1st Edition
The Other Empire British Romantic Writings about the Ottoman Empire
This book contributes to the body of postcolonial scholarship that explores the growth of imperial culture in the Romantic and early Victorian periods by focusing on the literary uses of the figure of the Turk and the Ottoman Empire. Filiz Turham analyzes Turkish Tales, novels, and travelogues from c. 1789-1846 to expose the three primary ways in which the Ottoman Other served as a strong counterimage of empire for both liberal and conservative writers. Through readings of such authors as Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley and Elizabeth Craven the authors identifies the Ottoman Empire as a particularly flexible trope that could be presented as noth familiar or foreign, Same or Other in a way that reflected back onto England its own vexed attitude toward its imperial success.
Biography
Filiz Turhan's work focuses on romanticism, with specific emphasis on orientalism, imperialism, and the gothic. Her current research project is focused on the discursive construction of the Turks in twentieth-century fiction, travel literature, and film. She is assistant professor of English at Suffolk Community College and teaches courses in literature and composition.
