The Arabian Nights

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An interesting selection - Rated
This is just a selection of tales from the Arabian Nights canon, translated from the original Arabic. Stories, such as that of Aladdin are culturally familiar to us, but we are likely to think of pantomime or the Disney film! The stories here are actually quite violent in places and a little explicit! The framing story concerning the sultan and Scherazade comes about as he finds his wife committing adultery and has her and her lover chopped up or decapitated! It is an entertaining selection, but I didn't quite expect this! Obviously the translation has been somewhat modernised in language, but I only really had problems with the Americanised language.

Mystical, opulent and fiendishly clever - Rated
Probally one the original "story within a story" book. Arabian nights is a selection of stories told by a young girl on her wedding night to a price who has sworn he will kill any girl who marries him. Her clever stories keep him from murdering her night after night. This is where classic fairy tales such as Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Theives come from as well as moral tales and metaphors.
The use of djins, magic and Eastern splendour makes Arabian Nights dazzle. A must read and a perfect counter point to western fairy tales such as Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grim

A must have for book lovers! - Rated
The Arabian Nights have often been dismissed as a simple bunch of bedtime tales for children. Make no such mistake about this book!

Painstakingly translated by Richard Burton in the late nineteenth century, the colourful prose in this book lends readers a glimpse of often little known Arabian life of yore. Full of subtle social nuances, rich in description, the reader is transported into a strange and wonderul world. The extensive explanatory notes only add to this delightful read. It may take a bit of effort to plough through the antiquated phraseology, but such effort will leave the reader deeply compensated and satisfied. I would highly recommend this to everyone. My only regret is not to have been able to read this in its original Arabic form!

This review deals with translation issues - Rated
The editor of this book seems to have taken Burton's translation and tried to translate it into a modern idiom. He fails to do this in no uncertain fashion. The translation is awkward, and manages to lose almost all the romanticism found in better translations. The stories are set in mediaeval Persia, but the author uses words like "mommy" and phrases like "that's fine by me" which are completely out of place and clash with his poor attempts at flowery prose.

Anyone vaguely intelligent who likes good writing should certainly not buy this book.

Hauntingly beautiful - Rated
A hauntingly beautiful book; I fell in love with the wild, strange, exotic prose style. To the reader who was bored at having to look up so many words, I recommend _See Spot Run_.