The Arabian Nights (New Deluxe Edition)

Stories were good for children, though a little graphic in parts. I expected Ali Baba and agencies, and was disappointed. The foreword explained how this was an original version and that older versions did not include these stories. However, I enjoyed most of them and got a small taste of old Arabic/Oriental culture. Do read if you're curious....

loved the stories of the arabian nights, but this version is seriously lacking. it skips stories and never actually concludes w the original intent of telling the stories in the first place. it's a good teaser book to make you want to buy the complete version.

I enjoyed this version of Arabian Nights, there are lots of stories missing, which I wish had been written somewhere. It was a quick read, but it left me wanting more. This felt like I found part of a book somewhere and just read what I had.

Excellent translation, from the oldest known manuscript of the tales. True to the original, it captures not just the letter, but the spirit of the text. Clearly, Haddawy is a talented writer on his own accord.

A very good place to discover Arab culture as well.

I absolutely love it! Recall when I was young reading in Chinese version.
I thought everyone forgot the stories. After I watched the movies and now
read them again, most of them I interperet different now! These will last for
ever!

Although many of us have only heard a few stories here and there . But reading them is a complete delight altogether .... it was a superb read. . Making u wan to read further till u have not finished the last page of the book. .. a book to all ages. ..

I'm enjoying The Arabian Nights so far. The structure of the narrative is quite unique, as the stories are intertwined in an unpredictable way. My only critique is that some stories are dull, progressing slower than others. Overall, though, it's an intriguing book--definitely not the typical Western short story collection.

So many familiar stories, so much to be learned from the art of storytelling, especially when the risk is one's life. For those who have not read this classic in a while, this is an excellent translation. Highly recommended. A page turner. You'll be hard-pressed to limit yourself to one story a night. I was.

I bought this book after reading several reviews of several different translations. My 87 year old mother is confined in a skilled nursing facility and my thought was to read several stories to her each time I visited. The stories are short and the ending is always a cliffhanger. I find the language in this translation to be a bit stilted and there are times when I alter the language is I am reading aloud to make the phrasing sound more contemporary. Overall though I am satisfied with this purchase.

This bas a gift. I heard that is was received well and that my grandson will soon be immersed in the folklore of the middle east. In the current social climate that may not be the best idea, but certainly the Arabian Nights have become interwoven into our Western culture as well.

These are timeless stories. At first they were told in such a way as to save the life of a young bride. Down thru the years they were seen as lessons of certain truths. Nowadays, in our American culture, I think they might be termed Hate Speech. Whatever, I enjoy reading every one...

Well translated in comprehensible language (unlike some!) The stories are quite different from those in some other translations, showing us the great diversity of the tales in the 1001 Nights.
Good for readers and for storytellers looking for a good tale to tell.
My current favourite!

It's a little late to critique this, having been written centuries ago. It survived, though, because it is a fantastic and fascinating series of interwoven tales. The translation is great - very easy to read in modern English.

This one is easy to navigate, which is essential becasue there are so many stories. So the pagination function is good. Plus, this is a great collection and translation of the tales--less culturaly obscured than others, I believe.

I haven't finished reading this book mainly because I was so astonished at how the stories themselves depict a very disturbing attitude to women. I wonder if they are something of a cultural indictment. Of course that view can only apply to the times they were written in. Maybe things change up further along in the book.

After reading it for a while I found myself saying to my wife, on a few occasions, "Listen to this ..." (I'd read her a section) then we'd gawp at the underlying values and attitudes. I'm not sure I understand why the stories seem to be esteemed so much.

However, I think the writer has done a fine job of delivering the stories as literature and that does invite me back to this book. I gave the book five stars because of how well written it is and how revealing it is - it's an education.

