The Giaour

''The Giaour'' is a poem by Lord Byron first published in 1813 by John Murray and printed by Thomas Davison. It was the first in the series of Byron's Oriental romances. ''The Giaour'' proved to be a great success when published, consolidating Byron's reputation critically and commercially.

Background

Byron was inspired to write the poem during his Grand Tour during 1810 and 1811, which he undertook with his friend John Cam Hobhouse. While in Athens, he became aware of the Turkish custom of throwing a woman found guilty of adultery into the sea wrapped in a sack.

"Giaour" (Turkish: ''Gâvur'') is an offensive Turkish word for infidel or non-believer, and is similar but unrelated to the Arabic word "kafir". The story is subtitled "A Fragment of a Turkish Tale", and is Byron's only fragmentary narrative poem. Byron designed the story with three narrators giving their individual point of view about the series of events. The main story is of Leila, a member of her master Hassan's harem, who loves the giaour and is killed by being drowned in the sea by Hassan. In revenge, the giaour kills Hassan and then enters a monastery due to his remorse.

The design of the story allows for contrast between Christian and Muslim perceptions of love, death, and the afterlife.

The poem was written after Byron had become famous overnight after the publication of the first two cantos of ''Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'' and reflects his disenchantment with fame. It also reflects the gloom, remorse, and lust of two illicit love affairs, one with his half-sister Augusta Leigh and the other with Lady Frances Webster.

The earliest version of the poem was written between September 1812 and March 1813, and a version of 700 lines published in June 1813. Several more editions were published before the end of 1813, each longer than the last. The last edition contains 1,300 lines, almost twice as many as the version first published.

Romantic Orientalism

''The Giaour'' proved to be very popular with several editions published in the first year. By 1815, 14 editions had been published when it was included in his first collected edition. Its runaway success led Byron to publish three more "Turkish tales" in the next couple of years: ''The Bride of Abydos'' in 1813, ''The Corsair'' in 1814, and ''Lara''. Each of these poems proved to be very popular, with "The Corsair" selling 10,000 copies in its first day of publication. These tales led to the public perception of the Byronic hero.

Some critics consider Leila as a personification of Greece, for the sake of which there was a war between the Ottoman Empire and Russia.

Byron commented ironically on the success of these works in his 1818 poem '' Beppo'':

French painter Eugène Delacroix used the story as the inspiration of his 1827 painting ''Combat of the Giaour and the Pasha''. So did Ary Scheffer who painted ''Giaour'', today housed at the Musée de la Vie romantique, Paris.

Influence

The poem was an influence on the early work of Edgar Allan Poe. His first major poem, "Tamerlane", particularly emulates both the manner and style of ''The Giaour''.

Lithuanian-Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz translated the work into Polish. Mickiewicz wrote in November, 1822: "I think I shall translate ''The Giaour''.

Vampirism theme

''The Giaour'' is also notable for its inclusion of the theme of vampires and vampirism. After telling how the giaour killed Hassan, the Ottoman narrator predicts that in punishment for his crime, the giaour will be condemned to become a vampire after his death and kill his own family by sucking their blood, to his own frightful torment as well as theirs. Byron became acquainted with the concept of vampires while on his Grand Tour.

The description of the vampire, lines 757–768:

But first, on earth as vampire sent,
Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent:
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race;
There from thy daughter, sister, wife,
At midnight drain the stream of life;
Yet loathe the banquet which perforce
Must feed thy livid living corse:
Thy victims ere they yet expire
Shall know the demon for their sire,
As cursing thee, thou cursing them,
Thy flowers are withered on the stem.

The association of Byron with vampires continued in 1819 with the publication of ''The Vampyre'' by John William Polidori, which was inspired by an unfinished story by Byron, " A Fragment", also known as "Fragment of a Novel" and "The Burial: A Fragment", first published in '' Mazeppa'' in 1819. The lead character, Lord Ruthven, was based on Byron. Polidori had previously worked as Byron's doctor and the two parted on bad terms. Much to Byron's annoyance, ''The Vampyre'' was widely attributed to him and even included in the third volume of Byron's works by popular demand. Polidori's tale was published by Henry Colburn on April 1st 1819, without Polidori's knowledge or permission. Polidori immediately wrote to Colburn stating that ‘the tale of the Vampyre – which is not Lord Byron’s but was written entirely by me at the request of a lady ��saying that she thought it impossible to work up such materials, desired I would write it for her, which I did in two idle mornings by her side.’ The revelation caused a great scandal, and Polidori benefitted very little from it, either financially or personally. Lord Ruthven was the first portrayal of the vampire as a debauched aristocrat.

References

External links

Norton anthology on The Giaour''Library of Congress, Online Catalog
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Giaour, The
1813 books
Poetry by Lord Byron
Vampires in written fiction
1813 poems
Vampirism