One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling (Hardcover)
Description
Gathered and passed down over the centuries from India, Persia, and across the Arab world, the mesmerizing stories of One Thousand and One Nights tell of the real and the supernatural, love and marriage, power and punishment, wealth and poverty, and the endless trials and uncertainties of fate. They are related by the beautiful, wise, young Shaharazad, who is held captive by the murderous King Shahrayar. The king has vowed to deflower and then kill a virgin every night—but Shaharazad will not be defeated by the king’s appetites. To save herself, she cunningly spins a web of tales, leaving the king in suspense each morning and thus prolonging her life for another day.
Acclaimed Lebanese writer Hanan al-Shaykh has selected nineteen of these stories, retold them in modern English, and knitted them together into an utterly intoxicating collection. In al-Shaykh’s hands, Shaharazad’s tales are lush and evocative, rich with humor, and utterly captivating.
(With an introduction by Mary Gaitskill.)
About the Author
Hanan al-Shaykh, an award-winning journalist, novelist, and playwright, is the author of the short story collection I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops; the novels The Story of Zahra, Women of Sand and Myrrh, Beirut Blues, and Only in London; and a memoir about her mother, The Locust and the Bird. She was raised in Beirut, educated in Cairo, and lives in London.
Praise for One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling…
“I’ve always been intrigued with Shahrazad’s storytelling, especially when I discovered that the real stories are not for children but instead are sexy, violent, unforgiving morality tales filled with intrigue, excitement, and wit, and beautifully rendered in this wonderful version. Who can resist a lewd demon’s lover whose mischief proves her declaration, “How great is the cunning of women!”
—Louisa Ermelino, reviews director, Publishers Weekly
“Hilarious, horrifying, touching, enlightening, or revelatory, al-Shaykh’s versions of these ancient tales
remind us how story-cycles overwhelm limits of space or time or culture.”
—Mary Carroll, Booklist
“Before I knew it, I had finished half of them. Like Shahrazad’s captive king, I was hooked.”
—Molly Mcardle, Library Journal
“What a woman!!! What a storyteller!!!”
—Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis
“Al-Shaykh’s One Thousand and One Nights is a treasure-box of stories.”
—The Independent (London)
“Magical. . . . Bursting with jinnis and mischief.”
—Donna Tartt, The Times (London)
“[F]or grown-ups interested in rediscovering the One Thousand and One Nights in all its bawdy, violent glory. It is captivating.”
—Daily Mail (London)
“[A]n uplifting read, precisely because [the stories] are so fantastical and transport the reader, by flying carpet, to lands filled with jinnis, princes and concubines, and also of people making contact across divides. Some of them are surprisingly erotic. Bedtime reading, for sure.”
—Time Out (London)
“Hanan Al-Shaykh’s vivid ‘reimagining’ of the One Thousand and One Nights is a treat and a trap for story lovers. Like a contemporary Shahrazad, Al-Shaykh has rendered nineteen little masterpieces into a wondrously warm, ribald and hilarious concoction, reminding us of how bang up to date these stories can be.”
—Hanif Kureishi, The Guardian (London)
“A brutal, bawdy, earthy and humorous narrative where the real world and the supernatural collide. . . . Al-Shaykh’s stories are no less beguiling than their name suggests.”
—Metro (London)
