Description
Book SynopsisThis comparative study analyzes the ways that Central European writers used stereotypes of the Turks to develop their national identities from the early modern period to the present. Charles D. Sabatos uses Andre Gingrich’s concept of “frontier Orientalism” to foreground his analysis of Central European Orientalism, designating the Russian Empire and the Balkans as the occident and the Turks as the oriental “Other.” This study applies theoretical approaches to literary history—as developed by scholars such as Stephen Greenblatt and Linda Hutcheon—to a range of texts from the early modern period, the nineteenth-century national revivals, interwar independence, and the communist and postsocialist regimes. By following these depictions across literatures and over an extensive historical period, this study illustrates how the Turkish stereotype evolved from a menace to a more abstract yet still powerful metaphor of resistance, and finally to a mythical figure that evoked humor as often as fear.
Trade ReviewThis book shows the multifarious literary repercussions of the Ottoman invasion of Central Europe as they kept evolving throughout the centuries. Charles D. Sabatos presents a rich tapestry of interesting literary material and eruditely discusses its implications for cross-cultural understanding. His well-researched and lucidly written book is an important contribution to the knowledge about the imagining of the Orient in the literatures of the region. It will undoubtedly become a reference for all interested in the critique of European Orientalism. -- Róbert Gáfrik, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Frontier Orientalism Between Myth and History Chapter 1: Menacing Turks: Self-Fashioning in Captivity and Travel Narratives Chapter 2: Mythical Turks: Epic and Folk Poetry in the National Revivals Chapter 3: Metaphorical Turks: Truth and Fantasy in Historical Fiction Chapter 4: Modernist Turks: The Orient in Interwar and Socialist Czechoslovakia Chapter 5: Metafictional Turks: Postcolonial, Postmodern and Postsocialist Identity
