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Article: On a sea of stories
- Article from:
- New Statesman
- Article date:
- December 15, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright New Statesman Ltd. Dec 15, 2008. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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On a sea of stories
The stories of The Arabian Nights are so famous that most of us have never read them, but just absorbed them as nursery tales or cartoons. Now a new translation, the first in more than a century, allows us to enjoy the vast original. By Hugh Kennedy
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights
Translated by Malcolm C Lyons with Ursula Lyons Introduced and annotated by Robert Irwin Penguin Classics, three vols, £125
We have all heard of The Arabian Nights, most of us probably as children's stories and cartoon films. The most famous have become stock images of English writing - the genie in the bottle; the door that responds to the cry of "Open Sesame!". Perhaps the most ...