There are several translations of the classic 1001 Nights but none match the fidelity and economy of Husayn Haddawy's translation. First a few clarifications/historical points of interests:
1.) This translation is from the critical edition of the oldest surviving manuscript of the Nights (excluding the partial fragment of the frame story from Baghdad from the Ninth Century).. This manuscript fragment is from Syria, dates to the 14th-15th century Mameluke period and contains the first 200+ nights. It is currently held by the Bibliotechque Nationale in Paris and was the basis for Antoine Galland's classic French translation of the Nights which launched them into Western literature. It was edited and published in a critical edition by Iraqi classical scholar Muhsin Mahdi who taught at Harvard for decades before his death 9 years ago.
2.) As this translation is of the oldest manuscript, it does not include the famous stories that were added later and make the Nights famous among Western readers, let alone the other 800+ nights. Not everyone knows this but the Nights collection (originating in Indian, Arab and Persian folklores - most likely an adaptation of an earlier Middle Persian text named Hazar Afsana) circulated across the Arabo-Islamic world for centuries in various versions which weren't always preserved that well. The Syrian tradition best preserved as many nights as possible. When Galland translated it, he added a handful of other stories to help spice up the collection for his French audience. This included extant Arabic tales previously not associated with the Nights tradition like Sindbad's Seven Voyages and the Ebony Horse as well as two unsourced stories that everyone now associates with the collection: Aladdin and Ali Baba. Galland claims to have heard them from an Aleppine Maronite monk but no manuscripts or handwritten texts by the monk (named Hanna Diab) have survived), nor have they been traced to any folk traditions in the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa or South Asia, leaving most scholars to conclude that they were forgeries concocted by Galland to help sell his edition. In any case, Galland's Nights became a hit in France and was very quickly translated all over Europe, firing the European orientalist imagination about the Muslim world and inspiring countless writers, poets, painters and musicians.
3.) The interest was so great that European orientalists began demanding to read more of the stories, preferably the rest of them as there were supposed to be 1001 nights. Although the extant manuscripts at that point did not include the entire set, Egyptian editors working with the first modern Arabic publishing houses in Egypt during the early Nahda period began editing and compiling editions of their own to meet European demand. As such, they began writing down in Arabic tons of stories from various traditions in Middle Eastern folklore (Arabia, Persia, India, etc) and added them to their editions of the Nights, as well as changing the order of the stories in the Syrian tradition of manuscripts, creating brand new complete 1001 nights, even if most of the stories may not have been part of the earlier pre-modern traditions of which the oldest Syrian manuscript is a fragment. More controversially, these Egyptian editors, under the influence of conservative mores, excised those aspects of the Nights that they felt were morally corrupting or impure such as the sexually explicit dialogues and descriptions as well much of the violence. They also polished the Arabic , removing the colloquial Middle Arabic used throughout the earlier traditions and replacing it with stylized Classical Arabic. The result was a neat, clean, safe yet complete set of manuscripts that satisfied Western demand for the complete 1001 Nights. These Arabic texts were published in Egypt and India and became the basis for the famous translations by Orientalists like Edward Lane and Sir Richard F. Burton. Yet being translations of overly polished versions, they did not properly reflect the medieval Arabic storytelling tradition and its diverse roots in Persian, Arab and Indian lore and further reflected the agendas of their translators. Edward Lane was a bit of a conservative prude and translated the Nights with a censor's eye to make it suitable for the conservative British middle class. Richard F. Burton, on the other hand, was part of an underground tradition of Victorians obsessed with Eastern erotica and translated the Nights with an eye to providing an "authentic, unexpurgated" edition which would reflect the Nights in all their vigorous, sexy glory. Yet his sexual obsessions and love for embellished prose led him to polish up and re-write the text to the point of providing not a translation so much as an adaptation which embellished the text making it more convoluted than the original Nights were. Moreover, he over-emphasized the sexually explicit aspect of the Nights, creating an excessively prurient version that was meant to shock Victorian sensibilities, even if it wasn't very faithful to the Arabic original. Many of these translators left out the stories introduced by Galland, particularly the forgeries of Aladdin and Ali Baba. Others, like Burton, included them in separate companion volumes known as "Supplemental Nights." Yet it was these translations that basically defined the Nights for generations of Western readers and scholars.

Muhsin Mahdi's goal, upon editing and publishing his edition of the oldest surviving Syrian manuscript, was to remove all these additions and embellishments of the Nights to give readers and scholars a clear view of the pre-modern medieval 1001 Nights and how it was read in classical and Mameluke times. In his view, the oldest surviving edition represented an "authentic Nights" that had been corrupted by centuries of editorial meddling and corruption by various Egyptian and Western editors and he was doing a massive restoration job. Now many have taken issue with his emphasis on "authenticity", which doesn't make sense in dealing with an oral prose folklore tradition that constantly evolved over the centuries. Never mind the fact that we don't know what the other lost 800+ Nights were or if we can rely solely on the Syrian tradition, given vastly different interpretation of the Nights over in the Maghreb (recently translated by NYU's Library of Arabic Literature series as One Hundred and One Nights). Also, Robert Irwin felt the text really came from the 15th century rather than the 14th, given the use of the Ashrafi coin in the Arabic text which was created by the Mamelukes in the 15th century. Yet that's a minor point that wasn't really established until after Mahdi released his edition. Yet Mahdi's goal of restoring the Nights to their pre-modern state without the additions and embellishments of modern editors and translators was an entirely sound project and he succeeded in introducing scholars to what the Nights were like before others added their own agendas. That's what makes his edition the best, imo, even if one doesn't agree with everything he says about the manuscript's purity as a set text (which it wasn't).

