CURRENT LITERATURE
THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT Rendered into English by Powys Mathers
Mr. Powys Mathers' rendering into English of Dr. Mardrus' translation into French of The Thousand Nights and One Night was first published fifteen years ago, in a limited edition priced at £16. Revised by Mr. Mathers, and beautifully printed by the Chiswici Press, it is now published by Messrs. Allen and Unwin at the extremely moderate price of £4 4s. It is doubtful whether any book of comparable appeal has had to wait so long for a worthy and accessible English edition. The nursery versions of the Thousand and One Nights (where most people's acquain- tance with the tales of Schehera7ade ends) serve their purpose, but are very pale shades of their original ; prudery prevented Lane's version for adults from being substantially better, and Burton's, though it was much more full, was still far from being a complete success. Dr. Mardrus' translation into French, of which the first volume appeared in 1899, was the first European rendering which faithfully reflected its original. It was also in its own right a very great work of art. Mr. Mathers' rendering of it into English is in no respect inferior, and in one respect even better. Dr. Mardrus translated the interpolated verses into rhythmic prose ; Mr. Mathers has rendered them in neat rhymed stanzas or in verse Libre. It is impossible to believe that The Thousand Nights and One Night could ever be better presented in English.
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