Tales from 1001 Nights

Originating from India, Persia and Arabia, the *Tales from the Thousand and One Nights* represents the lively expression of a lay and secular imagination in revolt against religious austerity and zeal in Oriental literature. The tales depict a fabulous and fanciful world of jinns and sorcerers, but their bawdiness, realism and variety of subject matter also firmly anchor them to everyday life. The translator has caught the freshness and spontaneity of the stories—which although imaginative and extravagant, are a faithful mirror of medieval Islam.