I'm enjoying it so far; I feel like it's the storytelling equivalent of the Minotaur's labyrinth.
In the version I'm reading (and the other version I considered reading) the girl is named Shahrazad but, though I've never read this before, I'm so used to the name 'Scheherezade' that it feels like I'm mentally pronouncing it incorrectly to think of it as 'Shahrazad' with only three syllables. I suppose this must be the more correct translation of her name since these newer translations are using it. By the way, does anyone know how Shahrazad should be pronounced? I'm thinking of it as 'SHAH-rah-zahd' but that's just a guess.
This book reminds me a bit of our selection 'The White Castle' by Orhan Pamuk from August 2014. While quite different it's somewhat of a similarly fantastical story and so seems like this, or stories like this, may have helped to inspire Pamuk with his story, especially considering his Arabic (Turkish) origins.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fantasyfan
I ran across an oddity in the Haddawy translation. "The Merchant and the Genie" has three old men, each of whom tells a story. Now in Lang and the Mack Oxford version the tale of the third old man has disappeared and Scheherazade gives a lame excuse about not knowing it. Well, Haddawy follows suit.
In fact there is indeed a third story and it is in both Burton and Payne. It isn't all that outstanding as a story goes but if you want to read it, it is there. Since the Burton translation is free and easily available that would probably be the simplest way to access it.
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I thought there must have been a third story! In fact I guessed just that, that the third man's tale was less interesting and so was left out in this abridged version because something must be left out.
There have been other moments too where I wonder that as I'm reading, where I'm expecting her to tell a story about something and then she's just like, 'Nope you don't get to hear that one but what about this next one!' If it's actually the way the unabridged version works it's funny because you never know whether she's about to expand on a story or skip over it entirely, but it seems likely the unabridged version may have no 'skips'.
I also think the same about the shorter stories, that they were probably cut down. One night she'll tell a rather long story and the next it only takes about three paragraphs to get through the night.
Well, maybe those nights they were... busier until closer to dawn.
I'm curious about how others are enjoying the stories, and since I almost went with the Dawood translation I'm curious how Bookworm_Girl is liking it.