The Arabian Nights: A CompanionThe Arabian Nights: A Companion guides the reader into this celebrated labyrinth of storytelling. It traces the development of the stories from prehistoric India and Pharaonic Egypt to modern times. It explores the history of the translation, and explains the ways in which its contents have been added to, plagiarized and imitated. Above all, the book uses the stories as a guide to the social history and the counterculture of the medieval Near East and the world of the storyteller, the snake charmer, the burglar, the sorcerer, the drug addict, the treasure hunter and the adulterer. |
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The Arabian Nights : A Companion
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictWhile not regarded as high literature by Arab intellectuals, past or present, The Arabian Nights has for centuries not only entertained but also conveyed universal messages through the adventures of ... Read full review
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Abbasid adventures al-Din al-Mas'udi Aladdin Alf Layla ancient appears Arabian Nights Arabic Literature audience ayyarun Baghdad Beckford Bibliotheque Borges Bulaq Burton Cairo Caliph Cazotte century compilation culture cycle dream Dunyazade early edition Egypt Egyptian Encyclopedia of Islam English entertainment epic European example fables fairy fantasy fiction folk-tales folklore frame story French Galland manuscript genre geomancy Harun al-Rashid hashish History homosexual Ibn al-Nadim idem Indian Islam 2nd edn jinn Jorge Luis Borges Judar king Lane Lane's later literary London magic Mahdi Mamluke Mardrus Mardrus's marvels medieval Arab Middle East motifs Muhammad Muslim narrative Nights story novel nuits oriental original Paris Payne Persian poetry popular prince Propp published readers sexual Shahriyar Sheherazade Sinbad Society sorcerer story collection storyteller Sultan surviving Syrian Tale tell themes Thousand Nights tion Todorov trans translation treasure Turkish Vathek wa-Layla women written Zotenberg Zumurrud