Tisuću i jedna noć: Izbor

Tisuću i jedna noć: Izbor presents a selection from The Thousand and One Nights, where the lives of merchants, travellers and rulers intersect with extraordinary events, danger and unexpected reversals. In the framing narrative, Scheherazade postpones her execution through storytelling, keeping King Shahriyar eager for each continuation and gradually transforming his outlook.

Drawing on Arabic, Persian and Indian narrative traditions, the collection brings together adventure, romance, humour and moral reflection. Wealth and poverty, wisdom and gullibility, loyalty and deception shape a world in which ingenuity can overcome force and a chance encounter can alter a life.

This 1951 edition features a translation directly from Arabic by Alija Bejtić, who also supplied the introduction and explanatory commentary. Radovan Ivšić edited the volume and rendered its verse passages, preserving the interplay of poetry and prose.

Mato Benković created the visual design using Arabic and Persian ornament as his foundation. The edition brings a major storytelling tradition into Croatian through a collaboration of translation, poetic craftsmanship and art, celebrating the imaginative and transformative power of narrative.