In this edition, Husayn Haddawy has brought us a beautiful, smooth and accurate translation of Mahdi's classic edition of the Nights. His translation helps us appreciate the pre-modern tradition of the 1001 Nights in the English language for the first time. All of the stories from the 14th century manuscript are included in this edition, except Qamar al-Zaman, which was only a fragment in the Syrian manuscript and is translated in its entirety from a later manuscript edition in Haddawy's second volume (more on that later). Plus, they are in their original linear order before they were mixed up by later editors and translators. Haddawy also includes the poems from the Syrian manuscript, introducing readers to the important role poetry played in medieval Arabo-Islamic culture. Haddawy also presents a very faithful prose translation that uses an efficient and engaging style that keeps you turning the pages and involves you in the stories in a way that you would be if you were hearing them told by a gifted storyteller. In other words, you are not only reading the Nights, but you are experiencing them as well. Included here are classic stories like the Fisherman and the Jinn, the Porter and the Three Ladies, or the Story of the Golden Applies and even more fantastic stories contained within these stories, which in turn contain great stories of their own. Sometimes, the stories serve little purpose but to provide context during which characters tell other more interesting stories of their own. The Story of the Hunchback is a classic example of this.

Another strength of the Mahdi approach as translated by Haddawy was the insistence on the thematic unity of the stories presented in the oldest surviving manuscript which was not faithfully adhered to by later editors who kept adding stories. Mahdi was very much interested in political authority and that can be seen in his admiration for the manuscript, where all the stories deal with royal authority and how people use stories and/or guile to pacify such figures to survive or get by in the world. Kingly authority is such a strong theme across the Nights and very often the art of storytelling is employed by characters to pacify or please this authority, leaving the reader to wonder whether Shahrzad is using them to appeal not only to Shahryar's curiosity but also his reason to see the folly of his logic in executing all his new wives.

Needless to say, some reviewers complained that their favorites from the classic European Nights tradition were missing here so Haddawy was able to collect the big ones and present his translations of them in a second companion volume - Arabian Nights II. Its great (and includes a complete translation of Qamar al-Zaman) but it doesn't interest me as much as Haddawy's translation of the main volume.

Overall, this is a beautiful translation and a must have not only for people interested in Arabic literature but for any reader fascinated by the Nights. I know I speak for myself when I say this is my favorite translation of the Arabian Nights.

I initially bought the paperback version of this book several years ago. It is an excellent translation, but I had a very hard time reading it before I could go on after a few chapters because the letters are extremely small. With the Kindle version, I can adjust the size of letters any way I want.

I purchased this book for an English Literature college class. While I did not read the whole book, we did read some of the first one hundred pages and the story line did catch my attention, it was a very interesting book. The shipping was fast and accurate and the book was in the condition as described.

You may have become familiar with these tales through Burton's translation. The Haddawy translation used in this edition is far superior. Modern, natural, yet loyal.

However, I regret to state that the layout is nearly unreadable. Apparently, to fit this work into a marketable length, the publishers took liberties with text size, font and blocking. I'm 40 and do not wear glasses. This edition makes for effortful, unenjoyable reading.

This is an excellent translation of a work that remains timeless, but do yourself a favor and buy an electronic version so you can overcome the poorly designed layout of the printed edition.

Thankfully, I did not purchase this (free) book, I just perused the sneak peek. That was enough to tell me not to waste my time. This book looks like it was edited using auto-correct - a genie is now a genius, an ass (donkey) is now a 'hind,' etc. The Anglicized version which I currently own in print form was bad enough (all references to 'Muslim' were changed to 'Musselman,' for example), but at least it contains some wonderful illustrations by Maxfield Parrish. Arabian Nights stories are truly wonderful and full of life lessons when told in the spirit of the original versions - entertaining tales passed on through oral traditions to teach and fire the imaginations of future generations. It is difficult to translate a lot of them to be relevant to today's standards, but just as other great tales have stood the test of time (tales of King Arthur, Robin Hood, Bible stories, tales of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods, the Three Musketeers to name but a few) these stories are just as entertaining and deserve a much better treatment than they are given in the small sample I read.

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 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.

Haddawy's translation of the Arabian Nights is the best I've found, with just the right amount of adult emphasis on the tales' erotic elements - not too little or too much (like Burton). While translating, Haddawy makes some word substitutions which are agreeable (I liked his "dervishes" over "calenders"), but other substitutions unfortunately take away from the rich Middle Eastern/fantasy setting ("God" instead of Allah, "sword" instead of scimitar, "demon" instead of genie).

