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| The Arabian Nights: Based on the Text Edited by Muhsin Mahdi | 
 enlarge | Author: H Haddawy
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co.
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £5.19
You Save: £4.80 (48%)
New (27) from £5.19
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 65804
Format: Special Edition
Media: Paperback
Edition: De Luxe edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0393331660
Dewey Decimal Number: 398.22
EAN: 9780393331660
ASIN: 0393331660
Publication Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
The Original Arabian Nights September 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a translation of the oldest manuscript of the Alf Layla wa-Layla, the Thousand and One Nights. It is a lively tale. The 'thousand and one' nights of the title are the nights during which, as the other reviewers have already written, Shaharazad entertains her murderous husband with a tale with cliff-hanger at the end of each to force him to put off her execution for another day. There never were a thousand and one actual nights in the story - that came partly from the title of the book whose translation from Persian into Arabic more than a thousand years ago formed the nucleus of the book we have now, the Hazar Afsan or 'Thousand Tales'.
In this volume are to be found the oldest tales of the Alf Layla wa-Layla. You need to buy the companion The Arabian Nights: Sindbad and other stories: Vol 2 published by Norton in paperback or hardback (it's also available as an Everyman hardback The Arabian Nights: Vol 2) to get the old favourites like Aladdin, Ali Baba and Sindbad the Sailor. These tales were added to the Arabian Nights by Galland around 1710-1720. He was the first translator of the Arabian Nights (into French) and added tales from other Arabic sources on his publisher's request. These have been part of the Arabian Nights ever since: even modern Arabic editions all include these tales now!
Be aware there are two editions of this book, the Norton and the Everyman edition. I like the Everyman hardback, which is not very expensive but nice to read. I haven't tried the Norton, but it's exactly the same text. I think there's a Norton hardback too.
[N.B. These aren't childrens' editions... the behaviour can be adult at times.]
If you want to read more about the Alf Layla wa-Layla, you could try Robert Irwin's The Arabian Nights: A Companion (his Penguin Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature is a great intro to classical Arabic literature). Both are quite serious; still more academically, Muhsin Mahdi's "Thousand and One Nights" discusses the history of the book (Mahdi was the editor of the Arabic manuscript this book is based on).
Fantastic tales March 14, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
After finding out that his first wife commited adultry, King Shahrayar holds the view that all women were to be untrusted, therefore his choice to marry a woman and have her killed the next morning after spending a night with her.
Shaharazad, a smart educated woman who willingly (NOT FORCED) marries the King in order to show that she can survive as the Kings wife (unlike the other women who are killed the next morning) has the idea of telling him a different tale every night, but concluding it the next night and beginning a new one. This went on for 1001 nights, hence the title.
This book contains the first 271 tales.
An amazing classic story January 13, 2002
23 out of 43 found this review helpful
Shahrazad is forced to marry a king, who on the next night has a nasty habbit of killing his wives the next morning. Her idea to save her life and women after her from the king's evil ways it to tell him a story each night, always finishing with a cliff hanger ending, so that he will spare her life, to find out what happens next. This goes on for 1001 nights; hence the former title. This box is made even better by the fact that it list what happens each night. In this volume nights 1 to 271 are covered.
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