by A. S. Byatt
The qualities of Capt. Burton’s translation are similar to those of his previous literary works, and the defects of those qualities are also similar. Commanding a vast and miscellaneous vocabulary, he takes such pleasure in the use of it that sometimes he transgresses the unwritten laws of artistic harmony. From the point of view of language, I hold that he is too eager to seize the mot propre of his author, and to render that by any equivalent which comes to hand from field or fallow, waste or warren, hill or hedgerow, in our vernacular. Therefore, as I think, we find some coarse passages of the Arabian Nights rendered with unnecessary crudity, and some poetic passages marred by archaisms or provincialisms. But I am at a loss to perceive how Burton’s method of translation should be less applicable to the Arabian Nights than to the Lusiad….
This, however, is a minor point. The real question is whether a word-for-word version of the Arabian Nights, executed with peculiar literary vigour, exact scholarship, and rare insight into Oriental modes of thought and feeling, can under any shadow of pretence be classed with “the garbage of the brothels.” In the lack of lucidity, which is supposed to distinguish English folk, our middle-class censores morum strain at the gnat of a privately circulated translation of an Arabic classic, while they daily swallow the camel of higher education based upon minute study of Greek and Latin literature. When English versions of Theocritus and Ovid, of Plato’s Phaedrus and the Ecclesiazusae, now within the reach of every schoolboy, have been suppressed, then and not till then can a “plain and literal” rendering of the Arabian Nights be denied with any colour of consistency to adult readers. I am far from saying that there are not valid reasons for thus dealing with Hellenic and Graeco-Roman and Oriental literature in its totality. But let folk reckon what Anglo-Saxon Puritanism logically involves. If they desire an Anglo-Saxon Index Librorum Prohibitorum, let them equitably and consistently apply their principles of inquisitorial scrutiny to every branch of human culture.
The Academy, 1885
SIR RICHARD F. BURTON
Expressing similar ideas to those of Symonds, Burton himself defends his translation of The Arabian Nights by saying that, if his translation is to be justly censured, the bulk of great literature would have to come under heavy scrutiny. This well-known quote has appeared in many biographies of Burton, most notably in that written by Isabel Burton shortly after his death.
I have not only preserved the spirit of the original, but the mécanique. I don’t care a button about being prosecuted, and if the matter comes to a fight, I will walk into court with my Bible and my Shakespeare and my Rabelais under my arm, and prove to them that before they condemn me, they must cut half of them out, and not allow them to be circulated to the public.
THE NATION
Fairly rare among criticisms of The Arabian Nights, this excerpt attacks Burton’s writing style rather than the content of his translation. It appeared as the first of a series of critical essays dealing with the history of the translation of The Arabian Nights into European languages.
To the English reader it gives no true idea of the original, and nothing could be further from being an English classic. No one will ever delight in it; many will study it. Perversities of style make it unreadable for its own sake. Such phrases as “a red cent,” “belle and beldame,” “a veritable beauty of a man,” “O, my cuss,” “thy hubby,” “a Charley,” may possibly have Arabic equivalents, but certainly cannot render those for us. No illusion can survive such barbarisms. The long, lumbering lope of its verses, too, is only a degree better than Lane’s prose. Its futilities of annotation are a perpetual menace. The fate of the Household Edition brings all to a point: when deprived of unpublishable matter and relying solely on its English value, the book was a flat failure.
From “On Translating ‘The Arabian Nights,’” 1890
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE
Swinburne was one of the greatest and most renowned poets of the nineteenth century and a friend of Burton. Shortly after the completion of the first volume of The Arabian Nights, he composed this sonnet to commemorate the occasion and congratulate Burton for his achievement.
TO RICHARD F. BURTON.
On his Translation of the Arabian Nights.
Westward the sun sinks, grave and glad; but far
Eastward, with laughter and tempestuous tears,
Cloud, rain, and splendour as of Orient spears,
Keen as the sea’s thrill toward a kindling star
The sundawn breaks the barren twilight’s bar
And fires the mist and slays it. Years on years
Vanish, but he that hearkens eastward hears
Bright music from the world where shadows are.
Where shadows are not shadows. Hand-in-hand
A man’s word bids them rise and smile and stand
And triumph. All that glorious Orient glows
Defiant of the dusk. Our twilight land
Trembles; but all the heaven is all one rose,
Whence laughing love dissolves her frosts and snows.