A note to those new to Arabian Nights: the stories-within-stories trope gets complicated at times, but that's part of the Nights' artistry. "Shahrazad said that the tailor told the king of China that the barber told the guests that he [the barber] had said to the caliph that his second brother..." I'm not making this up; this is a real example from the book. Readers who can keep straight the ever-deepening strata of stories should justly pat themselves on the back afterward, when the narrative quickly climbs back to the uppermost level at story's end.

Nit-picking aside, I still think this is one of the best translations of Arabian Nights around. Recommended.

This is a wonderful and marvelous book!
It was the third time I read it, eather in French or in English and always the same pleasure!
Everyone knows the beginning of the book: a cruel Sultan, deceived by his first wife, decided to spend only one night with his following spouses and to have them killed the next day in order not to be deceived anymore. To stop the killing, a princess marries the sultan and every night tells him a story so interesting that at sunrise, he decides to wait for the following night to listen to the end of the story and so on until he chooses to keep the princess as his wife forever.
In French, we call it the "Tales of Happy Arabia". Indeed, you will find in this book, stories of beautiful and surprising travels, of meetings with genii and fairies, good or bad, of stories of emperors, kings, princes and princesses, of discoveries of magic animals or objects, of hidden treasures and of annoyed familly and love stories.
The different stories are short and well written. The characters, the human feelings and the situations are artfully discribed and all this explains that the book is so famous and a must read since several centuries.
Now, while I read the book, and may be under the pressure of the horrible images and reports about the war in the Middle East, it appeared to me not only as marvelous and fairy tales, but also as the describtion of an ancient Arabian society, very fierce and unfair.
On the top, rich leaders with absolute power, ordering men and women to be beheaded immediately and changing their mind only if all the people in the city are marching against it. Most of them are male. Women are hidden in the palaces or the houses, under the care of eunuchs. Mothers are consulted only if the daughters oppose the fathers' decisions. The daughters are often given in wedding to men by their fathers as a present of esteem or friendship whatever are their feelings towards the bride. Powerful men can marry women by force and against their will. Babies can be taken from their mother. Mothers can be killed or punished if they deliver defective babies. In the lower part of this society are the slaves that the masters sell like things or animals.
Is not it the “Happy Arabia” that Daech would like to re-establish permanently?
Nevertheless, because all these terrible situations seem to be parts of the fantastic stories, and also because the good overcomes the evil, reading this book is a great pleasure.
I recommend it to everyone whatever his or her age with a special mention to people with interest or in love with the Middle East.

I'm surprised this doesn't have more reviews. Perhaps there are other editions available.

I can't assess the merits of this edition relative to others, but in the introduction, the translator makes a plausible case that he has made good choices in how he has proceeded. He limits this work to the 271 authentic nights of the earlier manuscripts and has put the additional material (such as Sinbad's story) into a second volume.

The content of the stories are wonderful. Intricate plotting, stories within stories within stories, and archetypal human dilemmas, all combine to keep the reader fascinated. The initial, and rather off-setting, premise, that the king was going to kill Shahrazad after a night with her, is disposed of early and becomes a simple framing device to separate episodes into brief chapters.

The stories reflect cultural assumptions of the time with beautiful girls, rich kings, hidden treasure, evil demons and the like. But we see human motivation we are familiar with: temptation, desire, hope, despair.

While I would, of course, not claim any traceable cultural linkage with Bible stories, it is interesting that there are some parallel concepts. A story of a forbidden door like Genesis and the tree, a story about a woman putting herself at the foot of a man during the night like Ruth, and the rich love poetry recalls the Song of Songs.

If you're a fan of the power of language, you'll like this.

The translation by Haddawy is very accurate, although like others, I would prefer that some Middle Eastern flavour was preserved (no need to translate "zeb", "jinn", "wali" and such). It's true that some of the most famous stories from One Thousand and One Nights are not included in this compillation. This has to do with the fact that this book is based on an Arabic manuscript that does not include those stories. However, there is a separate book by Haddawy with those other stories.

Overall, I prefer this edition over Richard Burton's. I don't mean to say that Burton's edition is bad, but I feel that it doesn't preserve the intricacies of the original.

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!

The Arabian Nights is a fantastic collection of tales and is wonderfully compiled. The authors do great jobs of cementing certain themes that are present in the book, such as greed, luck, and rising through society. The stories present in this book contain elements and themes that are still present in the world today, despite how old they are. The umbrella story that encompasses all the other stories is impressive as well. Despite reading the book to complete a review, I found it wildly captivating and I couldn't put it down. It definitely was not the struggle I thought it would be to read. I was very surprised to see that a lot of the old stories are still relevant in today's world. I liked reading the original story of Aladdin as well as
Sinbad the Sailor. Wealth and power can be translated into American capitalism and the role of Scheherazade can be translated into the empowerment of women. The Arabian Nights is a true masterpiece and I would absolutely recommend that you read it.

