Antoine Galland (; 4 April 1646 – 17 February 1715) was a French orientalist and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, most famous as the first European translator of ''

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

'', which he called '' Les mille et une nuits''. His version of the tales appeared in twelve volumes between 1704 and 1717 and exerted a significant influence on subsequent European literature and attitudes to the

Islamic world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. In ...

. Jorge Luis Borges has suggested that Romanticism began when his translation was first read.

Life and work

Galland was born at Rollot in

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hi ...

(now in the department of

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France *Somme, Queensland, Australia *Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), a ...

). After completing school at Noyon, he studied Greek and Latin in Paris, where he also acquired some Arabic. In 1670 he was attached to the French embassy at Istanbul because of his excellent knowledge of Greek and, in 1673, he travelled in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and the Levant, where he copied a great number of inscriptions, sketched and—in some cases—removed historical monuments. After a brief visit to France, where his collection of ancient coins attracted some attention, Galland returned to the Levant in 1677. In 1679 he undertook a third voyage, being commissioned by the French East India Company to collect for the cabinet of Colbert. On the expiration of this commission, he was instructed by the government to continue his research, and had the title of

antiquary An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

to the king ( Louis XIV) conferred upon him. During his prolonged residences abroad, he acquired a thorough knowledge of the Arabic,

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, and Persian languages and literatures, which, on his final return to France, enabled him to render valuable assistance to Melchisédech Thévenot, the keeper of the royal library, and to Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville. When d'Herbelot died in 1695, Galland continued his ''Bibliothèque orientale'' ("Oriental Library"), a huge compendium of information about Islamic culture, and principally a translation of the great Arabic encyclopedia ''Kaşf az-Zunūn'' by the celebrated Ottoman scholar Kâtip Çelebi. It was finally published in 1697 and was a major contribution to European knowledge about the Middle East, influencing writers such as William Beckford (in his oriental tale '' Vathek''). After the deaths of Thévenot and d'Herbelot, Galland lived for some time at

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Collège de France. He continued to discharge the duties of this post until his death in 1715. Besides a number of archaeological works, especially in the department of numismatics, Galland published in 1694 a compilation from the Arabic, Persian, and

, entitled ''Paroles remarquables, bons mots et maximes des orientaux'', and in 1699 a translation from an Arabic manuscript, ''De l'origine et du progrès du café''. The former of these works appeared in an English translation in 1795. His ''Contes et fables indiennes de Bidpai et de Lokrnan'' was published posthumously in 1724. Among his numerous manuscripts are a translation of the Qur'an and a ''Histoire générale des empereurs Turcs''. His journal was published by Charles Schefer in 1881.

Translation of ''The Thousand and One Nights''

Galland had come across a manuscript of '' The Tale of Sindbad the Sailor'' in Constantinople during the 1690s and, in 1701, he published his translation of it into French. Its success encouraged him to embark on a translation of a fourteenth- or fifteenth-century Syrian manuscript (now known as the Galland Manuscript) of ''The Thousand and One Nights''. The first two volumes of this work, under the title ''Mille et Une Nuits'', appeared in 1704. The twelfth and final volume was published posthumously in 1717. He translated the first part of his work solely from the Syrian manuscript. In 1709 he was introduced to a

Maronite The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larges ...

Christian from

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

Hanna Diab Antun Yusuf Hanna Diyab ( ar, اَنْطون يوسُف حَنّا دِياب, Anṭūn Yūsuf Ḥannā Diyāb; born ''circa'' 1688) was a Syrian Maronite writer and storyteller. He is the origin of the famous tales of ''Aladdin'' and ''Ali Baba a ...

, who recounted fourteen more stories to Galland from memory. He chose to include seven of these tales in his version of the ''Nights''. Mystery surrounds the origins of some of the most famous tales. For instance, there are no Arabic manuscripts of ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...

'' and '' Ali Baba'', the so-called "orphan tales", which pre-date Galland's translation. Galland had in turn heard these tales from the Syrian storyteller

Hanna Diyab Antun Yusuf Hanna Diyab ( ar, اَنْطون يوسُف حَنّا دِياب, Anṭūn Yūsuf Ḥannā Diyāb; born ''circa'' 1688) was a Syrian Maronite writer and storyteller. He is the origin of the famous tales of '' Aladdin'' and ''Ali Baba ...

. Galland also adapted his translation to the taste of the time. The immediate success the tales enjoyed was partly due to the vogue for fairy stories (French: ''contes de fées''), which had been started in France in the 1690s by his friend

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...

. Galland was also eager to conform to the literary canons of the era. He cut many of the erotic passages as well as all of the poetry. This caused

Sir Richard Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...

to refer to "Galland's delightful abbreviation and adaptation" which "in no wise represent(s) the eastern original." His translation was greeted with immense enthusiasm and had soon been translated into many other European languages: English (a " Grub Street" version appeared in 1706), German (1712), Italian (1722), Dutch (1732), Russian (1763), and Polish (1768). They produced a wave of imitations and the widespread 18th century fashion for oriental tales. As Jorge Luis Borges wrote:

Another fact is undeniable. The most famous and eloquent encomiums of ''The Thousand and One Nights'' – by Coleridge, Thomas de Quincey,
Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...
, Tennyson, Edgar Allan Poe,
Newman Newman is a surname of English origin and may refer to many people: The surname Newman is widespread in the core Anglosphere. A *Abram Newman (1736–1799), British grocer *Adrian Newman (disambiguation), multiple people *Al Newman (born 1960) ...
– are from readers of Galland's translation. Two hundred years and ten better translations have passed, but the man in Europe or the Americas who thinks of the ''Thousand and One Nights'' thinks, invariably, of this first translation. The Spanish adjective ''milyunanochesco'' housand-and-one-nights-esque... has nothing to do with the erudite obscenities of
Burton Burton, Burtons, or Burton's may refer to: Companies * Burton (retailer), a clothing retailer ** Burton's, Abergavenny, a shop built for the company in 1937 **The Montague Burton Building, Dublin a shop built for the company between 1929 and ...
or Mardrus and everything to do with Antoine Galland's bijoux and sorceries.Borges, pp. 92-93

Works

* ''Les paroles remarquables, les bons mots et les maximes des Orientaux, S. Benard'', 1694 * ''Contes et fables indiennes, de Bidpaï et de Lokman; traduites d'Ali-Tchelebi ben Saleh, auteur turc''. * ''Histoire de l'esclavage d'un marchand de la ville de Cassis, à Tunis'', ''La Bibliothèque, « L'écrivain voyageur »''. * De l’origine et du progrès du café, La Bibliothèque, coll. « L'écrivain voyageur ». * ''Le Voyage à Smyrne, Chandeigne'', ''coll. « Magellane »'', 2000. * ''Histoire de Noureddin et de la belle persane'', André Versaille Éditeur, 2009 * ''Histoire d'Aladin ou la lampe merveilleuse'' * ''Les Milles et une Nuits''

References

Sources

*''Les mille et une nuits'' as translated by Galland (Garnier Flammarrion edition, 1965) *Jorge Luis Borges, "The Translators of ''The Thousand and One Nights''" in ''The Total Library: Non-Fiction 1922-1986'', ed. Eliot Weinberger (Penguin, 1999) *

- '' The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night'', Volume 1 by Richard Francis Burton, printed by the Burton Club for private subscribers only, printed in the USA * Robert Irwin ''The Arabian Nights: A Companion'' (Penguin, 1995)

External links