Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (2015), 496 pages
Description
Dating from at least a millennium ago, this title features the earliest known Arabic short stories, surviving in a single, ragged manuscript in a library in Istanbul. It features monsters, lost princes, jewels beyond price, a princess turned into a gazelle, sword-wielding statues and shocking reversals of fortune.
User reviews
LibraryThing member greeniezona
This book is so lovely that I might have bought it no matter what it was about. But then -- it's the first English translation of what is the earliest known collection of Arabic stories, at least a thousand years old, some of which made their way into The Arabian Nights, but many never read in
I bought this book pretty early in my djinn obsession, but I'm very glad that I waited to read it. Even as I was reading these stories, and enjoying (most of) them, I kept thinking that I probably would not have been ready to deal with these a year ago. Stories so old are just different, no matter what culture they're from, and had I not some familiarity with this form, particularly from Al-Shaykh's One Thousand and One Nights retelling, I think I would have been at a loss. You know, with the horrific racism, and the "oh, well, he raped her, but he married her!" and "well, she cheated on me, so I cut off her nose." That stuff.
So, knowing what to expect, I found this peek into the history of storytelling delightful and fantastic. There was only one story that was all prophecies and god-bragging and this tribe shall defeat that tribe until this tribe is defeated by that tribe that was a slog all the way through and never had a moment of magic. It was work, of course, to read, but I felt duly rewarded for the work.
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English before.I bought this book pretty early in my djinn obsession, but I'm very glad that I waited to read it. Even as I was reading these stories, and enjoying (most of) them, I kept thinking that I probably would not have been ready to deal with these a year ago. Stories so old are just different, no matter what culture they're from, and had I not some familiarity with this form, particularly from Al-Shaykh's One Thousand and One Nights retelling, I think I would have been at a loss. You know, with the horrific racism, and the "oh, well, he raped her, but he married her!" and "well, she cheated on me, so I cut off her nose." That stuff.
So, knowing what to expect, I found this peek into the history of storytelling delightful and fantastic. There was only one story that was all prophecies and god-bragging and this tribe shall defeat that tribe until this tribe is defeated by that tribe that was a slog all the way through and never had a moment of magic. It was work, of course, to read, but I felt duly rewarded for the work.
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Awards
NPR: Books We Love (2015)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
496 p.; 6.25 inches
ISBN
0141395036 / 9780141395036
Local notes
Dating from at least a millennium ago, these are the earliest known Arabic short stories, surviving in a single, ragged manuscript in a library in Istanbul. Some found their way into The Arabian Nights but most have never been read in English before.