Sharyl reviewed Tales From the 1001 Nights by Richard Francis Burton
Review of 'Tales From the 1001 Nights' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
The origin of my desire to read the tales of The Arabian Nights came from reading another novel that I was actually Ill-equipped to tackle: John Barth's Chimera, a satire of tales and mythology that I'd either never read or barely remembered. However, that did not stop me from thoroughly enjoying the back story he created for Scheherazade.
And so, I set out to read some of these tales, and lo, there are some wild ones. The language is especially interesting, exquisitely complete, sometimes cruel. For instance, it would not be worthy of these tales to simply state that a certain man was ugly. No. One must be specific! Here is an example of such, from The Ebony Horse:
"he was an old man, a hundred years of age, with hair frosted, forehead drooping, eyebrows mangy, ears slitten, beard and mustachios stained and dyed, eyes red and goggle, cheeks bleached …
The origin of my desire to read the tales of The Arabian Nights came from reading another novel that I was actually Ill-equipped to tackle: John Barth's Chimera, a satire of tales and mythology that I'd either never read or barely remembered. However, that did not stop me from thoroughly enjoying the back story he created for Scheherazade.
And so, I set out to read some of these tales, and lo, there are some wild ones. The language is especially interesting, exquisitely complete, sometimes cruel. For instance, it would not be worthy of these tales to simply state that a certain man was ugly. No. One must be specific! Here is an example of such, from The Ebony Horse:
"he was an old man, a hundred years of age, with hair frosted, forehead drooping, eyebrows mangy, ears slitten, beard and mustachios stained and dyed, eyes red and goggle, cheeks bleached and hollow, flabby nose like a brinjall or eggplant, face like a cobblees apron, teeth overlapping and lips like camel's kidneys, loose and pendulous- in brief, a terror, a horror, a monster, for he was of the folk of his time the unsightliest and of his age the frightfulest. Sundry of his grinders had been knocked out and his eyeteeth were like the tusks of the Jinni who frighteneth poultry in henhouses."
I was surprised to recognize only a couple titles from the list of stories. One of these was Sinbad and his seven voyages, but the stories were completely foreign to me. The impression I will take away from the Sinbad voyages is a humorous one, because every single time Sinbad sets out on a voyage, some calamity occurs, hard times ensue, Sinbad is the only survivor, but not only does he always seem to find his way home, but he is always better off than he was before he's left! What a guy.
Aladdin's story also differed from any I had heard. For one thing, there was no concept of there being just three wishes. This tale was one I found very interesting, but the last one in this collection, Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves, might have been my favorite.
By the time Scheherazade has finished this tale, she has given birth to three sons by King Shahryar, and he pardons her. Furthermore, Scheherazade's sister, Dunyazade, marries Shahryar's brother, King Shah Zaman, in what is described as a most opulent double ceremony, the ultimate of fairy tale weddings.
This edition's table of contents is here: www.sacred-texts.com/neu/burt1k1/.
It is not the unwieldy sixteen volume tome I'd encountered at first! I perceived some change in the tales, starting with The Ebony Horse. Did the style become a little easier to read, or did I just start to get used it? It was not a quick or easy read for me, but I must stand in awe of Sir Richard Burton, for the fascinating translation.