The Arabian Nights Thread #1

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The Arabian Nights Thread #1

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1Miela
joulukuu 29, 2013, 10:52 pm

Here's a thread to begin discussion for The Arabian Nights group read.

2Britt84
joulukuu 30, 2013, 2:40 am

Soooo... first question: which edition is everybody reading? There's a lot of different ones around, so I'm just curious.
I personally own a copy of the Mardrus edition (published 1889-1904), which I've read a couple of years ago. I'm thinking of trying a different edition for this group read and reading along, but which one I'll choose might also depend on the editions others are reading :)

3cyderry
joulukuu 30, 2013, 1:48 pm

Mine is:

The Arabian Nights by Anonymous
Other authors: Muhsin J. Al-Musawi (Introduction)
Barnes & Noble Classics (2007), Nook Version

It's been sitting there since I first purchased my Nook several years ago. Now is the time to read it.

4rabbitprincess
joulukuu 30, 2013, 7:40 pm

Mine belonged to my grandfather. It is a collection edited by Orton Lowe, with illustrations by Adelaide H. Bolton, published in 1924 by the John C. Winston Company. I think it's a children's edition, given the print size and number of stories contained in it (also, my grandfather was about 11 when he received it).

5_Zoe_
joulukuu 30, 2013, 8:44 pm

I'm really tempted to buy the two-volume Haddawy translation and join in this group read, even though I was supposed to be reading off the shelf this year....

6Miela
joulukuu 30, 2013, 9:06 pm

I'm planning on reading the THREE (gasp!) volume Penguin classics Arabian Nights.

7luvamystery65
joulukuu 30, 2013, 11:55 pm

I found one from the Friends of the Library book sale this past October. It is translated by Richard F. Burton. I am not qualified to say if this is a good version or not but it is what I have on hand.

8ccookie
joulukuu 31, 2013, 1:03 pm

I have two editions:

Arabian Nights Entertainments by Anonymous; translated by Andrew Lang and illustrated by S. L. Wood from the text of Dr. Jonathan Scott; published 1890.

Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights Vol 1. by Anonymous; translated by Malcolm C. Lyons

I might read some stories from each and see how it goes.

I also had a separate version of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp by Pat Stewart and read that the other day. The writing is very different than Disney!!

9_Zoe_
joulukuu 31, 2013, 1:05 pm

Okay, books have been ordered :)

10andreablythe
joulukuu 31, 2013, 6:12 pm

I will be reading the editions published by Penguin books,
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1,
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2, and
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 3.

My suggestion (if it's feasible) is to try to determine which stories are most common across multiple editions and then ask discussion questions and focus on those.

11lkernagh
joulukuu 31, 2013, 7:31 pm

I read the selected Arabian Nights stories as compiled by Andrew Lang last year and you all are convincing me I should give the unabridged version a read. I could probably skim over the stories I read in 2013.... I need to think about this some more.....;-)

12ccookie
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 1, 2014, 7:59 pm

I was mistaken. I do not have the Lyons edition. I have The Arabian Nights with introduction and notes by Mushin al-Musawi; Consulting Editorial Director - George Stade. Based on H. W.Dulken's edition - serialized between 1863 and 1865 - of the English version of ANtoie Galland's pioneering French translation. Published by Barnes and Nobel in 2007

13PawsforThought
tammikuu 7, 2014, 3:20 pm

I'll be reading a 1960 Swedish translation of the Mardrus translation. It's two volumes and around 1300 pages. It says on the back that it's around 70 of the most known stories.

14JechtShot
tammikuu 7, 2014, 10:19 pm

I recently purchased the 3 volume Penguin Classics version of The Arabian Nights. I am very tempted to follow along with this group read. I'll keep watching this thread to see how the reads will be structured.

15ronincats
tammikuu 10, 2014, 4:45 pm

Mine is the two volume set translated by Husain Haddawy based on the text edited by Muhsin Mahdi.

16andreablythe
tammikuu 11, 2014, 9:24 pm

I've started reading and am through Night 1. The way the narrator breaks in the middle of the story definitely keeps you reading. Also all the nested stories within stories within stories is going to be very interesting.

