Byron the Osmanlı: Remapping Ottoman Affinities in The Corsair and The Siege of Corinth
Journal: Studies in Romanticism
Year: 2025

Abstract: This essay proposes a radical shift in reading Byron's encounter with the Ottoman and Mediterranean contexts; focusing particularly on The Corsair and The Siege of Corinth . It draws on Fernand Braudel's concept of the Mediterranean and Byron's 1810 stay in Istanbul to explore the way Byron was drawn toward Ottoman identity as produced by the city's elite culture. The essay argues that these two works reveal affinities with an Osmanli mode of being, influenced by the geopolitics of Med