Looking East examines how English encounters with the Ottoman Empire helped shape national identities and imperial ambitions at a time when the English were seeking to find a place for themselves in the larger world beyond ther insular realm. Engagingly written in an accessible style that will appeal to non-academic readers as well as scholars, this book demonstrates how the so-called 'conflict of civilizations' separating the Muslim East from the Christian West is a false and dangerous myth.
'Looking East sweeps aside the distortions of centuries of national history to reveal how our identity has been shaped by the myriad contacts between Britons and Ottomans' - Dr Caroline Finkel, author of Osman's Dream: A History of the Ottoman Empire
'Looking East is a major contribution to the scholarship on English- and Scottish- interaction with the Ottoman world. The picture Gerald MacLean presents is far more complex and interesting than the somewhat simplistic image of East-West relations usually given by Edward Said and his followers. Instead of the old model of a straightforward binary dualism, MacLean has followed in the footsteps of Nabil Matar to present a Mediterranean world where what he calls 'mutuality, dialogue and reciprocity' predominate and where a significant number of Englishmen Turn'd Turk. This scholarly, surprising, erudite and quizzically humourous book looks set to change the way we think about early British interaction with the Muslim world.' - William Dalrymple, author of In Xanadu and From the Holy Mountain
'succinct and accessible…Maclean continues to alert us to fascinating materials in the archive.' – Ros Ballaster, Review of English Studies
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: Islam, the Ottomans and Early Modern England
PART 1: BEGINNINGS
The English Encounter the Ottoman World
The English Abroad: Travellers, Traders, Captives and Colonists in the Ottoman Mediterranean
Performing East and Captive Agency
PART 2: WRITING THE OTTOMAN WORLD
On Turning Turk, or Trying to: National Identity in Robert Daborne's A Christian Turn'd Turke
The Sultan's Beasts: Encountering Ottoman Fauna
The Making of the British Imperial Subject
PART 3: SOME LITERARY IMPACTS
Learn of a Turk: Restoration Culture and the Ottoman Empire
A View from the West: Young American Writing about the Maghrib
A View from the East: Don Juan in England
Epilogue
GERALD MACLEAN (FRAS, FRHistS) is Professor of English at the University of Exeter and Honorary Professor, University of Kent at Canterbury. His books include Reorienting the Renaissance: Cultural Exchanges with the East, and The Rise of Oriental Travel: English Visitors to the Ottoman Empire, 1580-1720.
Description
Looking East examines how English encounters with the Ottoman Empire helped shape national identities and imperial ambitions at a time when the English were seeking to find a place for themselves in the larger world beyond ther insular realm. Engagingly written in an accessible style that will appeal to non-academic readers as well as scholars, this book demonstrates how the so-called 'conflict of civilizations' separating the Muslim East from the Christian West is a false and dangerous myth.
Reviews
'Looking East sweeps aside the distortions of centuries of national history to reveal how our identity has been shaped by the myriad contacts between Britons and Ottomans' - Dr Caroline Finkel, author of Osman's Dream: A History of the Ottoman Empire
'Looking East is a major contribution to the scholarship on English- and Scottish- interaction with the Ottoman world. The picture Gerald MacLean presents is far more complex and interesting than the somewhat simplistic image of East-West relations usually given by Edward Said and his followers. Instead of the old model of a straightforward binary dualism, MacLean has followed in the footsteps of Nabil Matar to present a Mediterranean world where what he calls 'mutuality, dialogue and reciprocity' predominate and where a significant number of Englishmen Turn'd Turk. This scholarly, surprising, erudite and quizzically humourous book looks set to change the way we think about early British interaction with the Muslim world.' - William Dalrymple, author of In Xanadu and From the Holy Mountain
'succinct and accessible…Maclean continues to alert us to fascinating materials in the archive.' – Ros Ballaster, Review of English Studies
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: Islam, the Ottomans and Early Modern England
PART 1: BEGINNINGS
The English Encounter the Ottoman World
The English Abroad: Travellers, Traders, Captives and Colonists in the Ottoman Mediterranean
Performing East and Captive Agency
PART 2: WRITING THE OTTOMAN WORLD
On Turning Turk, or Trying to: National Identity in Robert Daborne's A Christian Turn'd Turke
The Sultan's Beasts: Encountering Ottoman Fauna
The Making of the British Imperial Subject
PART 3: SOME LITERARY IMPACTS
Learn of a Turk: Restoration Culture and the Ottoman Empire
A View from the West: Young American Writing about the Maghrib
A View from the East: Don Juan in England
Epilogue
Authors
GERALD MACLEAN (FRAS, FRHistS) is Professor of English at the University of Exeter and Honorary Professor, University of Kent at Canterbury. His books include Reorienting the Renaissance: Cultural Exchanges with the East, and The Rise of Oriental Travel: English Visitors to the Ottoman Empire, 1580-1720.
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