17JechtShot
tammikuu 13, 2014, 10:36 pm

16> I just started reading and I am currently through Night 5. I also love the way the narration stops mid-story. To me, this adds authenticity to Scheherazade's plan to stave off execution as long as possible and of course makes it almost impossible as a reader to put the book down! The nested stories technique is interesting, sometimes I have to remind myself if this is a story within a story or a story within a story within a story (ad infinitum).

With all of the other books I'd like to read this year, I'm not sure how quickly I will be able to get through all of these story filled nights, but we'll see how it goes.

18ronincats
tammikuu 15, 2014, 12:20 am

I'm starting the introduction in my edition, which is 30 pages. Just counting each story, including the ones inside others, I came up with 49. Since there are 350 days left in the year after tomorrow (when I'll still be working on the introduction), I would need to read at least one story a week to complete the books this year. Since the stories seem to range from 3 to 20 pages, I could certainly read more quickly, but I find with short stories that I benefit from taking my time and spreading them out to really appreciate them. Conversely, 2 pages a day would also do it. Or 3 "nights" a week would also do it.

19PiyushC
tammikuu 15, 2014, 9:44 am

I am reading the Richard Burton version, e-books, split into 16 volumes.

I have read exactly till the end of Night 2 now. To finish it in a year, one would need to read 3 nights a day, so I am quite behind by that reckoning, hopefully will soon speed up.

20cyderry
tammikuu 17, 2014, 11:32 pm

Okay I started and now I'm hooked. I thought I'd just read one or two stories a week and it would take me all year to get through it. Nope. I'm already at Part Three!

21andreablythe
tammikuu 17, 2014, 11:54 pm

It's fun for sure.

22luvamystery65
tammikuu 18, 2014, 10:54 am

#16 Piyush I have the hardback copy of the Burton version. I got it for one dollar at the library book sale. I have not even opened it. Now I'm a little scared!

23PiyushC
tammikuu 18, 2014, 12:00 pm

#22 Hi Roberta, then it might not be the best time to tell you that the first volume is 971 e-pages long (probably closer to 400-450 real pages) and I have reason to believe all the other 15 volumes are not shorter either; which would easily make it the longest book I have ever read (War and Peace being 20% of its size). I have just finished Night 6, 995 to go?

24cyderry
tammikuu 18, 2014, 1:50 pm

my copy must be abridged because my e-book is only 765 pages.

I must investigate...

25PawsforThought
tammikuu 18, 2014, 1:58 pm

23. I don't think any version of Arabian Nights has 1001 nights in it. Most of them (the non-kids versions) seem to be around 500-600 nights. ;)

26plekter
tammikuu 18, 2014, 2:42 pm

I'm reading the 3 volume Penguin one. But only volume 1 this year. I startet two years ago, need to pick it back up this year to finish it.

27luvamystery65
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 18, 2014, 2:54 pm

#22 Oh No! Well I may just go for it but I don't think I am going to get to all of the stories. I'll read what I like and if it does not appeal then move on to the next story.

28PiyushC
tammikuu 19, 2014, 4:40 am

29PawsforThought
tammikuu 19, 2014, 5:26 am

Ah, fascinating.

30cyderry
tammikuu 25, 2014, 6:57 am

I checked that wiki and none of the stories that I've read so far are on that list. Don't know what I'm reading, but I'm marking it as the Arabian Nights.

31PawsforThought
tammikuu 25, 2014, 7:37 am

I'm thinking of copying out that list and marking the ones that are in my edition (as I read them). Could be good to have in the future if I come across another edition with more tales/nights in them.

32PiyushC
tammikuu 25, 2014, 2:10 pm

My edition is, thus far, faithful to the list, though I am horribly behind, having completed exactly 13 nights (I am on the tale of the Second Kalandar).

33andreablythe
tammikuu 25, 2014, 2:56 pm

Some of these tales are far more erotic than I would have thought.

34PawsforThought
tammikuu 25, 2014, 3:00 pm

I just discovered the cause of the incongruity between the amount of nights and the amount of stories (I had it mixed up in my head and thought no edition had 1001 nights when it was supposed to be 1001 stories). The Wikipedia list makes it really clear. There are LOTS of stories that take several (some over ten and a few apparently 20-30) nights to tell.

