The Arabian Nights: A Companion by Robert Irwin

The Arabian Nights: A Companion Reviews

• 
  Nick

  A really helpful and interesting series of essays discussing the Arabian Nights. Essays cover the long and complicated textual history of the Nights; a long essay on the influence of the Nights on authors throughout history from Montesquieu to Rushdie; the portrayal of ‘low life’ and the Arabic criminal underworld in the stories; oral storytelling techniques; sex and drugs etc. The Nights is a huge reading effort and this work is a great guide.
• 
  Megan

  I am tempted to give this book a higher rating because of the breadth and quality of the scholarship. It is clear that Irwin has had to scour many obscure texts in many languages (most remain untranslated) that are furthermore only available in a few libraries around the world. Much of the information he collects I do not have access to anywhere else. I am excited by all I have learned from this text.
  
  Irwin's purpose was to give a rather broad survey of themes related to the Nights (including origins and authorship, issues of translation, historical context, formal structure and motifs, and influence on later literature), and to that end he succeeds. However, the end result was thoroughly unsatisfying for me. Every time my interest piqued and I wanted to know more, he moved on rather than diving deeper. Deep analysis and history were not Irwin's aims, so I am not sure he really deserves to be faulted for the lack. That said, I rate books according to my experience of them, not according to some objective standard (which couldn't exist anyway). I would still enthusiastically recommend it to anyone looking for further background on the Nights.
  
• 
  Jim Coughenour

  Robert Irwin's "companion" is a treasure to anyone intrigued by the fabulous miscellany of The Arabian Nights. Irwin begins with the convoluted history of its translations (a story more richly told in his recent book, Dangerous Knowledge). In one of the ironies of world literature, these tales were long scorned by Arab scholars, who preferred poetry to prose, but wildly celebrated upon their first – often garbled – transmissions in Europe.
  
  Irwin is an excellent guide to the esoterica of Arabian "low life," its scurrilous sexual fictions and storytelling traditions, as well the myriad reincarnations of these tales up through Salman Rushdie and Jorge Luis Borges. "The Nights is a key text, perhaps the key text, in Borges's life and work."
  
  All this is helpful, but no substitute for the stories of Scheherazade. I'm currently re-reading the Everyman translation by Husain Haddawy, which is delightful but only covers the first 271 nights. I'm eagerly awaiting the new "giftset" translation promised by Penguin Classics on their UK website, for which Irwin also wrote the introduction.
  
  
  
• 
  arafat

  This is a good reader, and not just as a companion to the Arabian Nights. The book reads almost like a cultural history (esp. of literature and the arts) of the medieval Near East. Irwin does a great job of reviewing the history of the Nights tradition, starting from some of the early (Indian) sources all the way up to the 18th/19th century French/British translation enterprise. There's a lot to learn here and while the book isn't academic in the sense of dense, daunting prose (that's a compliment...), it's a great starting point for further readings. I ended up discovering a lot of fun/quirky details about medieval Arab/Muslim culture. If you're a fan of the 1001 Nights, this book is a must read. If you're not, well, read this book and you'll become one!
• 
  Erika

  Cosa sono Le Mille e Una Notte? Non è sicuramente un romanzo come si intende nella letteratura moderna, può essere un ciclo narrativo, può essere una novella, una raccolta di tanti cicli narrativi tenuti insieme da una storia-cornice, probabilmente non è altro che tutte queste cose messe insieme.
  La sua struttura narrativa a scatole cinesi sembra avere origine indiana, ma non è solo tipica delle Mille e una Notte, è tipica di un certo numero di racconti che prima circolavano indipendentemente che sono arrivati nel mondo arabo in un certo periodo, confluendo così nella raccolta.
  Le Mille e Una Notte è, dunque, la traduzione araba di un antico ciclo narrativo perduto indiano di cui non si ha più la coppia. È dunque letteratura di traduzione che, da semplice traduzione del testo originale, diventa una tradizione attiva che comincia a svilupparsi in modo originale. Nella Baghdad del IX sotto gli Abbasi, infatti, i primi grandi califfi abbasidi hanno dato vita ad un movimento di traduzione di tipo scientifico-filosofico e di letteratura dotta (Adab). Ciò che sta in mezzo tra la letteratura dotta e la letteratura popolare è la letteratura epico-cavalleresca (e quindi anche Le Mille e Una Notte). Contrariamente a quello che si possa pensare, Le Mille e Una Notte non è letteratura popolare perché questo tipo di letteratura ha all’origine una tradizione orale che, ad un certo punto della storia, viene messa per iscritto. Per le Notti, invece, è sempre esistita una tradizione manoscritta anche se, a tutt'oggi, ricostruire il manoscritto capostipite è tra le imprese più ardue di sempre.
• 
  Dženan Mušanović

