The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume I

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.6
Word count
772K words
Chapters
78

Tags

English Originals Folk LiteratureWorld Classics Palace LegendDesire and FateLove StoryFantasy ImaginationAdventure TaleNarrative ArtShort Story CollectionClassic RetellingExotic CultureArabian World

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume I by John PayneAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: PJ: Language and Literatures: Oriental languages and literatures, Release Date: Aug 1, 2005

Editor's review

As the first volume of John Payne's English translation of The Thousand Nights and One Night, this public-domain ebook's value lies first in the text itself: it preserves the Victorian prose rhythm and diction peculiar to Payne's translation, giving readers access to the complete narrative framework unlike the common children's retellings. The opening Scheherazade frame story, the merchant, the fisherman and the genie, and other classic passages unfold here at a length closer to the oral storytelling tradition, rich in detail and well suited for observing how the story-within-a-story nested structure operates. The Project Gutenberg edition is easy to search and cite, making it a free foundational text for comparative literature, narratology, or translation studies. There is no need to read it straight through; it works better as a collection to dip into at random. At the same time, be mindful of the linguistic distance created by the translation's age—some vocabulary and syntax require a little patience. Overall, this is a classic text suited to slow reading, rereading, and comparative reading, rather than a plot-driven popular edition.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read the frame story first, then jump to individual tales as interest dictates; there is no need to read in order.
  2. Mark unfamiliar archaic words and look them up after finishing a tale, so as not to break the rhythm.
  3. Read the same story alongside other translations to observe the characteristics of Payne's diction.
  4. Read one or two tales at a time, leaving room for reflection—better suited to fragmented ebook reading.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78

FAQ

Is this edition suitable for reading directly to children? Not very. Payne's translation preserves late-nineteenth-century English syntax and some literal expressions; the vocabulary is demanding, and the original tales include adult content and violence. For children, choose an adapted children's edition, or have an adult select and explain the tales first.
What does Volume I contain? According to the public-domain information, this volume is the first of Payne's translation of The Thousand Nights and One Night, beginning with Scheherazade's frame story and including the opening nights' tales. The specific contents are distributed according to the electronic text's arrangement; after downloading, check the table of contents first, then decide whether to read closely or skip around.
Why does the language feel somewhat distant? This is characteristic of John Payne's late-nineteenth-century translation: long sentences and rather literary, archaic wording. It is not a modern English retelling, so readers need to adapt to its rhythm. Treat this linguistic distance as an entry point into Victorian translation style rather than an obstacle.
Does the electronic edition include annotations and an introduction? The Project Gutenberg edition mainly provides the public-domain text and usually does not include full scholarly annotations or a lengthy introduction. For background material, consult a reliable literary history or a translation introduction separately; do not expect this ebook to serve as a scholarly annotated edition.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

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