The Arabian Nights and Its 2021 Translation

The Global Novel: a literature podcast

King Shahriyar and his brother King Shahzaman of India and China suspect their suffering to be unique in this world. Their wives have slept with other men, and this drives them to grief, to madness—Shahzaman skewers his wife and her lover. Shahriyar begins to take a new bride each night, only to have her killed the next morning. Parents grieve; the kingdom darkens. Eventually, Shahrazad, the vizier’s daughter, comes up with a plan. She offers herself as a bride, but holds Shahriyar’s attention, night after night, with stories that end on a cliffhanger. With every dawn, the king decides to let her live, burning to know what comes next. This goes on for one thousand and one nights, hence the name of the famous middle eastern folk tale collection. Here comes the good news: This 8-14 century compilation created in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age was recently re-translated in a new Norton edition by the British Syrian poet Yasmine Seale in 2021. Joining us today is its editor Dr. Paulo Lemos Horta, associate professor of literature at New York University Abu Dhabi. Professor Horta is also the author of Marvelous Thieves: Secret Authors of the Arabian Nights.

Recommended Reading:
The Annotated Arabian Nights: Tales from 1001 Nights
Jorge Luis Borges, “The Translators of The Thousand and One Nights”
—“One Thousand and One Nights”

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