Ive been working my way through Arabian Nights and i just cant help smiling as I'm reading, it's just so wonderful and evocative. Also, love the 90s Arabian Nights movie! Great video and very interesting personal perspective

@AVictorianMermaid

5 ай бұрын

I would like to re-read this book. I plan to soon. I love this book so much. I also love the 90s series.

Nice video. Well done. Keep it up.

Small correction. I also have the same version of Arabian nights (although I've never been a fan of that title and prefer 1001 nights) and I have the Canterbury Collection version. Both are abridged versions of the original, not sure how much they miss but I plan to get a full version (I imagine that's near impossible in physical form or prohibitively expensive, so I'll likely get an ebook). According to the CC version's introduction, Richard Burton actually plagiarized much of the book from another writer (something with Payne), orientalized it and since he was a much more famous person, being an adventurer/traveler etc and his version also played more into the imagination of the general public, his version became the most popular and known version throughout the west. e.g. Shah Zaman's wife cheats with a black slave in the version that Burton plagiarized, but Burton made it into a "loathsome black cook covered in kitchen dirt and grime" That said it's a fantastic read and I actually really enjoy how orientalized it is as a Turk lol, but I doubt I'd enjoy it as much if I were black considering how it portrays black people.. also the old English is super fun to read. The text is pretty easy, the dialogue a lot harder because it's written more in "ye olde english" and the verses that the characters recite are the hardest. Esp due to all the references to people and events that aren't described or explained in the book. The original unabridged version is full of notes apparently, these are also not included in the abridged versions.. E.g. Richard will put "highs" behind certain names. I couldn't figure out what he meant by that despite doing a lot of searching, looked up every possible definition of high/highs and any archaic usage of it. But nada. Only when I asked an AI (twice as it got it wrong the first time, but found the answer when I worded the question a little different) did I found out that he was using "highs" as his own alternative to Islamic honorifics (I believe it was Alayhi Esselam) and that this was something that he explains in his notes. Which as I previously mentioned aren't included in the abridged versions.

@AVictorianMermaid

10 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. This was lovely to read.