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Jenny White on the setting for The Sultan's Seal
By the 1800s, the Ottoman Empire had been thriving for almost five hundred years. Founded on even older civilizations the Byzantines, Greeks, Romans, and, before that, other civilizations not as well known today it was a truly multi-ethnic, multi-denominational empire. Jews, Armenians, Greek Orthodox Christians, Muslim Turks, Arabs, people of all faiths from the Balkans, European "Franks," and many others mingled in the streets and in households. They were craftsmen, traders, and servants, but they also held important positions as doctors, merchants, bankers, and advisors to the sultan.
It was a period of profound social and political change when educated and wealthy urbanites were acquiring European customs and technology. Some were interested in European political models, like the parliament. Despite European support for the independence movements that were breaking the empire apart, including the Balkans, Greece, and parts of the Arab world, many young Ottomans admired European political values, science, and ideas about society. Some Ottoman leaders felt they could only fight European attacks by emulating their enemy.
Another European idea, nationalism the idea that a nation should be organized around the identity of "a people" began to take root. By contrast, an empire could contain many kinds of people, all keeping their separate identities, since they were united only by virtue of being subjects of the same ruler. Nationalist aspirations led to movements for independence from the Ottoman Empire, but also to backlashes and intolerance.
Ottomans worried, with some justification, that nationalism would lead to the purging of minorities. (Minorities were mostly defined in religious terms in those days. Only in the age of nation-states organized around the principles of nationality and nationalism did the term "ethnicity" come into use, often to refer to a people defined by a shared language.) The spread of nationalism led to population exchanges and expulsions across the region by newly independent states and, eventually, by the Ottoman Empire and its successor in the twentieth century, the Turkish nation-state.
In the 1880s, one could see the shape of the future, but it hadn't yet taken on a concrete form. People were trying out new roles. They were debating things like the place of religion in society, the challenge posed to faith by science and reason, abolishing slavery, and what women's roles should be in the home and in society. How should minorities be incorporated into the political scheme of the empire? Should they act first and foremost as Ottoman citizens or should their loyalty be to their own sect? What does it mean to be modern? What are the costs of progress? What are the rights and obligations of the individual and those of the family and society as a whole? Should one be given preference over the other?
The Ottomans were worried about the consequences of change, the decline of the family, losing the moral fiber of society. In many ways, these are questions people in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere are still struggling with today.
Discussion
Questions
1. What questions raised by characters in the book are still debated today?
2. How do the discussions about the place of women within The Sultan's Seal resonate with today's issues? Is there power within the harem or does being separate from men keep women from being powerful? In what ways do the characters try to exert power for themselves and over others?
3. What are some of the differences between Europe and the Ottoman Empire at the time, as seen from the European point of view, represented by Sybil and Bernie, and from the Ottoman point of view, represented by Kamil? Was there more than one Ottoman point of view about the ideal form of society and political organization? What is the difference between the views of Kamil and Michel? Between Jaanan's father and her uncle, Ismail Hodja?
4. What does being modern mean to Kamil? How does Kamil differ from Jaanan's father, who takes a second wife in order to be modern? Do they fit your definition of modern?
5. What role does religion play in people's lives? Is Jaanan's understanding of Islam the same as that of her mother and her uncle? Does Michel's Judaism play any role in his actions?
6. Kamil wrestles with the seeming incompatibility of faith and reason. Does he find a solution with which he can live? Can faith and reason ever be reconciled?
7. What does Kamil mean when he worries that the introduction of rational thinking, order, logic, and control will bring about the loss of nuance, sensuality, chaos, and emotion? What concrete things is he worried will disappear?
8. What attracts Sybil to Ottoman life and why? Do you think a Western woman could give up her culture and truly become "Eastern"?
9. How does Mary understand her relationship with Jaanan? How does Jaanan understand it? Compare Mary's relationship with Jaanan to Violet's.
10. What roles do love and sex play in Kamil's life? In Jaanan's life? Is there a difference in the effect that love and sex have on their lives? If so, why?
11. How does Hamza's past affect his relationship with Jaanan and her family? Can Hamza be trusted?
12. What role does the family play in the lives of Kamil, Sybil, and Jaanan? Is there a difference between Ottoman and British society in the makeup of the family and in the role of the family in the lives of individuals? What is your ideal family?
13. Kamil has very few friends: only Bernie and Michel. Why is he so closed off from other men?
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