger, love, magic and adventure. Many expressions are modernized, such as "demon" for "genie" or "God" for "Allah," which work well, although I wouldn't have minded the the more "romantic" terms. Haddawy explains his choice of stories... the full original text only contains about 300 nights worth of tales. Most of the famous stories were added later (Aladdin, Sindbad, etc.) in response to greater interest in the work. Readers looking for these stories should check out Haddawy's companion volume, "Arabian Nights II," which has these famous stories and shares almost all the virtues of this volume. Finally, these books are wonderfully put together: great paper, type, binding... very satisfying just as a physical form. For those who loved these stories, or anyone with a sense of adventure, buy this! Buy it now!