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Arab Folktales
By Inea Bushnaq, trans. and ed. New York: Pantheon, 1986. 386 pp. $19.95 (hardcover).
Folktales yield cultural insights not always obtainable from other literary genres. In Arab Folktales, Inea Bushnaq entertains and bedazzles readers while teaching them about Arabs and the Arab world. The values she discovered through scholarly research are transmitted to her readers through a format familiar to every culture: storytelling and the joy and mystery it inspires. Her book is for Arabs wishing to maintain their folk traditions, non- Arabs seeking to peer through the veils the West has draped over the Middle East, and anyone who enjoys endless adventures, romantic trysts, and comic mishaps.
Bushnaq's collection of tales from throughout the Arab world is distilled from the work of a century's worth of scholars, and a considerable contribution from the author herself. She collects, analyzes, and presents the stories in what she considers their most representative forms. These composites are rich in detail, clear in delivery, smooth in translation, and presented with apparent ease.
In Arab Folktales, Bushnaq divides the tales of the Arab world into seven sections which are entitled: "Tales...