Lost virginity before marriage
1.1.2 Immoral behavior in public
1.1.3 The “manless” woman
1.1.4 Infidelity
1.1.5 Mothers and their illegitimate daughters
1.1.6 Infertility or absence of a son
1.1.7 Rape
1.1.8 Drinking women
1.1.9 Homosexuality
1.2 Sources of male honor violation
1.2.0 Mothers and dishonored sons
1.2.1 Lack of virility
1.2.2 The sonless man
1.2.3 Infidelity
1.2.4 Illegitimate sons
1.2.5 Material failure
1.2.6 Alcoholism
1.2.7 Homosexuality
2. Face cultures
Introduction to face cultures: Lian and miàn-zi
2.1 Loss of female honor
2.1.1 Disobedience
2.1.2 Infidelity and rape
2.1.3 Infertility
2.1.4 Jealousy
2.1.5 Divorce
2.2 Loss of male honor
2.2.1 Hierarchical obligations
2.2.2 Disloyalty
2.2.3 Further forms of honor loss
Conclusion
Appendix
Parents and (dis)obedient daughters
(Dis)obedient wives
Lost virginity before marriage
Immoral behavior in public
The “manless” woman
Infidelity
Illegitimate children
Infertility or absence of a son
Rape
Drinking women
Homosexuality (mainly female)
Lack of virility
Public dimension of violence
Jealousy
Honor/wealth/performative identity
Bibliography
Index of Names
Mine Krause
I would like to thank my parents who brought me up in an interculturally rich, Turkish-German environment, awoke my thirst for knowledge and have never ceased to feed it; my friends all around the world for their emotional support, precious feedback and their constructive criticism; all those writers who have opened their minds and hearts to help me discover different cultural worlds, among them Sema Kaygusuz, who has kindly agreed to write a preface to this book and patiently answered all my questions; her literary agent Yeşim Vesper, who has always had an open ear and shared relevant materials with me; Négar Djavadi, who sent me the English translation of her novel Désorientale and provided me with insights into Iranian culture; Ayfer Tunç, who has discussed her novel Yeşil Peri Gecesi in detail with me. I regret that I cannot cite everybody, but am deeply grateful to all of you.
Yan Sun
I have had the chance of working as a research scholar in the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York, which has reshaped my perception of the combined law and literature research field. This book was inspired by academic communications at many workshops, seminars, and conferences at John Jay. I am very thankful to Dr. Veronica Hendrick for her enlightening suggestions and for her efforts to make the visit possible.
The Intercultural Institute at Shanghai International Studies University has also been very resourceful. Director Steve J. Kulich has invited prestigious researchers to give lectures that have greatly benefited the book.
Michael Steppat
I have been able to enjoy several visiting Fellowships at the John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress, which have greatly facilitated the research for this book. I am most grateful to directors Dr. Edward Widmer and then Dr. John Haskell for making this possible. The book has benefited from many discussions with the scholars from all over the world at the Kluge Center, as well as at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC.
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The Intercultural Institute at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) has provided the anchor and the intellectual support which the book project has needed, enabling many fruitful sessions and discussions at SISU and also at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. These have helped in gaining a better understanding of our book’s topic.
Last but by no means least, I am especially grateful to my very dear Val for her untiring patience and encouragement during the whole period of this book’s composition, which has absorbed so much of my sustained attention.
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Mary’s suffering as “Nómos”
In the last religious myths that we have heard about, the first woman whose “namus” (purity/chastity) was questioned is Mary. We know her as a virgin who conceived Jesus through the Holy Spirit. However, among the first Christians, her status was a completely different one. At this time, God was not yet the king of the heavens, the ruling master, the legislator of a hierarchical church organization. Rather, the notion of God also included the eternal feminine spirit: the feminine wisdom within this cosmic creator protected its place in the ancient civilization as an element of multiplicity within the “one.” Although in today’s Istanbul the gigantic basilica Hagia Sophia (Ἁγία Σοφία/Hagía Sofía) was built on a pagan temple (which nobody
