''The Lustful Turk, or Lascivious Scenes from a Harem'' is a pre-

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

British exploitation

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

epistolary novel An epistolary novel () is a novel written as a series of letters between the fictional characters of a narrative. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse other kinds of fictional document with the letters, most commonly di ...

first published anonymously in 1828 by John Benjamin Brookes and reprinted by

William Dugdale Sir William Dugdale (12 September 1605 – 10 February 1686) was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject. Life Dugdale was born at Shustoke, near Colesh ...

. However, it was not widely known or circulated until the 1893 edition.

Plot

The novel consists largely of a series of letters written by its heroine, Emily Barlow, to her friend, Sylvia Carey. When Emily sails from England for India in June 1814 her ship is attacked by Moorish pirates and she is taken to the

harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...

of Ali,

dey Dey (, from ) was the title given to the rulers of the regencies of Algiers, Tripolitania,Bertarelli (1929), p. 203. and Tunis under the Ottoman Empire from 1671 onwards. Twenty-nine ''deys'' held office from the establishment of the deylicate ...

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

. Ali

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

s her and subjects her to his will, awakening her sexual passions. Emily's debasement continues when Ali insists on

anal sex Anal sex or anal intercourse principally means the insertion and pelvic thrusting, thrusting of the Erection, erect human penis, penis into a person's Human anus, anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex inform ...

, arousing the horror of her correspondent Sylvia, who expresses her indignation at Ali's behaviour, in a letter that the latter intercepts. Annoyed at her attitude, Ali arranges for Sylvia to be abducted and brought to the slave market of Algiers. After an elaborate charade in which Ali pretends to be a sympathetic Frenchman, bidding to save her from sexual slavery, and engaging her in a fake marriage, he deflowers her and awakens her sexuality, as he had done with Emily. Revealing his true identity Ali enjoys both girls together. This sexual idyll is eventually terminated when an addition to the harem objects to anal rape, cuts off Ali's penis with a knife, and then commits

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. Seemingly unfazed by this, Ali has "his lost members preserved in spirits of wine in glass vases" which he presents to Emily and Sylvia, sending them back to England with these tokens of his affection. The novel also incorporates interpolated stories concerning the erotic misadventures of three other girls abducted into the harem, and enlarges on the fate of Emily's maid Eliza who, presented by Ali to Muzra,

bey Bey, also spelled as Baig, Bayg, Beigh, Beig, Bek, Baeg, Begh, or Beg, is a Turkic title for a chieftain, and a royal, aristocratic title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in ...

of Tunis, is bound, flogged and raped in turn. The book was one of those condemned as obscene by Lord Chief Justice Campbell when Dugdale was prosecuted in 1857.Sova (2006) p.150

Influences

''The Lustful Turk'' uses the contemporary conventions of the novel of sensibility and Gothic romance and its exotic Oriental themes are influenced by the life, adventures and writings of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

. It was influential on many other works of erotica, and the theme of the virgin who is forcibly introduced to sexual acts and later becomes insatiable in her appetite for the carnal is common in later erotica. Such works include ''

The Way of a Man with a Maid ''The Way of a Man with a Maid'' is an anonymous, sadomasochistic,Clifford J. Scheiner (1996), ''The Essential Guide to Erotic Literature, Part One: Before 1920''. Ware, Wordsworth: 326-9 erotic novel, probably first published in 1908. The stor ...

'', a classic work of

Victorian erotica Victorian erotica is a genre of sexual art and literature which emerged in the Victorian era of 19th-century Britain. Victorian erotica emerged as a product of a Victorian sexual culture. The Victorian era was characterized by paradox of rigid m ...

concerning the forcible seduction of a girl called Alice by a Victorian gentleman, ''May's Account of Her Introduction to the Art of Love'', first published in the Victorian erotic periodical '' The Pearl'', and the novel '' The Sheik'' written by

Edith Maude Hull Edith Maud Hull (16 August 1880 – 11 February 1947) was a British writer of romance novels, typically credited as E. M. Hull.

, published in 1921.

Adaptations

A film adaptation of ''The Lustful Turk'' was directed in 1968 by Byron Mabe with the screenplay written by David Friedman and starring Abbe Rentz, Linda Stiles and Gee Gentell.

Ingrid Steeger Ingrid Steeger (; 1 April 1947 – 22 December 2023) was a German actress and comedian. From 1966 to 2006 she appeared in around 100 films and television productions. Life and career Steeger was born in Berlin on 1 April 1947. She worked as ...

played Eliza in the

Erwin C. Dietrich Erwin C. Dietrich (4 October 1930 – 15 March 2018) was a Swiss film director, producer and actor, often regarded as one of the most influential cinematographers in Switzerland. Biography Dietrich was born on 4 October 1930 in Glarus. He died o ...

production ' (1971). In the mystery novel ''Die for Love'' by

Barbara Mertz Barbara Louise Mertz (September 29, 1927 – August 8, 2013) was an American author who wrote under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. In 1952, she received a PhD in Egyptology from the Universi ...

(under the pseudonym Elizabeth Peters), plagiarism of ''The Lustful Turk'' is a minor plot point.

Oriental setting

Whereas

Steven Marcus Steven Paul Marcus (December 13, 1928 – April 25, 2018) was an American academic and literary critic who published influential psychoanalytic analyses of the novels of Charles Dickens and Victorian pornography. He was George Delacorte Professo ...

employed ''The Lustful Turk'' in his construction of the placeless realm of pornotopia in Victorian erotica, later writers have stressed the importance of the orientalist setting in generating a further sexualised charge—the harem as a sort of erotic finishing-school. R. B. Yeazell, ''Harems of the Mind'' (2000) p. 118

Footnotes

References

* Anon, ''The Lustful Turk'' (illustrated). Wordsworth Classic Erotica. 1997 * Gaétan Brulotte, John Phillips, ''Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature'', CRC Press, 2006, , p. 841. * Steven Marcus, ''The Other Victorians: a study of sexuality and pornography in mid-nineteenth-Century England'', Transaction Publishers, 2008, , pp. 195–217. *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lustful Turk, The 1828 British novels British erotic novels Works published anonymously British novels adapted into films Novels about rape Fiction about suicide Epistolary novels Novels set in Algeria BDSM literature Female characters in literature Literary characters introduced in 1828 Fictional Turkish people Male characters in literature Fiction about slavery