If I had bought it after January 25th, I would have thought my desperate desire to read a good translation of “The Arabian Nights” was a subconscious reaction to the protests in Cairo. But according to my Borders receipt, I bought it on January 10th.
Don’t know what hit me, but I was dying to read it. I researched on the web for a good few hours that night before heading to the store (no Amazon orders…I wanted immediate gratification).
You are never going to get a “complete” or “real” collection of these stories. Wikipedia says “the tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and literature”. So you have the issue of hundreds of original story tellers, those who re-told their stories, then those who wrote them down. Then after the manuscript was published (somewhere in the 700’s?) you had folks who would edit it down because it was too salacious. And then consider that there is clear evidence that stories have been added with each publication.
Then came the European translators. Some tried to water it down so as to not offend the senses of Victorian readers. Some like Sir Richard Francis Burton tarted it up in protest of the Victorian sentiment (Dear Penthouse…I met this busty chick named Shahrazad…). I wanted to find something in that was trying to be as authentic as possible….scholarly even. I settled on the highly rated translation by Husain Haddawy. Seems he went back to a pretty early manuscript to start. He also doesn’t shy away from the more bawdy bits…not to shock anyone, but to be as authentic as possible. Meaning, it doesn’t smack you in the face, but it’s there, and it’s amusingly startling at times.
I’m only about half way through the version I have, and I’m hooked. It’s broken up a lot because we are travelling night by night with Shahrazad, her sister and the king, but that’s OK given that I don’t usually have hours and hours to set aside to read. Bathroom breaks, evening cool downs, stolen moments…they all allow for me to nibble away at the book without feeling lost with each new start.
And the stories themselves are bright colored silks with gold and silver threads, bejeweled and encrusted, drizzled with honey…they are so rich and dazzling, placing images in your mind of a fantasy world BUT they are talking about REAL places that are in the news today.
Mosul
Baghdad
Cairo
Yemin
Not what’s on MSNBC or FOX. Not at war-teeming with protestors-opressed-repressed-powder kegs-frightening-tan dust clouds-confusing-unstable-dangerous-crumbling-desolate-set ablaze. Not at all. They are, in a word, decadent!
Just a quick disclaimer…one must make sure to read these in context. There is sexism, racism, and classism all over this stuff. But for crying out loud, some of these stories date back to the 600’s. Or even before. So just deal. It’s like a glass of Amaretto. Drink too much, and you get drunk and full of too many calories. Take it for what’s it worth and sip away, and it is rich, sticky-sweet with a nice warm finish.
xo
en