Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 196
•
978-0-7425-6216-5 • Hardback • November 2007 • $98.00 • (£75.00)
978-0-7425-6217-2 • Paperback • November 2007 • $32.00 • (£25.00)
978-1-4616-4347-0 • eBook • November 2007 • $30.00 • (£22.99)
Roger Allen is professor of Arabic and comparative literature at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an editor of several journals, including the Journal of Arabic Literature, Literature East & West, and Middle Eastern Literatures and was the Arabic editor for the series of encyclopedia volumes, World Literature in the 20th Century. He lives in Philadelphia.
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Concerning the circumstances of the Ottoman Sultanate
Chapter 3 Almabayn
Chapter 4 The Chief Secretary's Department in Almabayn
Chapter 5 The Almabaynjiyya Department in Almabayn
Chapter 6 The Department of the Chief Eunuch in Almabayn
Chapter 7 The Department of the Yavaran in Almabayn
Chapter 8 Spies
Chapter 9 Anniversary of the Sultan's Accession
Chapter 10 Spies (II)
Chapter 11 Splendor of the Caliphate and Magnificence of the Sultanate
Chapter 12 Appointment to Ottoman offices
Chapter 13 Court Proceedings in Istanbul
Chapter 14 Shaykhs
Chapter 15 Writing Ma Hunalik
Chapter 16 The Sultan
Chapter 17 Deposition of Sultans
Chapter 18 Glossary
This is an extremely important—and exceedingly well-done—translation. The text itself is surprisingly entertaining and even funny in places, as the original author often employs fascinating hearsay anecdotes to help make a point. Allen's introduction masterfully puts the text into context for the non-specialist and successfully explains why, despite the author's biases, the text should be read as more than mere polemic or diatribe. By contextualizing the key players' affiliations and interests in the useful introduction, Allen helps the reader read between the lines of the text.
— Christopher Stone, Hunter College, City University of New York
Spies, Scandals, and Sultans provides a window on to the pomp and opulence of the Ottoman court in its twilight. The introduction is excellent. It outlines the life of the author and situates the serendipitously discovered book that the Ottomans banned, in its time.
— Miriam Cooke, Duke University
In the dark days at the end of the glorious Ottoman Empire, a well-traveled Egyptian observer wrote such a devastating account of the failures of the Ottoman court that his book was condemned to destruction. Fortunately for those interested in the late Ottoman period, at least one copy survived to be rendered into felicitous English by Roger Allen. The text brings the Ottoman court to life before our eyes, through detailed scenes of ceremonies, court sessions, schooling, the interpretation of dreams, and diplomatic audiences. The eunuchs, shaykhs, viziers, slave-girls, judges, military officers, ambassadors, and all ranks of courtiers are described through stories of their political actions and intrigues, with special attention paid to the power struggles intrinsic to an empire under constant threat. Roger Allen has brought forward a treasure of historical and literary import.
— Sylvia Wing Onder, Georgetown University
Roger Allen's translation of Ibrahim Al-Muwaylihi's Ma Hunalik is an important contribution to the field, not least because it is written by a contemporary Egyptian observer whose account corroborates those of both the European observers of the Porte and Turkish critics of the Hamidian regime. Spies, Scandals, and Sultans presents a vivid, amusing if unflattering, and highly critical picture of the Ottoman state apparatus. There is little doubt about where the author stood in relation to the sultan and his entourage but, through the elite network to which he belonged, he made acquaintances at high places and got a good glimpse of how the offices ran at the Palace and the Porte. His laconic, almost taciturn style comes out well in Roger Allen's clear and direct translation, which provides an entertaining read.
— Ahmet O. Evin, Sabanci University, Turkey
Al-Muwaylihi—masterfully translated by Roger Allen—writing as an 'insider' from the Ottoman capital for his readers in Egypt, considers it a duty to criticize the state of affairs to prevent the collapse of the Muslim Empire and the Caliphate. A must-read for all who are studying the Hamidian Period of the Ottoman Empire.
— Erika H. Gilson, Princeton University
Both the introduction and the text show a masterly grasp. Although documentary record and archives provide us with a lot of information about the waning Ottoman empire, Spies, Scandals, and Sultans has the advantage of an imposed vision of a discerning intellectual who was a participant in the cultural phenomenon in Egypt and Turkey, with a shrewd insight and an enormous knowledge. An excellent project.
— Muhsin al-Musawi, Columbia University