Harem: The World Behind the Veil

259 Pages·2014·25.39 MB·English

by  Alev Lytle Croutier

“This is a serious history, yet an immensely readable one—informative,
gossipy, and grand fun.”
—New York Times Book Review
“This beautiful book … stimulates the mind as well as the eye”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“An alluring invitation into the labyrinthine corridors of the Turkish
harem.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
About Harem: The World Behind the Veil, 25th
Anniversary Edition
In this fascinating illustrated history—a worldwide best seller—Alev Lytle
Croutier explores life in the world’s harems, from the Middle Ages to the early
twentieth century, focusing on the fabled Seraglio of Topkapi Palace as a
paradigm for them all. We enter the slave markets and the lavish boudoirs of the
sultanas; we witness the daily routines of the odalisques, and of the eunuchs who
guarded the harem.
Drawing on her own family history, Croutier also reveals the marital customs,
child-rearing practices, and pastimes of “middle-class” harems, the women’s
quarters of ordinary—albeit often polygamous—households. Finally, she shows
us how the Eastern idea of the harem invaded the European imagination—in the
form of decoration, costume, and art—and how Western ideas, in turn, finally
eroded a system that had seemed eternal.
This revised and updated 25th Anniversary Edition of Harem includes a new
introduction by the author, revisiting her subject in light of recent events in
Turkey, and the world.
About the Author
Alev Lytle Croutier is the author of Taking the Waters (Abbeville) and three
critically acclaimed novels, The Palace of Tears, Seven Houses, and Leyla: The
Black Tulip. Born in Turkey, Croutier studied at Oberlin College and founded
the publishing company Mercury House.
Harem is also available in paperback.
To view our complete selection of e-books, visit www.abbeville.com/digital.

Detail of Harem Scene at the Court of Shah Jahan, by an unknown artist.

To all who danced the seven veils, my mother, grandmothers, and aunts.
Contents
COVER
ABOUT HAREM: THE WORLD BEHIND THE VEIL
FRONTISPIECE
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
HAREM REVISITED
PREFACE
The Grand Harem
INTRODUCTION
meaning, origins, polygamy, slave markets, harem of the Seraglio, acquisition of
slaves, training of odalisques, sultanas, eunuchs, dynasty, the Golden Cage,
death, the world of extremes DAILY LIFE IN THE SULTAN’S HAREM
harem walls, gardens, games, pools, riddles and stories, poetry, prayer, secrets
of flowers and birds, opium, song and dance, shadow puppets, shopping,
excursions, visits and outings, festivals and special days, disenchantment
COSTUME AND FINERY
passing of the veil
THE BATHS
FOOD
SULTANAS
marriage of sultans, harem women and politics, valide procession, princess
sultanas, remarriage of sultanas, accouchement and birth, death of sultanas,
Roxalena (Hürrem Sultana), Kösem Sultana, Aimée DeBucq de Rivery
(Nakshedil Sultana) EUNUCHS
Süleyman Ağa, origins, types of eunuchs, eunuch trade, procedures, Chinese
eunuchs, effects of castration, sexual desire and consummation, marriage of
eunuchs, regeneration of genitals, the chief black eunuch (kizlar ağasi) Harem
Life in the City
ORDINARY HAREMS
the go-betweens, romance, gifts, henna night, weddings, husband-wife
relationships, polygamy, relationships among wives, superstition and charms,
upkeep, odalisques, jewelry, living quarters, bundle women, death West Meets
East
ORIENTAL DREAM
One Thousand and One Nights, wind from the East, Lady Mary Montagu,
journey to the Orient, John Frederick Lewis, the Romantics, Jean-Léon Gérôme
and the camera, Amadeo Count Preziosi, Empress Eugénie, Pierre Loti,
emancipation of the East, the last picture SURVIVALS
twentieth-century Orientalist threads, movies and television, harems today
CHRONOLOGY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX
PICTURE CREDITS
COPYRIGHT
Harem Revisited
It’s odd to realize that a quarter-century has passed since the publication of
Harem: The World Behind the Veil, and it’s still alive. I was delighted when
Robert Abrams, my former publisher, had the idea of reissuing the book on its
twenty-fifth anniversary.
Harem was the first book to explore this secret world of women from a
feminine perspective. My intentions were primarily personal and cultural: to
reflect on my family history and demystify the concept of the harem, which the
Western imagination had turned into a dark, exotic, and erotic dream. I wanted
to show the complex realities of this utterly private realm, which were far
removed from the titillating depictions of odalisques by Western painters and
writers. At the same time, I also considered what these fantasies said about the
West itself—why it wanted to see its own women in a romantic Oriental guise.
Harem originally took me ten years to research and write, tracking down
volumes in the dimly lit libraries and dusty archives of strange cities, digging
into family stories, or having tea with ancient ladies who had lost their logic but
still could make evocative connections in the interstices of their memory,
memory that was as fragmented as the idea of the harem itself. No definitive
sources existed on the subject. No Google to search. No Wikipedia to consult. It
was simply a low-tech, labor-intensive process of assembling tesserae that had,
like most Turkish antiquities, been scattered into faraway places.
I’m very pleased that other writers and scholars have since built on my research
and produced remarkable new insights into harem life. Their work has claimed
an important space in women’s studies and led to more understanding, more
dialogue.
Since the first publication of Harem, the world has changed, and we have, in
particular, seen many intense dramas concentrated on the Middle East: the Gulf
War, 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Arab Spring, the relentless
conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a tsunami of Islamization. Partly as a