  Maestralno, volšebno, intelektualno, bogato, eruditivno, iscrpno, minuciozno štivo!
  
  Nisaam znao kako drugačije početi pisati o ovoj knjizi iz koje još uvijek prepisujem zabilješke u svoju teku pa se danima skanjujem da napišem koju riječ o njoj. Isprva zamišljena kao uvodnik u čitanje 1001 noći iliti Arapskih noći, ova je knjiga nezamislivo mnogo više od toga. Irwin je uman čovjek, te je uspio mnogo saznanja, istraživanja, povijesnih činjenica, svekolikih autora iz ne znam koliko polja sabrati na jedno mjesto, sve to povezati i učiniti koherentnim, štaviše pitkim štivom koje se čita poput dobrog romana.
  
  Kao što u svojoj recenziji piše prof. Hafizović: ...Irwinova knjiga razložno i dokumentirano pokazuje, posredstvom slikanja sudbine Hiljadu i jedne noći na Zapadu, do koje je mjere i granice književni istok bio i jeste prisutan u Evropi tokom ovoga tisućljeća...
  Doista, to jeste tako. Smatram da svako onaj ko želi da govori o književnosti, povijesti književnosti, mora odvojiti vrijeme i pročitati ovu knjigu ili će ostati uskraćen za relevantne informacije koje govore o susretima i dodirima, o prisustvu i utjecaju književnosti Istoka u Evropi, na Zapadu generalno.
  
  Iscrpna analiza koja počinje lagahnim uvodom u kojem se već naznačuje kuda će ovo intelektualno putešestvije odvesti time što Irwin za reference uzima Gibbona i njegovu slavnu knjigu Slabljenje i propast Rimske imperije, zatim spominjući monumentalno Proustovo djelo kojem se, na koncu, u posljednjem poglavlju Djeca Hiljadu i jedne noći vraća.
  
  Irwinova knjiga počinje dokumentiranim praćenjem prvih izvora od kojih su sabrane i preko kojih su nastajale Noći, saznajemo da postoji nekoliko varijantni povijesnog arapskog, ne uključujući dijalekte kojima se i dan-danas služe raznovrsni regioni semitskog jezičkog bazena; tragajući za pra-Tekstom, pra-izvorom ili arhetipom (ed-dustur, ar.) nailazimo na nekoliko varijantnih rješenja koja su uzrokom da u Evropi počnu kolati divergentni primjerci ovog, još uvijek nekompletnog djela. I to se dešava zahvaljujući briljantnim istraživačima koje je privukla arapska kultura, jezik, kojima je druga civilizacija djelovalo egzotično jer je neistražena; pojavljuje se Galland sa prijevodom koji će se docnije često spominjati kroz knjigu te svojom Bibliotheque orientale, Galland koji je izjavio:
  
  "Islamska književnost je toliko bogata i tako visokog kvaliteta da je bila samodovoljna,"
  zatim Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, austrijski orijentalist (koji je, usput budi rečeno, preveo Diwan od Hafiza iz Širaza), zatim Maximilian Habicht, pa Gustav Weil... i u nedogled.
  
