The Arabian Nights II: Sinbad and Other Popular Stories

by Anonymous .

Book Overview

From the critically acclaimed translator of The Arabian Nights comes a volume of the four most popular later stories: "Sindbad the Sailor," "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," "Ala al-Din (Aladdin) and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393315177
• ISBN13: 9780393315172
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Love It!

I absolutely love Hussein's two books. I had been wanting to read the Arabian Nights for some time and it definitely didn't disapoint. I really loved the introduction he takes you through. You learn all about the history of the tales and it is absolutely fascinating.

Great versions of some of the most popular Arabian Nights tales

This book is the follow-up companion to Haddawy's masterful Arabian Nights, and both volumes are indispensable to anyone who loves this famous collection of stories. As Haddawy explains, the need for this separate collection is made necessary by the Night's curious history.... When the work was first written down in the 1400s, it was given the title "The 1,001 Nights"--the length of time Shahrazad beguiled King Shahrayar with her wondrous tales. Despite this lofty title, the early manuscripts uniformly end after about 300 nights. It appears no one in the Muslim world minded this inconsistency, and the number 1,001 was taken figuratively to mean "an infinite number." When Europeans first "discovered" the work in the 1700s, however, they assumed these early manuscripts were incomplete and set out to "finish" the work by adding enough tales to reach the necessary 1,001 nights--drawn from other collections, folklore or brand-new stories written to order. Among these later additions are several stories that have, paradoxically, become some of the most famous, best-loved tales of all: Sindbad the Sailor, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, and Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. This leads to a difficult situation when translating the Nights. If your goal is to accurately and authentically translate the work, do you include these subsequent stories? Although they may not have been part of the original manuscript, these tales have been associated with the Nights for 300 years... should that count for anything? When Haddawy first set out to translate the Nights, he chose not to include anything outside of the original core collection of tales. He made an excellent case for doing so--the original stories have a thematic uniformity and high literary merit, as they come from one of the greatest periods of Islamic literature. The subsequent stories, while entertaining, have a hodge-podge of ideas and themes and were quite often put together by literary hacks simply to take up space. Still, some of those stories are too good (and too popular) to abandon altogether. That brings us to Haddawy's follow-up volume that puts forth exquisite translations of a handful of stories that, while outside the original collection, have come to define the Nights for the general public. Included are Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sindbad and the story of Qamar al-Zaman. All of the virtues of the first volume are carried over to this one--the translation could not be improved upon and the introduction is excellent. Besides being authentic, Haddawy's renditions are also vivid and immediate, without any of the purple patches found in Burton or other Victorian translations. In fact, as a credit to Haddawy's skills as a translator, you can distinguish the subtle differences in tone and style between these stories, which came from separate sources. I don't know how to describe this other than to say that there are moments in Aladdin when you can feel the influence of the roughly contemporaneous Charle

Classic Tales- Not To Be Skipped

If you read Husain Haddawy Arabian Nights then The Arabian Nights II is a must since it contains stories he omitted from his Arabian Nights Translation. While many may feel his translations are incomplete I still enjoy them. These and many other original Arabic stories give us a glimpse into a long forgotten time constantly diluted by their Disney counterparts. This book includes Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba, Ali Al Din ,et Al. I would not recommend this book as a nightly reader to children as some of the content proves extremely lewd however I found it hard to put down once started and would recommend The Arabian Nights II to anyone seeking a unique and adventurous story.

Enthralling

When I have started reading this collection of Arabic stories I was very pleasantly surprised by the excellent translation. The language flows smoothly and practically dances on the pages. The translation has engaged me and kept my attention, until I have finished the book alltogether. This rendition couldnt have possibly been improved.As for the tales, this is not like Disney's Alladin or Sindbad. Do not be deceived into believing that the stories are effulgent with simple innocence. In parts, there is mild violence and subtle obscenties. However subtle, one might still consider them inappropriate for children. To make it simple, if this was a movie it would be rated pg-13. This aspect aside, the stories flow smoothly with enthralling tales of adventure, magic, and of course the cliche themes of love. Even though the tales of this book have been displayed on television, this rendition flavors them with fresh originality. The only regret is that one wont be guessing about the outcome of the adventures as the ending has been millions of times entrusted to the media and us...

Lovely, magical translation

This translation of some of the most beloved tales of the Arabian nights is irresistable.