Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

This thread is open to discuss The Arabian Nights by Anonymous.



Synopsis
The tales of told by Shahrazad over a thousand and one nights to delay her execution by the vengeful King Shahriyar have become among the most popular in both Eastern and Western literature, as recounted by Sir Francis Burton. From the epic adventures of "Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp" to the farcical "Young Woman and her Five Lovers" and the social criticism of "The Tale of the Hunchback", the stories depict a fabulous world of all-powerful sorcerers, jinns imprisoned in bottles and enchanting princesses. But despite their imaginative extravagance, the Tales are anchored to everyday life by their realism, providing a full and intimate record of medieval Islam.'

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At NRBC we use three styles of buddy reads. These will be indicated in the thread title as “Buddy Read”, “Relaxed Buddy Read” or “Informal Buddy Read”.

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MORE UNDER SPOILER
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Looking forward to this read. Put a library hold for 10/1

I have my own copy!! I’m obsessed with these stories but I’ve never read all of them

Jammin Jenny wrote: "Looking forward to this read. Put a library hold for 10/1"

Hi Jenny ... we still planning on starting this on the 10th?

Yes I am still in. Starting tomorrow 20 Oct. I hope to read ~10%/day but I may need to take a couple days off during the process.

Jammin Jenny wrote: "Yes I am still in. Starting tomorrow 20 Oct. I hope to read ~10%/day but I may need to take a couple days off during the process."

ok that sounds good to me

I am up to Chapter 10. I love the whole premise of Sheherizad telling stories each morning but cutting off the ending just before the time when the Sultan would have her killed. The stories are awesome! I would have stopped from killing her too to hear the rest of them.

Jammin Jenny wrote: "I am up to Chapter 10. I love the whole premise of Sheherizad telling stories each morning but cutting off the ending just before the time when the Sultan would have her killed. The stories are awe..."

Yeah Can you imagine coming up with stories every night just so you don't die in the morning? I can't believe she would be able to talk but honestly its not like he can do anything worse so might as well try.

I know! And the stories are really interesting so I can see why he wouldn't want to kill her to hear more of them.

So I am not sure whether you were able to get the same book I have but some thoughts on my translation copy:

He uses a lot of words that when i look them up online it says usage obsolete :(

I think this book is supposed to be true to the stories (not sure) but WOW on the racism!! I mean its such a heavy theme in this thats its really disturbing. And I have been reading the notes that the translator/author made and he makes things even more racist and orientalist. I'm not regretting reading this but its very surprising to me that this kind of copy would still be issued today. I mean I understand keeping the stories original and just leaving the ugly truth (that people were overtly racist at the time) but you would think that they would clean up the footnotes the author made. like Yikes!!

The sexism. Again just crazy! I mean its all these nice sweet men that have been wronged so when they literally beat or kill their wives it's because the wives are corrupt and the men are just the victims. So there's that story where the two Kings (and brothers) find out their wives are cheating on them and go into the desert. And then they find that women that's being held by a jinni against her will and kidnapped on her wedding night. And the two brothers don't think of helping her to escape or getting her help they just think what a hoe she's cheating on the jinni. And its like no shit!!

And I have to say I laughed at what I am going to say next but its just so hypocritical and not funny but is at the same time .... So when shahryar is talking about how his wife is having an affair he says that he sees his wife and his concubines having an affair with different men. And its like i'm sure they cant see it but the modern reader has got to see what a hypocritical thing to say.

I love the stories in this. I wish (and I will definitely look) that there was a cleaner copy to this but I feel like some of the stories would be drastically changed so maybe not a good idea. I don't regret that we are reading it though.

I also really like the love between the two brothers. Like the flowery language and the presents and them just putting down everything they have just to go see the other was heartwarming and sweet but also very genuine.

I also like that some stories have another story within it. Like there's layers to each story.

And my new favorite phrase is "waxed wroth with exceeding wrath" I think i've seen him use it numerous times and sounds like a tongue twisters

Jammin Jenny wrote: "I know! And the stories are really interesting so I can see why he wouldn't want to kill her to hear more of them."

how far alone are you on this Jammin?

I finished it - I really enjoyed all the stories - it was kind of like listening to parables or folk tales. The sinbad stories were a bit far fetched. But I loved the whole premise of facing off getting killed by relating stories to keep your executioner captivated.

Wow!! That was fast

Did your copy have shahrzed coming up in between the stories?

No - only at the beginning...the rest of the book was just the stories themselves.