  Od svih varijanti i raznolikih rukopisa, među kojima se često spominje neki sirijački kao mogući stvarni izvor, izranjaju: Kalkutanski I, Kalkutanski II, Buraq i Breslau. Iz ova 4 izvora kasnije su se razvile sve zbirke 1001 noći koje poznajemo, naravno, dodavanjem priča koje primarno nisu bile uključene u ciklus. Čitajući ovu knjigu, osim toga što ćete mnogo toga naučiti o samom setu 1001 noći, kao što vidite, zapamtit ćete neka imena koja će vas navesti da dalje i dublje tragate o tim tematima.
  
  E.W. Lane, osim što se bavio prijevodom Noći, napisao je, kako sam kasnije istražujući saznao, važnu knjigu naslovljenu koje se čak smatra ako ne prvim, onda jednim od ranih djela iz antropologije (1842.)
  
  Sir Richard Francis Burton, britanski konzul, avanturista, također jedan od prevoditelja razmatranog djela, također je napisao i "Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina" 1885., te klasično djelo o arapskoj erotici, a to je Mirisni Vrt (Perfumed Garden)...
  
  Ako bih ovako nastavio, ova bi recenzija postala knjiga za sebe, jer knjiga zaista obiluje relevantnim, korisnim i zanimljivim informacijama i činjenicama (o naukama za koje nikad niste čuli, o pojavama za koje možete sumnjati da postoje...). Stoga, sukusirat ćemo narativ.
  
  Irwin dalje nastavlja kroz poglavlje Okeani priča razabirati o samoj magiji riječi, nevjerovatnosti priča, podudarnosti i transformiranju mnogih od tih priča u evropsku literaturu te zaodijevanje istih zapadnim ruhom. Kroz ovo poglavlje uspio je portretirati ono što je navedeno u recenziji prof. Hafizovića. Rečenice ovog poglavlje kao da se same pretaču geografski, hodeći preko Indije, odlazeći u arapski svijet, vraćajući se u evropski kontekst govoreći o mnoštvu potencijalnih i stvarnih veza između književnih, dramskih tradicija klasične starine i zbirki priča na arapskom.
  
  Kroz naredno poglavlje Pripovjedačev zanat opisano je umijeće i volšebnost dočaravanja priča koje su nastajale kao zanat. No, ko bi rekao, ali nekada je pripovjedač priča bilo zanimanje od kojih su neki bolje a neki slabije, ali ipak jesu, živjeli? Po birtijama, kafanama Egipta, Sirije, Iraka i ostalog istočnog življa, ovi bi ljudi došli i zabavljali narod, podražujući njihovu reakciju, za koju bi, ako uspiju u svojim nakanama, dobijali naknade. Iz ovih usmenih avantura su se anticipirale paradigme za ono što će kasnije postati pisana poezija, a slično važi i za prozu.
  
  Slijede poglavlja: Ulične zabave, u kojima se opisuje klima u kojoj su mogle nastajati neke od priča i ponovo, daje se kontekst, veza i poveznice sa pričama i romanima koji nastaju na Zapadu, zatim Niski život, onda Seksualne književnosti koje je itekako važno i koje smisleno i utemeljeno pokazuje da islamski svijet nije tabuiziran, naravno, ponegdje se išlo u krajnosti, ali ovim poglavljem Irwin lucidno opravdava sve one koji islamu pripisuju misticizam i okultnost, potom Univerzum čuda koji ispituje začudnosti, imaginerije koje su izrodile veliku književnost Evrope, autore koji su u svoja književna zdanja utkali duhovno naslijeđe i očigledne umjetničke tragove Noći.
  