35cammykitty
tammikuu 25, 2014, 5:25 pm

I'm reading the Modern Library edition translated by Richard Burton. It's language is a bit archaic at times, but that adds to the feel. Heavily annotated so I got an ebook copy to go with my paperback copy. It was just to clunky to go back and forth in the paperback.

I'm not very far into it, but am noticing a thread of misogyny going through all of the stories. Duh! It's about a sultan who believes women are a necessary evil so he marries one each day and starts the morning out right by killing her. We forgive it because the misogyny is obviously not the combined intent. After all Scheherazade is one of the most notable strong female characters in ancient folklore.

So what about the racism? Seems like the minor infidelities are with white slaves but the big ones are all with hideous black slaves. Infidelity in general may be a theme to watch for.

36PiyushC
tammikuu 25, 2014, 5:38 pm

#33 Erotic, but not too graphic.

#34 Quite true, while the stories in the first Volume rarely are more than one night long (unless they spill over to the next night), the later volumes seem to have quite a few long stories, so yes, the number of stories would be far less than 1001.

#35 Yup, in most stories, either the woman is an infidel or a practitioner of witchcraft, sometimes both!

37cammykitty
tammikuu 26, 2014, 7:10 pm

36 Yes, women = scary!

My book has a guide for reading groups in the back and one question was about the fact that The Arabian Nights has been considered a children's book for hundreds of years - discuss. Wow, it's about as appropriate for children as The Decameron or The Canterbury Tales. I think that question says more about the lack of appropriate literature for children over the centuries than it does about The Arabian Nights. You can clean some of it up, of course. I had a record with the frame of Scheherazade telling stories to save her life because the Sultan's previous wife had been caught plotting against him, no mention of sex. The stories that followed also had no mention of sex. I'm not too far in, but I don't think I've read one story that has no mention of sex in it yet.

38ronincats
helmikuu 9, 2014, 4:01 pm

I've had the two volume set of this in my tbr pile for several years, and so when I saw an Arabian Nights group read up this year, thought it the perfect stimulus to finally read them. I knew that the Andrew Lang version I'd read as a child had been massively bowdlerized, and had always been curious about the original. I'm so glad to have this edition. An extensive forward by the translator goes into detail about the initial compilation of tales, and then the proliferation of tales added onto the original manuscripts in the late 1800s and early 1900s as copyists kept adding all kinds of folk tales and fables in an attempt to actually fill out a thousand and one nights. He also extensively discusses the Lane, Payne, and Burton English transaltions, both their strengths and their weaknesses, additions and omissions, before setting forth the guidelines he used in his own translation. Burton's translation, for example, was intended to titillate Victorian mores, while Lane simply omitted all the racy stuff.

When I was a child, even in the infancy of TV, such tales were considered to be purely children's fare, along with most fairy tales and folk tales. Those who have read the originals know that to be a misapprehension. For most of our history, these types of tales were intended for adult consumption--to inspire, to awe, to entertain and, yes, at times to titillate. These days they have been superseded by vampires and serial killers and CSI labs and the like--all of which are every bit as fantastical as these tales.

This first volume contains the stories that fill 271 nights, with tales embedded within tales within yet more tales--I am in awe of the storytellers able to keep them straight before the written versions! The second volume will contain four of the most popular later stories: Sinbad, Ali Baba, Aladdin, and Qamar al-Zuman.

The writing is excellent, the verse beautiful, and the stories entertaining.

39Miela
helmikuu 12, 2014, 9:53 pm

OK, so here's a question I was thinking about last night as I went to bed....

The Arabian Nights seems exotic and magical to us, in part because it takes place in an "exotic" location, long ago and far away. What if similar stories were written in, say, Chicago in the 2000's? Would we find the stories as appealing?

40hailelib
Muokkaaja: helmikuu 21, 2014, 9:09 am

I have started an 871 page version from the public library that contains a generous portion of Burton's translation along with his notes and with illustrations from the 1859 edition of Lane's translation.

I also have versions by Lang and by N. J. Dawood that I may use at times.

41andreablythe
maaliskuu 7, 2014, 1:00 am

How is everyone doing with the reading?