This edition is a translation of the first 271 nights from the "1001 Nights" cycle.

One of my favorite aspects of this work is the role of Shahrazad. While many people discuss that she is telling the stories to save her own life, what people fail to recognize many times is that, really, she volunteers to be placed in the position in order to save her kingdom. She's a great literary heroine--saving the world through storytelling.

It also provides a great lens into a world that today is depicted in US media as a wartorn hotbed for terrorist activity. For me it was a reminder that Bagdhad used to be a beautiful, opulent city and cultural center.

Anyone with an interest in storytelling, folklore, or the culture of Persia and the Arabian world should check out this work. Although I have no other translations for comparison, I think that this one is excellent. I found it readable, but with important words and names left untranslated. Also, Haddawy isn't afraid to describe sexual situations plainly, without overly poetic euphamisms.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Haddawy's translation of "The Arabian Nights". It has a feeling of authenticity, as if it is truely an oral story being passed down through the ages, as it once was. The whole concept of the book is mind-boggling, with stories within stories so many times over that half the fun of reading the book is trying to follow the winding path that the stories lead you down. The physical book itself is also top-notch, as the Everyman's Library editions always are. For me, investing the few extra dollars for such a beautiful edition is well worth it.
This book may not be what you expect. It is not the Disney-fied, watered-down version that most of us were introduced to as children. Several of the more famous stories that most Americans would associate with "The Arabian Nights", such as Ali Baba or Aladdin, are actually not part of the work. They were added much later, by the early European translators. Also, the book contains bawdiness and violence (particularly towards women) that may not be appropriate for young children, so be forewarned. Overall, I feel that this an authentic, lucid translation of a fantastic story, wrapped in the most beautiful of packages. Highly recommended.

You will love this book if, like most people, you have spent time as a wandering dervish, without a dinar to your name, and perhaps without the sight of one eye, and you'd like to know how others got through similar situations. You will love this book if, like most people, you have once or twice loaded your boat with goods and set off for Basra, only to be blown off course, and to find yourself in a city of Magians who had been turned to stone for refusing to worship the one Almighty and Merciful God - all except for one handsome prince, whom of course you married, but then your jealous sisters threw him overboard. Now your sisters have been turned to dogs or deer - what to do? Read the book, and you will find out. You will love this book if, like most people, you were once a wealthy and happy prince, until you found your wife making love to her black slave, or a demon, or both, in an underground palace. Take heart - others have survived similarly bad marriages.

There aren't 1000 such stories in this book, but there are several hundred.

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!

It's a safe guess that most people are familiar with The Arabian Nights or at least some of the stories from The Arabian Nights. However there are so many more stories than the few presented in fairy tale books or in the recent tv mini-series. I decided I wanted to read all of the stories.
I did some research into different translations and versions. I chose this one because it was a new translation and the translator was of Middle-Eastern origins. Haddaway explains in the introduction how his style of writing, the sentences structure, and word choice reflect the cadence and style of the stories he heard told as a boy growing up.
The language is beautiful, well written, and very funny. There is the occasional problem with vague pronoun use, but English pronouns can be very tricky for non-native speakers (and for native speakers as well). These problems are few and far between and don't detract from the stories. I highly recommend this edition of The Arabian Nights.

Haddawy's translation is the most accurate and elegant yet. Although it does have a few quirks (typos, unfamiliar phrases) it is by far better than any other English translation of the 'Nights.' Also, the Syrian manuscript he used as the basis for his translation is now considered the standard Arabic 'Nights.' (for tales that are especially popular in the West, but are probably less authentic, such as 'Aladdin' or 'Sindbad the Sailor,' check out the second volume Haddawy's 'Nights.') If you want a more complete, but less accurate 'Nights,' check out Sir Richard Burton's translation. I personally have a few more problems with Burton's translation though: I don't want to have to read 16 volumes (10 original volumes, 6 supplementary volumes) of the 'Nights,' his writing style is slightly archaic (Burton was from the Victorian age), and sometimes he gets excessively engrossed in sexual detail and nuance that it detracts from the important aspects of whatever particular scene he is dealing with. I do also have one minor issue with Haddawy's translation (actually it's more of an issue with the manuscript he used): the third old man's tale is missing in the Story of the Merchant and the Demon (this wouldn't be much of a problem if that particular story didn't happen to be one of my favorites.)

