Ebook: MARVELLOUS THIEVES: secret authors of the arabian nights

Introduction -- The storyteller and the Sultan of France -- Marvellous thieves -- The empire of English -- The magician's interpreter -- The wiles of women -- Stealing with style -- The false caliph.;"While many of its stories originated centuries ago in the Middle East, the Arabian Nights is considered a classic of world literature thanks to its French and English translations. But were they more Parisian than Persian? Some of their most famous tales, including the stories of Aladdin and Ali Baba, appear nowhere in the original sources. As befits a world where magic lamps may conceal a jinni, the truth is richer than a simple tale of invention might suggest. Marvellous Thieves reveals the many acts of literary larceny that produced the Arabian Nights as it introduces poets, scholars, pilgrims and charlatans who made crucial but largely unacknowledged contributions to this most famously enchanting collection of stories."--Back cover.