What's your favorite story so far?

I just read a story in my version of the book with a character called Princess Abriza, a woman who wears men's armor and deaf eats every man she meets and heads an army of female virgin warriors who are equally awesome. She was refreshing to see after so many diabolical or helpless or evil women. The ending to her story made me sad, though, but she's still the coolest bit I've read so far.

42cyderry
maaliskuu 7, 2014, 10:07 pm

I'm reading a a few stories a week. That way it doesn't interrupt my regular reading but I'm still progressing.

43ccookie
huhtikuu 6, 2014, 9:46 pm

I give up. I have decided that I am not enjoying this and to read something just so I can say 'I have read it' is not good enough for me any more. I have learned, in my life though, that sometimes I can pick up a rejected book some time later and wind up loving it. It goes on the back shelf for now!

44cyderry
huhtikuu 7, 2014, 10:23 am

Cathy, I think I'd feel he same way if I was trying to read it all at one time, but I'm just reading a few stories every once in awhile.

45ccookie
huhtikuu 7, 2014, 11:20 am

>44 cyderry:
I have been trying to read it since the beginning of Jan and am only 100 pages in. Seriously, I just find it totally boring. Another time, I might feel completely differently.

46luvamystery65
huhtikuu 7, 2014, 11:57 am

>45 ccookie: I'm in a similar situation as you but I don't find it completely boring. I just don't have the concentration to devote to it and it is not drawing me in right now. Maybe I am bored. LOL! I also decided to put it aside for another time and replaced it in my challenge with something else.

47andreablythe
huhtikuu 7, 2014, 4:06 pm

>43 ccookie:
While I've been enjoying it, I can certainly see how this would not be everyone's cup of tea. There is a lot of repetition and dry storytelling, which can make things dull. I did find a few stories here and there to be very interesting, while some bore and and some are just so so.

48PawsforThought
huhtikuu 7, 2014, 4:39 pm

I've been enjoying reading it, but I can definitely see why others might not. It's a bit too much to read continuously; I've taken a short break from it and will read a bit now and then until I'm finished or don't want to continue an further.

49andreablythe
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 9, 2014, 4:51 pm

I finished The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1. In general, I liked it, though there were some stories that were very dry and dull (parts of a 200 page epic story, for example), there were also others that I really enjoyed.

My big long, giant review/thoughts are here:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/158184#4637409

If you prefer that I repost the review in this thread, for discussion purposes, let me know.

50hailelib
huhtikuu 21, 2014, 11:29 am

Since the copy of Tales from the Arabian Nights (Burton) has to go back to the library I'm going to pause for a while, having worked my way through 288 pages. I do intend to pick it back up later in the year. Meanwhile I may read bits and pieces from the Lang version I have on my iPad.

The Burton is a bit flowery with lots of annotations, recitations of poetry by many of the characters, and just generally slow going.

51avatiakh
huhtikuu 21, 2014, 4:14 pm

I haven't read Arabian Nights but from reading through this thread I think that choice of translation must make a difference. Marina Warner's Stranger Magic: charmed states and The Arabian Nights might be worth looking at.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/11/stranger-magic-marina-warner-review

52andreablythe
huhtikuu 21, 2014, 6:12 pm

>51 avatiakh:
Thanks for the book rec!

53cyderry
marraskuu 13, 2014, 11:35 pm

I finally finished my copy!

I can see why when it was originally published these story would be seen as fantastic, but with the way that stories such as these are taken and adapted to he silver screen, these lose their luster.

My favorite - the Beautiful Persian

54andreablythe
joulukuu 16, 2014, 7:16 pm

>53 cyderry:
I think the luster may depend on the version that's read and the translation involved, though since they are fairy-tale simple stories a part of their nature as tales is plain, simple language (again, depending on the translation).

55andreablythe
joulukuu 16, 2014, 7:24 pm

I have officially finished all three volumes of the Penguin edition of The Arabian Nights, a 2,715 page journey!

Since each of my reviews are very long, I'm just going to link to them.

The review for The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1 is here:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/158184#4637409

The review for The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/173520#4753229

The review for The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 3:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/173520#4955515