Boys Abducted

“In this unique and much-needed book, Abdulhamit Arvas analyzes the complex nexus of race, religion, gender, homoeroticism, empire, and social hierarchy brought into play by the widespread early modern practice of abducting boys. This is not an encyclopedic compendium of beautiful abducted boys for the prurient pleasure of the collector, but rather a mapping of the material relations of power behind this practice. No other work addresses the homoerotic traffic in boys so eruditely from both sides of the Ottoman/English divide, illuminating a great many crossings and borrowings between the two empires.” - Kadji Amin, author of Disturbing Attachments: Genet, Modern Pederasty, and Queer History

“A work of great archival research and comparatist ambition, Boys Abducted contributes crucially to the transcultural analysis of early modern violence, eroticism, and affect. By unfolding the literature and history of the Ottoman abduction and conversion of white European boys and young men, and by similarly tracing the representations of Ottoman and Black boys in England, Abdulhamit Arvas powerfully demonstrates the importance of reading these literary histories together and shows their astonishing crossings and mutual inflections. For scholars of premodern sexuality and early modern English literature including especially Shakespeare and Marlowe, the wealth of Arvas’s intersectional analyses will be a revelation.” - Jeffrey Masten, author of Queer Philologies: Sex, Language, and Affect in Shakespeare’s Time

"This is a fascinating, beautifully illustrated, and meticulously researched monograph." - Massimiliano Riviera, Renaissance Studies