Feigned as innocent and child-friendly by Disney, the book is a complete antipode of what it is has come to be popularly believed. The fairy tales are absolutely charming and the adventures enthralling as they swarm with magic and adventure, and...quite a few obscenities. This however does not diminish the value of this marvellous book and an equally marvellous translation, but does taint it's reputation. But it would be truly foolish to let a few subtle obscenities deter one from engaging in the wondrously spun tales of Shahrazad. Also, I would highly recommend the second book of the Arabian Nights with the famous adventures of Sindbad and Ala-Al-Din and the magic lamp.

This book is a compilation of about a quarter of the Arabian Nights tales by Husain Haddawy. It does not contain any of the most famous Nights tales, such as Aladdin, Sindbad or Maaruf the Cobbler, but it does contain many other stories which are enjoyable in their own rights. There is also a good introduction which discusses the various versions of the Nights and their value to the reader. Of course Haddawy dismisses older versions as outdated relics, but this is only to be expected.

This edition has some annoying quirks which lessened my enjoyment of the overall collection. Instead of calling God, Allah, and keeping the Middle Eastern flavor of the work, Haddawy calls Him God. He calls djinnis "demons" instead of calling them djinnis, so for example someone finding a magic lamp will rub it, and a "demon" will appear to grant three wishes. And, as already noted, this edition does not contain any of the most famous stories from the Nights. This version is heavy on the realistic stories and literary tales and light on the fantasy tales, so for example the tale of the ebony horse is not here, nor the tale of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, nor the tale of Aladdin. There are some fantasies here, such as the story of the four-colored fishes and the cursed prince, but not many. This edition did not impress me as much as the Burton edition did, and my recommendation for it is lukewarm at best.

I highly recommend this new translation of the Arabian Nights. Previous translators have sought to colorize or edit the tales, but here the translator sought to stay true to the text. Readers may be surprised to see that the most famous tales (Aladdin, Sinbad) are not here, since they were added on at a later date. I enjoyed working through the story sequence and was surprised at the humor (the Barber's tale was hilarious). Read the introduction - for one thing, it taught me to look at the amazing level of detail in the stories, such as the individual dishes a character prepares for a feast.

For any under-rock dwellers who don't know the premise of Arabian Nights - a grieving Sultan (in this edition for reasons practically unknown) takes a new wife, then takes his new wife's life (bit of a tongue twist) each day.

The brave daughter of the Vizier takes up the mantle of wife-for-a-day and starts telling the Sultan stories - so good these stories be, the Sultan spares his wife's life to hear more (SPOILER at the end he doesn't kill her)

The stories are loosely connected by themes of wealth, love, and redemption. Many of the tales have sub-tales, but being simple in structure you won't find yourself struggling to keep up.

Despite a little gore and death, the stories are mostly fun in approach and one is unlikely to attach too closely to any of the characters or specific tales.

Nonetheless an enjoyable diversion.

I read this book several years ago during a time in my life when I was free to devote a good deal of time to it. I immersed myself in it for quite a while, making charts and graphs to keep track of the intricate structure of stories within stories. When I was about half or three quarters of the way through, I began to experience a sort of spiritual excitement or intoxication, similar to experiences I had reading Hegel's *Logic*, or the works of Meher Baba, or some other works. I called the author and told him about this, and told him I thought it was a spiritual book. He said no one has done anything, as far as he knows, to examine or explain the book in that way. I believe many of the characters and situations are symbols for characteristics of the spiritual path; I can feel this level of meaning, but I am not sufficiently knowledgable in that area to really explain them fully. However, it is quite clear that the overall scheme of the book has a meaning.
Scheherazade was a beautiful young woman of high status, living in a kingdom where the women had met a great misfortune. The king was betrayed by one of his mistresses, so he took the habit of recruiting a new mistress every night, whom he would slay in the morning to make sure he was not again betrayed. Scheherazade told her family, to their great dismay, that she was going to volunteer for this duty. The stories are the ones she used to engage the interest of the king, so that his curiosity was so great he would delay killing her for at least one more night.
The first stories portray people of the absolute meanest and most crude nature, full of lust, violence, selfishness, suspicion, and a very low nature. Bit by bit, the tone of the stories becomes elevated, until at the end they are stories of unbelievably sublime love, self sacrifice, absolute humility and the willingness to undergo any suffering for the sake of the beloved.
By this method, Scherezade raised the consciousness of the king, and liberated him and his kingdom from the thralldom of his previous state of ignorance.
I hope one day to say more about the specific symbolic meaning of many of the characters and situations, which are extremely evocative and mean a great deal more than what is on the surface.

