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The Janissairies: Entangled Histories in the Ottoman Context of the 19th Century

The Janissairies: Entangled Histories in the Ottoman Context of the 19th Century

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Product Code:
2103-01
ISBN
978-619-01-0209-0
SKU
06.0057
Year
22-03-2018
Pages
320
Size
140/215 мм
Weight
0.456 kg
Cover Type
Paperback
Genre
Turkey, Islam, History of the Islamic World, Researches, The Balkans & the Balkan countries, Culturology, Theory of Literature

Nadezhda Alexandrova

Nadezhda Alexandrova

Dr. Nadezhda Alexandrova is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Slavic Studies at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Bulgaria. Her interests are focused on the Ottoman literature and culture of the late 18th and the 19th c., on gender history and on history of emotions. She has two MA degrees in Bulgarian Literature from Sofia University, and in Gender Studies from the Central European …

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The book displays the intricate entanglements of literary histories among the different communities in the Ottoman context of the19th c. It reveals the unknown reception map of the French novel “Les janissaires” by Alphonse Royer” (1842, Brussels, 1844, Paris) in Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, Karamanlica and Armenian language. The case study of the rapid translation wave of this historical novel within several decades (1840s-1870s) clarifies my main objective of the research. It is that the literary interactions between the intellectual elite of the different communities in the Ottoman Empire led to transmissions of concepts, images, and perceptions of emotion that were more dynamic and influential than the national literary histories would have us to believe. Such is the image of the Janissary army. It was found the 14th c. as a paid infantry, recruited predominantly from non-Muslim communities and trained to serve the Ottoman sultans. The structure and functions of the corps were multilayered and intrinsically connected with the ruling power, the ulema, and the commercial networks. The novel and its wide reception undoubtedly served as an example of the reductionist trend in the image of the janissaries as violent criminals and ruthless assassins of Christians whose order had declined and was finally dismantled. Moreover, the novel illustrates that the orientalization of the janissaries’ image happened very sufficiently by means of literature. Les janissaries were indeed a roman-feuilleton whose central motive was the tragic love between a Muslim man and a Christian woman during the latest days of the Janissary troops.

Мерилин 15/02/2022

Книгата е прекрасна. Написана е с много финес и познания за културата на епохата. Браво на автора! Един блестящ литературовед и познавач на възрожденската епоха