The Arabian Nights commands a place in world literature unrivaled by any other fictional work of "Oriental" provenance. Bringing together Indian, Iranian, and Arabic tradition, this collection of tales became popular in the Western world during the eighteenth century and has since exerted a profound influence on theater, opera, music, painting, architecture, and literature. The Arabian Nights Reader offers an authoritative guide to the research inspired by this rich and intricate work. Through a selection of sixteen influential and currently relevant essays, culled from decades of scholarship, this volume encompasses the most salient research topics to date, from the Nights' early history to interpretations of such famous characters as Sheherazade.

While serious research on the Nights began early in the nineteenth century, some of the most puzzling aspects of the collection's complex history and character were solved only quite recently. This volume's topics reflect the makings of a transnational narrative: evidence of a ninth-century version of the Nights, the work's circulation among booksellers in twelfth-century Cairo, the establishment of a "canonical" text, the sources used by the French translator who introduced the Nights to the West and the dating of this French translation, the influence of Greek literature on the Nights, the genre of romance, the relationship between narration and survival within the plots, reception of the Nights from the nineteenth century onward, interpretations of single stories from the collection, the universal nature of the sexual politics surrounding Sheherazade, and the repercussion of the Nights in modern Arabic literature.

As this collection demonstrates, the Arabian Nights helped shape Western perceptions of the "Orient" as the quintessential "Other" while serving to inspire Western creativity. The research presented here not only deepens our insight into this great work but also heightens our awareness of the powerful communal forces of transnational narrative.

Reader Reviews

Clive Johnson

(4/5)

Apr 16, 2016

A diverse collection of essays, addressing a variety of themes encountered in the stories of the "Nights". I found some essays more accessible and satisfying to read than others, but this probably reflects my specific interests. Used as a reference for study (as was my primary purpose), this is among the most helpful companions to the "Nights" that I discovered.

Stephen Weinstock

Sep 07, 2014

Peter Mendrela

(3/5)

Apr 19, 2014

Mustafa Altuğ Yayla

Dec 20, 2017

Rachel

May 09, 2018

Wikimedia Italia

(0/5)

Dec 31, 2012

Daniel Taylor

Feb 08, 2013

Hild

Oct 31, 2013

pedro

Jan 18, 2014

Jay Beann

Apr 04, 2015

BookDB

Sep 13, 2016

rêveur d'art

Sep 28, 2016

Spikeabell

Jul 03, 2017

MelonSamba

Oct 07, 2017

Garrett

Jan 08, 2018

Grace Purcell

Feb 21, 2018

Maria Ines

Jun 13, 2018

hiro

Sep 17, 2018

Tobias

Sep 29, 2018

Kerry Olivetti

Jun 25, 2019

Hiba

Aug 02, 2019

Beth

Aug 11, 2019

Victor

Sep 05, 2019

Jady Liu

Apr 11, 2020

Kadiri Saliu

Sep 18, 2020

Siraphan

Oct 15, 2020

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The Arabian Nights Reader

The Arabian Nights Reader

The Arabian Nights Reader

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