A Motif Index of the Thousand and One Nights

In 1704 the French Orientalist Antoin Galland introduced to the Western world a translation of The Thousand and One Nights. Over the course of two subsequent centuries, numerous editions followed. Many of these, like Galland's, included texts of stories not found in the indigenous manuscripts of the Nights but selected by the European editors from other literary and oral collections of ordinary folktales and legends. Thus, the original work acquired a Western designation as The Arabian Nights, a title unknown among the masses in Arab lands. Now, three centuries later, original publication of The Thousand and One Nights is being celebrated with widespread, renewed interest in the work. Hasan El-Shamy's motif-index, based on an authentic folk edition of Alf laylah wa laylah, provides scholars of various fields accurate information about the content of this classic piece of Arabic folk tradition.

Author: Hasan M. El-Shamy
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 12/21/2006
Pages: 696
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.32lbs
Size: 9.38h x 6.52w x 1.59d
ISBN: 9780253348340

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/10/2007 pg. 602

About the Author

Hasan El-Shamy is Professor of Folklore, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, and African Studies at Indiana University. He is author of several books, including Types of the Folktale in the Arab World (IUP, 2004), Tales Arab Women Tell (IUP, 1999), and Folk Traditions of the Arab World: A Guide to Motif Classifications (IUP, 1995).