This chapter explores the uses of history and the challenge to historiography latent in a particular bodice ripper: Bertrice Small's The Kadin. Among the nine Orientalist historical romances published in 1978, Bertrice Small's The Kadin stands out for its meticulous historical research into the reigns of the Ottoman sultans Bajazet II (1481-1512), Selim I (1512-20), and Suleiman I (the Magnificent, 1520-1566). The Kadin blends historical fact with invention to achieve a romance. The narrative serves as an example of a feminist revisionist historiography of the Ottoman empire (albeit one that is still essentially Orientalist) which places women's domestic, familial, romantic, and sexual experiences, actions, and relationships at the centre of historical narratives of power, statehood, and empire. As the final section of this chapter will demonstrate, such revisionist historiography was - and remains - of considerable interest to general readers, and not simply to historians. (22)
Note that "the fact that both Selim and Janet have more than one sexual partner (although not more than one "true love") and the novel does not conclude with the betrothal of the couple and the union of the two raises questions about the status of The Kadin as a romance novel" (29-39).
Note that "the fact that both Selim and Janet have more than one sexual partner (although not more than one "true love") and the novel does not conclude with the betrothal of the couple and the union of the two raises questions about the status of The Kadin as a romance novel" (29-39).