Story-telling techniques in the Arabian nights /

This book represents an expanded PhD dissertation that was already mined for at least one article published in Journal of Semitic Studies, 1987. The subject and style of the book are typical dissertation material. Herein, the discussion deals with "selective" tales from the Medieval Arabic classic, Alf Laylah wa-Laylah, the most recent, most complete and best edition of which was published by E.J. Brill in 1984, edited by Muhsim Mahdi of Harvard University. Those tales are "written for the general reader as well as the student of Arabic literature"; they "illustrate a trait held in common by virtually every. . .character, sultan, slave, human, sprite [!]" and are, "The Fisherman and the Genie," Harun al-Rashid et al. "The City of Brass," "Demons, Hunchbacks and Barmecid Feasts. . . ." It is not clear how either the general reader or the student of Arabic literature would gain worthwhile new insight into the famous classic, assuming that either would have the intellectual energy and time to finish reading the book. K. I. H. Semaan; SUNY at Binghamton