Prisoner of the Infidels: The Memoir of an Ottoman Muslim in Seventeenth-Century Europe (Timisoara Osman Of)(Paperback)

Victor Hugo meets Papillon in this effervescent memoir of war, slavery, and self-discovery, told with aplomb and humor in its first English translation. A pioneering work of Ottoman Turkish literature, Prisoner of the Infidels brings the seventeenth-century memoir of Osman Agha of Timişoara--slave, adventurer, and diplomat--into English for the first time. The sweeping story of Osman's life begins upon his capture and subsequent enslavement during the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars. Adrift in a landscape far from his home and traded from one master to another, Osman tells a tale of indignation and betrayal but also of wonder and resilience, punctuated with queer trysts, back-alley knife fights, and elaborate ruses to regain his freedom. Throughout his adventures, Osman is forced to come to terms with his personhood and sense of belonging: What does it mean to
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