The Thousand and One Nights
by Anonymous · ألف ليلة وليلة
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 9th-14th century
- Era
- Medieval
- Form
- Romance and tale
- Language
- Arabic
- Length
- Long · 450 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Approachable1 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Arabian Nights, Tales of 1001 Nights, translated by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula LyonsPenguin Classics, 2010The first complete modern English translation from the Arabic; a one-volume selection is also available.
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King Shahriyar, betrayed by his wife, marries a new bride each night and has her killed in the morning, until the vizier's daughter Shahrazad volunteers and keeps herself alive by telling a story each night and breaking off at dawn. The tales she tells, which grew over centuries from Persian, Indian and Arabic sources, include merchants and jinn, Sindbad's voyages, the fisherman and the demon, and the hunchback, with stories nested inside stories. Later European editions added Aladdin and Ali Baba, which are not in the Arabic manuscripts.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Thousand and One Nights are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
