THE UTOPIA OF THE HAREM: REPRESENTATIONS OF THE HAREM IN MONTESQUIEU'S PERSIAN LETTERS AND FATIMA MERNISSI'S DREAMS OF TRESPASS: TALES OFA HAREM GIRLHOOD

The harem has long been depicted as representative of the Orient in Western imagination. For some, a place of despotic rule and (female) oppression; to others, a feminist utopia of female freedom and protection. This paper analyzes two fundamental works that focus on the harem, Montesquieu's 18th century Persian Letters , and Fatima Mernissi's 20th century Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood . It will do a comparative and exploratory reading of the harems presented in these two works, while focusing specifically on issues of agency and power-all departing from the concept of despotic power, female and authorial agency, and the gaze.