The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights by Robert Irwin

The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights by Robert Irwin

Notorious for the delight he took in tweaking the sexual taboos of the Victorian age-as well as the delight he took in the resulting shock of his bashful peers-British adventurer, linguist, and author CAPTAIN SIR RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON (1821-1890) is perhaps best remembered for his unexpurgated translation of the Eastern classic The One Thousand and One Nights, more famously known today as The Arabian Nights. Originating in Persian, Indian, and Arabic sources as far back as the ninth century AD, this collection of bawdy tales-which Burton was the first to bring to English readers in uncensored form-has exerted incalculable influence on modern literature. It represents one of the earliest examples of a framing story, as young Shahrazad, under threat of execution by the King, postpones her death by regaling him with these wildly entertaining stories over the course of 1,001 nights. The stories themselves feature early instances of sexual humor, satire and parody, murder mystery, horror, and even science fiction. Burton's annotated 16-volume collection, as infamous as it is important, was first published between 1885 and 1888, and remains an entertainingly naughty read. Volume I includes: - The Birds and Beasts and the Carpenter - The Hermits - The Water-Fowl and the Tortoise - The Wolf and the Fox - Tale of the Falcon and the Partridge - The Cat and the Crow - The Fox and the Crow - The Hedgehog and the Wood Pigeons - The Merchant and the Two Sharpers - The Thief and His Monkey - and others.

"A magnificent, unexpurgated edition of the greatest collection of folk tales in the world. . The Arabian Nights is not a book to be read in a week. It is an ocean of stories to be dipped into over a lifetime. And this new Penguin edition is the one to have." —The Sunday Times (London) 

"The translation . . . ought to become the standard one for the present century." —The Times Literary Supplement 

"These magnificent volumes are the most ambitious and thorough translation into English of The Arabian Nights since the age of Queen Victoria and the British Empire." —The Guardian 

"This new translation of the world's greatest collection of folk stories restores their colour and verve." —The Sunday Times (London)

Malcolm Lyons, sometime Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge and a life Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, is a specialist in the field of classical Arabic literature.His published works include the biography Saladin, the Politics of the Holy War, The Arabian Epic, Identification and Identity in Classical Arabic Poetry and many articles on Arabic literature.

Ursula Lyons, formerly an Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Cambridge University and, since 1976, an Emeritus Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, specialises in modern Arabic literature.

Robert Irwin is the author of For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists and Their Enemies, The Middle East in the Middle Ages, The Arabian Nights: A Companion and numerous other specialised studies of Middle Eastern politics, art and mysticism. His novels include The Limits of Vision, The Arabian Nightmare, The Mysteries of Algiers and Satan Wants Me.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780140449402
ISBN 10	014044940X
Title	The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights
Author	Robert Irwin
Series	The Arabian Nights
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Books Ltd
Year published	2010-02-04
Number of pages	880
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.