ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on depictions of the Orient in Romantic literature noting overlap between this genre and the Gothic, with its love of melancholy, dungeons, suspense and horror. At times, this elides with popular notions of Muslim spaces as dangerous. However, the Romantics’ imagined Orient, hugely influenced by the Arabian Nights, was also a space where adventures could be enjoyed, emotions experienced and expressed, where Muslims as well as Christians could act heroically. Perhaps, too, Muḥammad was inspired even as poets and composers are and should be credited for what he did achieve in uniting Arabia and ending idolatry.
