In class today, we talked a bit
about the misconceptions surrounding eunuchs. Perhaps the main misconception
about eunuchs is that the practice of castration was solely of Islamic origin. Jason
Goodwin, author of The Bellini Card, seems
to fulfill the Orientalist perspective of Islam by creating the main
protagonist of his novel, a Muslim native to Istanbul, a eunuch.
However,
after realizing what exactly an eunuch was (I’d never actually heard the term
before), I immediately thought back to a basic Music History class I took last
year. During the Baroque era of music, roughly around 1600 to 1750,
prepubescent boys were oftentimes castrated. Because the Roman Catholic Church
forbid women from singing in the church choir during this time period, young
boys and castrated men became the high-pitched soprano voices of the church and
opera. Boys from poor families were usually transformed into castrati in the
hopes that they would become famous singers and be able to help support their
families.
What I
found most interesting about this comparison was the reasons behind castration
in both cultures. While in the West, namely Italy, castration was performed on
young boys so that they might provide musical service to the church (and thus
their religion), most eunuchs in the Ottoman Empire were castrated for service
to the sultan and the government ruling the empire. Thus, although many people
relate the origination of the eunuch with Islam and the Middle Eastern culture,
the Catholic Church popularly castrated boys centuries before Yashim’s lifetime
in The Bellini Card. Additionally, many
of the eunuchs who served in the Ottoman Empire were imported by slave traders
from either Africa or the Balkans area of Europe—both Christian-dominated
places.
I love that you pointed this out about Eunuchs! The term has been around for longer than people think and is still practiced. And yes the Roman Catholic Church is most famous for Eunuchs. The castratti's were men who were castrated for singing purposes and very famous in Italy for their high voices. I wonder since this is such an age high Roman Catholic tradition that their regard for Eunuchs for being so high up affected other cultures, such as Instabul.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the history of the Catholic treatment of boys for their pleasure of music. I think it is interesting how we view Eastern religions as suppressing and abusive forces – it’s as if we have completely forgot about or ignored the sexual mistreatment of its youth. But why is the Catholic church still favorable looked upon? Why is it that the one of the headlines on CNN is how the new Pope is going to have to deal with child abuse? And why is it that Catholicism is not looked at as a radical and out of control institution? Hmm…because it is not exotic, we must accept or ignore?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI find the discussion regarding eunuchs to be quite interesting from a literary perspective. However, I am very curious now as to why, exactly, Goodwin chose to make Yashim a eunuch. On one hand, it makes sense as a device to divorce him from bodily pleasure, and to transform him into something more of a being of the mind, more connected to his mental processes. Given the history of eunuchs, as servants and advisers in the "East," it seems to give Yashim an air of sophistication and something like "royal" wisdom. Yet I wonder that Goodwin did not refer often to the negative connotations of being a eunuch, such as, as was mentioned potential weight gain and other physical transformations due to hormone imbalance.
ReplyDelete