  Na koncu, poglavlja: Formalna čitanja Hiljadu i jedne noći koje nudi semantičku, sintaktičku, formalističku analizu motrenu iz ugla strukturalista, te drugih teoretičara književnosti koji su ovome djelu prilazili sa formalne/nominalne strane potražujući u njemu stilske, lingvističke, simbolične elemente koje bi smještali u kontekst koji bi pogodovao njihovim definiranjima i uobličavanjima poput V. Proppa koji je putem svoje morfologije iznašao način da "ukalupi" sve priče 1001 noći, no to mu, kako pokazuje Irwin, ipak izmiče iz ruku kao zadatak, bez obzira na oblike, funkcije i područja djelatnosti kojima je htio obuhvatiti sve priče. (Nije tu samo Propp, on je samo primjer), te poglavlje Djeca Hiljadu i jedne noći koje daje uvid u sva djela nastala pod manjim ili većim utjecajem ovog kultnog, monumentalnog književnog djela koje se nekad smatralo prestižom i bilo je obavezan dio biblioteka džentlmena a danas je, pretpostavljam, zbog svojeg obima ili možda nepoćudnih mjesta, istisnuto iz obaveznih čitanja.
  
  Svakako, Irwin je za onoga ko se želi baviti orijentalistikom, islamistikom, književnošću, filozofijom, lingvistikom, nezaobilazan.
• 
  Helmut

  Der Kompass auf dem Ozean der Geschichten
  
  Die 1001 Nacht, eine Geschichtensammlung ohne klaren Ursprung, ohne Autor, ohne definierten Textkorpus? Man muss als Analyst dieser Geschichten so einige liebgewonnene Gewohnheiten aufgeben, die man sich bei europäischen Geschichtensammlungen dieses Typs zugelegt hat, denn die 1001 Nacht ist in jeder Beziehung anders. Bei dieser Umgewöhnung soll dieser Begleiter helfen.
  
  Dabei werden unterschiedliche Kriterien an den Text angelegt - sowohl die Textgeschichte selbst, als auch die orale und schriftliche Weitergabe und verwandte Sammlungen werden en detail besprochen; Hintergrundinformationen über die realen Verhältnisse der Geschichtenerzähler bekommen ebenso ein eigenes Kapitel wie deren Konkurrenten, andere Entertainer auf den Straßen Bagdads, Damaskus und Kairos. Das alltägliche Leben der Rezipienten ist Thema, und natürlich darf die wichtige erotische Komponente nicht vergessen werden, die in europäischen Übersetzungen oft entweder unterdrückt oder übertrieben wurde.
  
  Schließlich sind auch rein literaturwissenschaftliche Kapitel dabei - wenn Irwin über die Wunderwelt der Geschichten erzählt, oder über die Rezeption in der meist strukturalistisch angehauchten Literaturanalyse mit Kommentaren zu Propp, Todorov und Levi-Strauss.
  
  Kein Text also, den man so nebenbei liest; mehr etwas für in Literaturwissenschaft und Geschichte Vorgebildete, aber nicht unbedingt wirklich für den dahingehend uninteressierten Laien, der sich einen Überblick über die Geschichtenwelt verschaffen will. Man muss aber kein Spezialist sein, um die enorme Detailliertheit der Recherche des Autors würdigen zu können, und jeder Leser wird etwas aus diesem sehr lesbaren Werk mitnehmen können.
  
  Ein Vorwort, eine Zeittafel der 1001 Nacht von dem ersten indischen Textvorgänger bis zur Moderne, viele Endnoten mit einer riesigen Masse an Sekundärliteratur und ein Index komplettieren das Werk. Leider fehlt eine Karte oder andere Illustrationen, die das Werk auflockern könnten; auch Aussprachehinweise für das oft vorhandene romanisierte Arabisch hätte ich gern gesehen. Dafür ist die Bindung und der Einband schön fest, Papier und Druck überdurchschnittlich für ein Taschenbuch.
• 
  Lotte

  Not entirely what I was looking for. I was hoping for a companion that could offer me a better understanding of the setting of the tales of the Arabian Nights. Irwin focuses more on influence of other works or phenomenons on the collection, and the subsequent influence of the Nights on other works of literature. It's a very extensive works, but I felt like Irwin just offers an enumeration of works or phenomena rather than setting out a framework in which the Nights should be understood. I was hoping for more analysis.
  
