The stories contained in this “store house of ingenious fiction” initiate a pattern of literary reference and influence which today remains as powerful and intense as it was throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Sinbad, Ali Baba, Aladdin: all make their appearance here. This edition reproduces in its entirety the earliest English translation of the French orientalist Antoine Galland’s Mille et une Nuits (1001 Nights), which remained for over a century the only English translation of the story cycle, influencing an incalculable number of writers. In addition, it offers the complete text or the tales supplemented by extensive explanatory notes and plot summaries, which are particularly vital as these expansive s [Read More...]
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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.
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.