Fantastic tales of magic and wonder
Edited and translated into English for the first time,
A Hundred and One Nights
is a marvelous example of the rich tradition of popular Arabic storytelling. Like its more famous sibling, the
Thousand and One Nights
, this collection opens with the frame story of Shahrazad, the gifted vizier’s daughter who recounts imaginative tales night after night in an effort to distract the murderous king from taking her life.
features an almost entirely different set of stories, however, each one more thrilling, amusing, and disturbing than the last. In them, we encounter tales of epic warriors, buried treasures, disappearing brides, cannibal demon women, fatal shipwrecks, and clever ruses, where human strength and ingenuity play out against a backdrop of inexorable, inscrutable fate.
Although these tales draw on motifs and story elements that circulated across cultures,
is distinctly rooted in Arabic literary culture and the Islamic tradition. It is also likely much older than
, drawing on Indian and Chinese antecedents. This careful edition and vibrant translation of
promises to transport readers, new and veteran alike, into its fantastical realms of magic and wonder.
A bilingual Arabic-English edition.