  The first chapter is about the different translations of the Nights. I was reminded by this text that sir Richard Francis Burton was such a dare-devil; he was one of the first non-Muslims to make the hajj (disguised). Irwin is less impressed by Burton's translation, which suffers from racism and sexism. Irwin recommends the recent Haddawy's translation.
  
  In the second chapter Irwin tries to date the tales of the Nights:
  
  

  The answer to the question how old is The Thousand and One Nights will depend, among many other things, on what one counts as the first version of the Nights. Should it be the Persian prototype, the Hazar Afsaneh? Or the ninth-century Thousand Nights, of which a few scrappy lines survive? Or The Thousand and One Nights, referred to in the twelfth century, but of which not even a few scrappy lines survive? Or the purely hypothetical thirteenth-century Syrian source manuscript? Or the Galland manuscript, which was written in either the fourteenth or the fifteenth century? Or the fuller versions of the Nights, translated by Lane and Burton, which were filled out with all sorts of ancient and recent stories (including ‘Sinbad’, ‘The Ebony Horse’, ‘Ali Baba’ and the rest) some time between the fifteenth and the early nineteenth centuries?

  
  
  In the third chapter, we look for similar tales to the Nights. The collection seems to draw on Indian tales, the Odysse and Hazar Afsaneh, the presumed Persian prototype. It had an influence on French fabliaux (e.g. the Lais of Marie de France) and fairy tales (by Charles Perrault and the brothers Grimm). The brothers Grimm were informed of the story of Aladin (an orphan story to the Nights) by French informants and integrated it in their tales. That's why a lot of Westerners know it as a fairy tale.
  
  In the fourth chapter, Irwin argues that most of the tales of the Night do not derive from oral storytelling. Most of the storytellers (who enjoyed a low status in Arab countries) worked from a written source.
  
  In the fifth and sixth chapters, Irwin explores the low life (street entertainment and criminal endeavours) as described in the Nights. He argues that storytellers, who pertained to the lower class, were quite familiar with this kind of life. The descriptions in the tales could therefore be considered as a realistic account of the state of things in the streets of Bagdad and Cairo (the two consecutive capitals of the Arab world, during respectively the Abassid and the Mamluke period). Irwin enumerates a great number of criminal acts. Interestingly, drinking wine was not such a problem. Hachis were a bit more problematic, but were quite commonly available in midieval Arab countries. Sufis made use of them, too:
  
  

  ‘The wine of the fuqara’ (that is, of the poor before God, i.e. the Sufis) was one of the nicknames of hashish. In some of the less respectable Sufi groups, poetry was written in praise of hashish or opium.

  
  
  In the seventh chapter we delve into the sexual content of the Nights. This collection was not the only one with a strong sexual undertone, but isn't it puzzling that these stories told by Sheherezade to convince King Shahriyar that not all women are unfaithful contain so many unfaithful women? I'd argue that this would be because a lot of the stories were just told tales by men to a male audience. Irwin, on the contrary, argues:
  
  

  But the tales are designed also to teach, and it is striking how many of the tales feature adulterous women, virtuous women, dominant women and wily women. From some of the tales Shahriyar may learn that there can be such a thing as fidelity in love and marriage. From other tales he may conclude that women are infinitely lustful and will deceive their husbands if they can, and he may derive a melancholy sort of consolation from this. Then again, after listening to yet other stories, he may simply laugh and conclude that sex is not such a serious matter anyway. The sheer diversity of the stories can be seen as providing a therapy of a kind

  .
  
