Posted on December 17, 2021 at 8:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Two new works take a feminist look at some well-worn tales.
Already out in Britain and in Kindle (but not hard copies) in the US: Shakespeare's ‘Lady Editors': A New History of the Shakespearean Text, by Molly G. Yarn.
Yarn, an independent scholar, includes almost seventy female editors of William Shakespeare’s plays in her book, dating back to 1860.
Still, she told the Guardian, there are certainly more than that – she knows that, because she left a few out of her own book.
Yarn wrote the book in hopes that the world will recognize these women’s contributions to Shakespeare scholarship and that, more broadly, a greater focus will be paid to diversity in editing.
And out in both the US and Britain: The Annotated Arabian Nights: Tales from 1001 Nights, translated by Yasmine Seale.
The Guardian notes that this English translation of the ancient Arabic folk tales is the first of its kind done by a woman.
Seale’s work covers not just the core tales, but also ones — with female protagonists — given to the first European translator by a Syrian acquaintance.
The Annotated Arabian Nights provides a contemporary yet more authentic feel to the stories, according to its editor, who told the Guardian that it “(strips) away the Orientalism and the added, interpolated racism and sexism” that a 19th-century translator brought.
(PS: Seale addresses errors in the article — and we checked; we're not wrongly citing any of them — in a Twitter thread.)
Related posts
Categories: Today in Books