PRAYER-CUSHIONS OF THE FLESH

What if the harem were not, as widely supposed, a construct for male pleasure, but instead a sophisticated apparatus for female power? That's the conceit behind British writer Irwin's brief, sensual tale, first published in England in 1997 and just now reaching our shores. Orkhan, an Ottoman prince, has lived his entire childhood locked in a palace wing, closely guarded by eunuchs. One day he is named sultan and released into the harem, given no instruction, but cryptically warned by a deaf vizier about the power of the women he will encounter (for example, Orkhan should not "let the viper drink at the Tavern of the Perfume-Makers"). Eager to exploit his new position, Orkhan plunges into a series of sexual adventures with women provided from the ends of the Ottoman Empire, though each episode is tinged with horror (in flagrante he is greeted by his brother's corpse, staring from beneath a sheet of ice). Irwin, the author of the underappreciated novel The Arabian Nightmare, pulls out all the stops in creating the strange world of the harem, including a leather-wrapped, Russian concubine named Roxelana who wouldn't be out of place in an East Village nightclub. The novel sets a furious pace, flitting from one odd room and liaison to the next, giving Orkhan (and the reader) little time to puzzle out exactly who's in charge. Part erotica, part serious political exploration, this book will titillate some readers and befuddle others. (May)