Paulo Lemos Horta
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Questions

Does Aladdin have chapters?

Aladdin, the tailor’s son. From Arthur Ransome’s Aladdin (1919).
Aladdin, the tailor’s son. From Arthur Ransome’s Aladdin (1919).

Not in Galland’s French, and not in most translations, which print the long tale in unbroken blocks of text. The 2018 edition, Aladdin: A New Translation (Liveright), translated by Yasmine Seale and edited by Paulo Lemos Horta, is divided into twelve chapters and an epilogue, from “The Tailor’s Son” and “A Ring and a Lamp” to “The Magician’s Brother.” Horta made the divisions and chose the titles to bring out the parallels between the tale and the life of its first teller, Hanna Diyab.

  1. The Tailor’s Son
  2. A Ring and a Lamp
  3. The Slave of the Ring
  4. The Slave of the Lamp
  5. The Sultan’s Daughter
  6. Before the Sultan
  7. A Wedding Interrupted
  8. Prince Aladdin
  9. A Palace of Wonders
  10. New Lamps for Old
  11. The Princess’ Revenge
  12. The Magician’s Brother

Epilogue

In Horta’s words

“For the stand-alone Liveright edition of “Aladdin,” I divided the tale into twelve chapters, gave them titles and broke out dialogue into separate paragraphs, making it an easier text for students to navigate in class discussions and to employ in comparative research involving other versions and film and stage adaptations.”

Approaches to Teaching the Thousand and One Nights (2023), p. 78
What critics and scholars said

“[T]he slim volume is so compelling and smoothly written that it took me less than a day to finish, and the casual reader will be glad to find it unencumbered by elements extraneous to the story itself. For example, though they do place the story within the framework of Shahrazād's storytelling, with a prologue and epilogue, Horta made the editorial decision not to interrupt the tale with nightly divisions. Instead, the story is split into chapters whose titles preview the action to come, like in a modern novel.”

Amanda Hannoosh Steinberg, Public Books, 4 December 2018
More from critics and scholars (2)

“Less well known is the work’s textual history, to which Paulo Lemos Horta gives us a thorough introduction in this edition.”

Hetta Howes, Times Literary Supplement, 21 December 2018

“Seale says Horta suggested releasing Aladdin in advance of her translation of the complete text of The Arabian Nights.”

Wendy Smith, Publishers Weekly, 19 October 2018

Also named one of Buzzfeed’s best books of 2018, and picked by The Paris Review (Staff Picks, December 2018).

Academic priority
  1. 27 November 2018Horta (ed.), Aladdin: A New Translation (Liveright)
  2. 2023Horta, Approaches to Teaching the Thousand and One Nights (2023)
Global mainstream impact
  1. 19 October 2018Wendy Smith, Publishers Weekly
  2. 4 December 2018Amanda Hannoosh Steinberg, Public Books
  3. 21 December 2018Hetta Howes, Times Literary Supplement
Related questions
Is there a real ring and lamp behind Aladdin?Who created Aladdin?