From The Athenaeum, 1886
LADY ISABEL BURTON
The following passage is excerpted from Isabel Burton’s biography of her husband, which was published shortly after his death and provides one of the few sources of information concerning Burton’s personal life. Isabel Burton has come under a great deal of criticism for her unsympathetic attitude toward her husband’s work. This statement dated to before her husband’s death and concerns The Arabian Nights—a work she was later to edit and reissue in a second edition shortly after he died.
I have never read, nor do I intend to read, at his own request, and to be true to my promise to him, my husband’s “Arabian Nights.” But I have read the reviews, some with pride and some with pain, while all the private letters of congratulation have been a great source of gratification to me; and I have gathered all together, pro and con, which form an interesting book.
Out of a thousand picked scholars it is something to be able to assert that all the men whose good opinion is worth having, are loud in its praise. I think a man who gives years of study to a great work, purely with the motive that the rulers of his country may thoroughly understand the peoples they are governing by millions, and who gives that knowledge freely and unselfishly, and who while so doing runs the gauntlet of abuse from the vulgar, silly Philistine, who sees what the really pure and modest never see, deserves great commendation. To throw mud at him because the mediæval Arab lacks the varnish of our world of today, is as foolish as it would be not to look up because there are a few spots on the sun.
READING GROUP GUIDE
To the minds of a Western audience, The Arabian Nights is the most important work we have from medieval Arabic. Its influence can be seen throughout Western culture, from references in Jane Eyre to the plots of cartoons. What are some examples of the direct influence The Arabian Nights has had on Western literature or culture? Why did readers, then and now, enjoy it?
Burton has been quoted as having said, “The main difficulty, however, is to erase the popular impression that the ‘Nights’ is a book for babies, a ‘classic for children’; whereas its lofty morality, its fine character-painting, its artful development of the story, and its original snatches of rare poetry, fit it for the reading of men and women, and these, too, of no puerile or vulgar wit. In fact, its prime default is that it flies too high.” How does one account for the fact that, historically, The Arabian Nights has been seen as a children’s book? Is it more appropriate for adults than for children given its content and depth? What are the main attributes that make it suitable for either audience?
The structure of The Arabian Nights is an entire study in itself. Debate has raged over the tales’ relation to one another and to the overall structure of the work. Is the narrative structure effective? Are the tales related to one another or are they simply a mixture of unrelated stories bound by a narrative created solely for that purpose? How important is the setting of The Arabian Nights to the inte
rpretation of each individual tale?
One of the most important moral concepts in The Arabian Nights is that of fidelity. From the very beginning of the work, fidelity is the driving force that binds the brothers together and that provides the backdrop for the telling of the tales. Fidelity of all kinds is explored in The Arabian Nights: that between a husband and wife, between brothers, and between a lord and his servant. Describe different depictions of fidelity in specific tales and explain how they are central to the advancement of the plot and the characters. Why is such a high premium placed on fidelity throughout the book?
Morals and ethics are among the most important subjects dealt with throughout The Arabian Nights. Describe the moral system as it is depicted throughout the course of the book, giving examples of important moral concepts in specific tales. How do the morals serve to propel the plot of the tales? How can one reconcile the bawdiness of these tales with the serious moral and ethical messages conveyed? Does the overt sexuality and “inappropriate” content reduce in any way the impact or importance of these moral messages?
THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD
Maya Angelou
•
Daniel J. Boorstin
•
A.S. Byatt
•
Caleb Carr
•
Christopher Cerf
•
Ron Chernow
•
Shelby Foote
•
Stephen Jay Gould
•
Vartan Gregorian
•
Charles Johnson
•
Jon Krakauer
•
Edmund Morris
•
Joyce Carol Oates
•
Elaine Pagels
•
John Richardson
•
Salman Rushdie
•
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
•
Carolyn See
•
William Styron
•
Gore Vidal
Introduction copyright © 2001 by A. S. Byatt
Biographical note copyright © 1997 by Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by
Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Arabian nights. English. Selections.
The Arabian nights: tales from a thousand and one nights /
[translation and notes by]
Sir Richard Francis Burton.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-41701-5
I. Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890. II. Title.
PJ7716.A1 B87 2001
398.22–dc21 00-47066
Modern Library website address: www.modernlibrary.com
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