The Arabian Nights: Introduction by Wen-chin Ouyang [Hardcover]

The most famous of all story collections,The Arabian Nights,also known asThe Book of the Thousand and One Nights,is beloved around the world. Composed of Persian, Arabic, Greek, Indian, and other sources that accumulated over hundreds of years, these fabulous stories-within-stories have long fired readers’ imaginations with an enchanted world of flying carpets, magic lamps, genies, demons, magicians and sorceresses, carnivorous giants, and bloodthirsty bandits. 

Translation has played a key role in the formation ofTheArabian Nightsas we know it, making it far more prominent in the West than it has ever been in the Arab world. Westerners’ first discovery of some of the tales in the early eighteenth century sparked a feverish thirst for more, which led to compilations that freely adapted, reconfigured, and even added to the originals. The resulting love affair with the art, architecture, literature, cuisine, and culture of the East significantly remapped the European literary landscape.

Editor Wen-chin Ouyang has compiled a carefully chosen selection from influential English translations, showcasing the strengths of different translators, including Richard Burton, Edward Lane, Jonathan Scott, and John Payne. Here are Shahrazad, Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin, Ali Baba, and many more, in the most readable and enjoyable versions available.Introduction
 
THE TALE OF KING SHAHRYAR AND OF HIS BROTHER, KING SHAHZAMAN (Mardrus)
The Fable of the Ass, the Bull, and the Husbandman
 
THE STORY OF THE MERCHANT AND THE JINNEE (Lane)
The Story of the First Sheykh and the Gazelle
The Story of the Second Sheykh and the Two Black Hounds
The Story of the Third Sheykh and the Mule
Note on the Jinn, or Genii
 
THE FISHERMAN AND THE JINNI (Mardrus)
The Tale of the Wazir of King Yunan and Rayyan the Doctor
The Tale of King Sindbad and the Falcon
The Tale of the Prince and l“