What's the best translation/ version of the Arabian Nights in English?
There doesn't seem to be any definitive edition even in Arabic and many of the orally transmitted tales from India don't seem to have any written source at all, and since I don't speak or ever intend to learn French I can't read the translation by Galland, who might have invented many of the tales and added Aladdin (who he might very well have invented himself too), Sindbad and Alibaba to the Arabian Nights although they were never considered part of that set of stories in the middle East.
There seems to be a good German translation by a guy named /Lit/mann that I might be able to read, but I'm not sure which of the English one's is best.
Some appear to filter out a lot of sex and violence while another one apparently plays up the sex aspect to a ludicrous extent.
I heard there's another translation from 2008, but I know nothing about that one.
Should I go with the Grub Street version?
>>8289015
My Islamic Studies professor recommended Haddaway by Norton
>>8289023
For ants.
>>8289023
>>8289028
Thanks anon, I heard some good things about Haddaway, but I didn't know how to spell the name so I left him out of my post and couldn't find him on Google
>>8289039
Its based on a 13th century edition. Definitely about 15x as dense as any other edition but I enjoyed it.
>>8289045
>Its based on a 13th century edition.
er, 15th
Does anyone know where I could get this book in an authoritative comprehensive Arabic version? I imagine online or in some strange Middle Eastern area like Beirut or east Yemen. Books like these are easier to find in English than in the Arabic original unfortunately.
>>8289015
this shit is so bad aside from the concept. all the stories are pointless and boring. I literally cant fathom why anyone would write or read the whole thing.
>>8289015
>>8289155
Is there a 'definitive' or 'authoritative' original text for the 1001 Nights anyway? Can there ever be? Isn't it a mishmash of several layers of source materials, coming from different parts of the Islamic world, written originally in different languages and in the course of different centuries? Wasn't it compiled as a single work only much later and by Western editors?
A somewhat related question: Suppose I don't want to read the whole thing. Is there a 'core', a set of books or chapters that you can recommend as being worth reading the most?
>>8290114
Have you not read the OP?