  The eight chapter is about magic in the Nights. The Arab imaginary differs here from the Western one. For example, ghosts are not seen as trapped souls, and witches are not so much of a problem (though lesbians were considered witches). The Arab world was much more preoccupied by treasure-hunting, often seen as serious business. Irwin also describes the jinn:
  
  

  The jinn (sing. jinn or genie) were thought of as supernatural creatures with bodies of flame. They were normally invisible. [...] There are good Muslim jinn, like Sakhr and his following, and there are evil, infidel jinn. (The evil jinn are sometimes characterized as shaytans, or devils.) [...] Some considered Iblis, the Devil, to be a jinn; some thought of him as an angel.40 (Angels are made of light, while jinn are made of fire.)

  
  
  Solomon controls the jinn, a feat which the Quran apparently often refers to.
  
  The ninth chapter gives an overview of formalist analyses of the Nights, amongst others by Propp and Todorov.
  
  The tenth chapter deals with the influence of the Nights of Western works of fiction, notably Les lettres persanes by Montesquieu, Zadig by Voltaire, William Beckford’s Vathek, Potocki’s The Saragossa Manuscript, In Search of Lost Time by Proust and - of course - stories by Borges, like The Garden of the Forking Paths. Irwin ends by naming a few movies inspired by the Nights, such as Pasolini’s Il fore delle Mille e una notte (1974).
• 
  עדית (Edith)

  Irwin does a good job explaining the background of the tales drawing from social history and literary sources. (It baffles me why there are no annotated versions of the Arabian Nights available, which would provide more insight into the lore behind the stories).
• 
  Steve

  Incredible reference work! If you love the 1001 Nights, you really need this to bring that work alive and put it in a greater context.
• 
  Mary Beth

  This was the book that kicked off mad purchase of more "Robert Irwin." Stimulating, informative, and easy to digest. I selected this book to understand The Arabian Nights better; this and so much more.
  Currently reading The Arabian Nightmare, A Novel - and finding all those intriguing bits splashed against the nonfiction accounts - just as early compositions blending the worlds of fiction and nonfiction to create aja'ib - wonderful!
• 
  Mohammad Aboomar

  Rather than being a companion, this book opens up venues and a myriad of related works to the Nights. It is heavily researched in most of its chapters, perhaps except the last one that read like a corpus search of Nights buzzwords in a literary corpus.
• 
  Mahmoud Haggui

  the book is the Father/Mother of the controversial books that influenced nearly all the western -if I may make such geographical division- cultures in one way or another. of course it tells a lot about the Arabs and Muslims' Culture in the Abbasid era - yeah, you're right it means the Orient- it is The Arabian Nights, Alf Lila Wa Lila, Al Layaly, or even The Nights. they all stand for the same book. who wrote the Arabian Nights? Actually, it was written by different writers. when had it been written? it was re-written in different age.Moreover the content shaped the major part pf the debates about the Nights. so if we trace back the attempts to give the Nights a more vivid image, we will find that,"by the 20th century, Western scholars had agreed that the Nights is a composite work consisting of popular stories originally transmitted orally and developed during several centuries, with material added somewhat haphazardly at different periods and places. Several layers in the work, including one originating in Baghdad and one larger and later, written in Egypt, were distinguished in 1887 by August Müller. By the mid-20th century, six successive forms had been identified: two 8th-century Arabic translations of the Persian Hazār afsāna, called Alf khurafah and Alf laylah; a 9th-century version based on Alf laylah but including other stories then current; the 10th-century work by al-Jahshiyārī; a 12th-century collection, including Egyptian tales; and the final version, extending to the 16th century and consisting of the earlier material with the addition of stories of the Islamic Counter-Crusades and tales brought to the Middle East by the Mongols. Most of the tales best known in the West—primarily those of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sindbad—were much later additions to the original corpus.
  
• 
  John

  better than reading the actual Arabian Nights, which i found fairly boring at times, your companion, the author robert irwin, is one amazingly knowledgable and witty raconteur on this wondrous voyage through history and literature and fascinating anecdote. delectable.
• 
  Jamil

  "being influenced is an active process and writers actually hunt for the books they wish to be influenced by..."
• 
  Nero Grimes

  Helped point me in the right direction in a lot of ways
• 
  Lulu

  
  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
  
  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
  
  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...