In the Arabian Nights, the portrayal of women appear to be either the faithless temptress wives with many wiles, or resourceful individuals who make their way (such as in business investments or managing their inheritance/households as well as sexual escapades) without men controlling their affairs. The two types are not necessarily exclusive.

From a modern point of view, the stories are quite misogynist, many a times featuring men lamenting their women's perfidy (while they themselves were picking up the nth concubine), and some stories and verses appear to elevate honor killing. The entire framework for the stories - that of Sheherezade stopping the king's killing rampage of new brides - begins on the premise that the previous queen and concubines had betrayed the king. Interestingly, Sheherezade herself, a resourceful and courageous woman, would appear to belong to the latter category of women in the Nights, who tamed the king.

Other times, the portrayal of the danger of feminine "wiles" is based on the notion that women are demanding and dangerously temperamental, which led men astray. Several stories feature men who lost limbs because they resorted to petty crimes such as theft to buy gifts for the women. A few stories even had the well-born lady demanding the man's thumbs cut off for not washing his hands after eating ragout before he touched her, just like a "commoner". (random...)

The Arabian Nights seem to recognize that women are willful creatures, with needs, emotions, and appetites of their own and the resources to bypass patriarchal restrictions placed upon them. It isn't surprising that there have been attempts in the region throughout history to control women, how they dress, and when could they leave the home so not to get into "mischief". In a sense, it's possible that it shows that men bear a grudging fear of women, of their minds and their charms.

The Nights are full of cautionary tales of men driven to debt, and becoming maimed or killed, from stealing an illicit glance at an unveiled woman. Kings, viziers, and merchants alike fall at the feet of strong-willed, "difficult" women. Perhaps that's why the region has historically been insecure and afraid of women, because they know women have the ability to run society without needing men if given the opportunity. Misogynist as it may sound, this view may be higher than the casual disdain for women and mockery of their minds depicted in western thoughts of yore.

This is an excellent version of a great book, of triumphalant love over the obstacles of life and human nature. With all of the great stories and mystique of the old Middle East, it is a classic on par with all great literature and can even be helpful into gaining a little insight into other cultures.

There is a very long tradition of translating the Arabian Nights into stilted and artificial English. Husain Haddawy has chosen to use an airy conversational language, which is (I suspect) much closer to how the Nights would have sounded to the contemporary listener. It's a pleasure to read, the more so because of the quality and care taken with the physical book itself. I'm used to Everyman's Library books as being well printed and in easily read and nice-looking fonts. This is another one. A useful introduction is included.

Joel Shimberg

I purchased this book for my wife who is studying fairy tales as one of her specializations for her English degree. This review is my summary of her comments regarding the book after she finished reading it.

This review is on the Arabian Nights as translated by Husain Haddawy.

My wife is not an expert on the Arabian Nights and this book was in fact the first she has read regarding it. The author makes a good argument that both his text and translation are the most authentic available. My wife felt that the stories were entertaining and full of Arabian flavor. The stories within stories were a very interesting technique, and language clearly came from the oral tradition.

These stories were not written for children and contain a great deal of sex, violence, and misogynistic mentality.

This is a book about a woman named Shahrazade who every night sits with her husband and sister and tells stories to distract her husband not killing her. Every time she would end the night, she would turn to her sister and say "tomorrow night I shall tell you something stranger and more amazing if the king spares me and lets me live!" I didn't understand why her husband would wish her to be dead but I did notice that she would only communicate to her sister. Not once did she turn to her husband and speak to him directly. It didn't seem like a loving relationship but more of a controlling relationship.
She tells these stories and in every one of them, it was explained that if you do wrong to someone that God will do wrong to you. That person never lives happily ever after because God will punish them. "Spare me and God will spare you." Shahrazade tells her stories in defense for her life explaining that she didn't do anything to deserve for her life to be taken away. Her stories are examples of innocent people being tortured or killed but at the end the ones who took peoples' lives in their own hands will be punished by God. You get the sense that Shahrazade believes in God and that God will protect her. I f she is meant to die, then she will, its all up to God. He is the almighty, not her husband and through out the story she doesn't give up on God. She still has faith in Him. I do think that is how one takes any situation that they are in, depend on God and he will help you. I do think that it is hard for people to look within God for help but Shahrazade didn't find it hard at all.
Shaharazade may be seen as being the weak one in the relationship because it's obvious that her husband has the power. However, I see her as being the strong one because she manipulates a man, who she is supposed to fear, to stall her execution. She held her life in her hands and she controlled it discretely. Even though a man is physically powerful a woman is more mentally powerful and the mental will always dominate the physical. She used her voice to save her because that is all she had and it worked in her benefit. This book proves my point because her husband wasn't smart enough to comprehend that his wife was trying to stall her death. She continued telling these stories and pleading for her life, and her husband was just interested in her continuing with the stories. He didn't even understand the moral of the story and that God holds the power, not him. I do think that her role in the story was very strong and she kept calm through the stories and that was because she never lost faith in God.
These stories that Shahrazade told were interesting to read and I loved how one intertwined with the other. I believe these stories she told symbolized her life and how unstable and crazy it was. The tales were all about men being the "strong" and powerful ones but at the end she told the tale of the Enchanted King where the man wasn't as powerful. This was a story of how a woman tortured her husband to be with another man. The tables were turned and the woman became powerful; she controlled her husband. However, at the end she was punished just like the other men in the stories Shaharazade told. I understood this to mean that Shahrazade wasn't looking for having power but she wanted to feel equal to her husband.

They don't make books like they used to - or, so i thought, until i bought this elegant edition of The Arabian nights. Beautifully bound, printed on high-quality paper, with an erudite introduction, and clear, but stylish font, I thought how appropriate for the publisher to release a classic such as The Arabian nights in such a 'classic' style, hearkening back to a time when great care was put into published books.

Congratulations on a great edition.

I love this book because it is mystic,tranquil,and it really makes you think that you're there,living the stories.I think my favorite one was(although I like them all!)"The 3 Ladies from Bahgdad". And my second favorite was "The Envier and the Envied".You really ought to make an effort to get your hands on this book.Soon!!!!!!Thanks!!!!!
-Meg

Not only do the tales read very, very well -- in good, elegant English -- but also the author does a great job at explaining why a new translation is needed. He makes his case in a detailed, very informative intro, which compares different translations of The Arabian Nights. Delightful.

I found this book in an old, used book store in Monterrey, NL Mexico. I just started reading it. There are notes on every chapter from pg 967-1260 (a lot of notes). I don't think I'll read the whole book, but it sure makes a good collector's item. This Edward W. Lane Translation is widely talked about. I'd sure like to know what its value is. Pages are in crisp condition but the cover is weathered leather, hmmm. not bad for an 80 year old book.

Arabian Nights was a very good book for short story lovers like me. Arabian Nights is a book about a young king who's wife cheats on him, so he decides to marry a girl than kills her the next morning. The royal adviser is asked to find the maiden he is to marry each night. his daughter decides to try to save the villages girls by offering herself to marry the king, for she had a plan to keep him from killing her in the morning.

I may just be too old for this. Predictable fantasy. The cover story may be the most interesting part of the book. Came to hate the number three while reading these stories. Never managed to get to the end of the book. Thank heaven for Perault, Andersen, and the Grimm brothers!

I found this book in an old, used book store in Monterrey, NL Mexico. I just started reading it. There are notes on every chapter from pg 967-1260 (a lot of notes). I don't think I'll read the whole book, but it sure makes a good collector's item. This Edward W. Lane Translation is widely talked about. I'd sure like to know what its value is. Pages are in crisp condition but the cover is weathered leather, hmmm. not bad for an 80 year old book.

Arabian Nights was a very good book for short story lovers like me. Arabian Nights is a book about a young king who's wife cheats on him, so he decides to marry a girl than kills her the next morning. The royal adviser is asked to find the maiden he is to marry each night. his daughter decides to try to save the villages girls by offering herself to marry the king, for she had a plan to keep him from killing her in the morning.

I may just be too old for this. Predictable fantasy. The cover story may be the most interesting part of the book. Came to hate the number three while reading these stories. Never managed to get to the end of the book. Thank heaven for Perault, Andersen, and the Grimm brothers!

Because I do not speak Arabic and know very little about the culture it was difficult to understand parts of this book. I believe the translator did an excellent job. Reading the history of the story, we find it was often recited for many many years, and wasn't put into print sometime around the fourteenth century. If I was a historian I would definitely want this translation, but as a enjoyment reader I would rather the translator give me more color. That would probably draw criticism from other readers, but leave a more entertaining story. It was entertaining at times and did provide a flavor of what the middle east may of been like, but the stories got drug down in details that tends to drown the book. But stories like these should be read, to expand our social context.

The whole story of One Thousand and One Nights is Persian and the characters are Persian, including pure Persian names, however its better known as "Arabian Nights". This book advocates this inaccurate name and therefore is not a trustworthy source for studying the "One Thousand and One Nights".

While you are at it write a book on Alexander and call it the "Turkish Conqueror" who is a Ninja, historically accurate by your standards.