Cervantes in Algiers

Maria Antonia Garces

Description

Returning to Spain after fighting in the Battle of Lepanto and other Mediterranean campaigns against the Turks, the soldier Miguel de Cervantes was captured by Barbary pirates and taken captive to Algiers. The five years he spent in the Algerian bagnios or prison-houses (1575-1580) made an indelible impression on his works. From the first plays and narratives written after his release to his posthumous novel, the story of Cervantes's traumatic experience continuously speaks through his writings. Cervantes in Algiers offers a comprehensive view of his life as a slave and, particularly, of the lingering effects this traumatic experience had on his literary production.

No work has documented in such vivid and illuminating detail the socio-political world of sixteenth-century Algiers, Cervantes's life in the prison-house, his four escape attempts, and the conditions of his final ransom. Garces's portrait of a sophisticated multi-ethnic culture in Algiers, moreover, is likely to open up new discussions about early modern encounters between Christians and Muslims. By bringing together evidence from many different sources, historical and literary, Garces reconstructs the relations between Christians, Muslims, and renegades in a number of Cervantes's writings.

The idea that survivors of captivity need to repeat their story in order to survive (an insight invoked from Coleridge to Primo Levi to Dori Laub) explains not only Cervantes's storytelling but also the book that theorizes it so compellingly. As a former captive herself (a hostage of Colombian guerrillas), the author reads and listens to Cervantes with another ear.

Sujets

• Literary Criticism
• Literature
• Spanish
• Portuguese
• European

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2005
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780826591555
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

María Antonia Garcés Cervantes inAlgiers A CAPTIVE’S TALE

Cervantes in Algiers ACAPTIVE ’ STALE

Cervantes in Algiers ACAPTIVE ’ STALE

María Antonia Garcés

Vanderbilt University Press NASHVILLE

©2002Vanderbilt University Press All rights reserved First edition2002

This book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in the United States of America

Frontispiece: Detail fromLa Ciudad de Argel[The City of Algiers] (c.1700) N.A. Reprinted by permission of Servicio de Publicaciones de la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional.

Text design: Dariel Mayer

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Garces, Maria Antonia. Cervantes in Algiers : a captive’s tale / Maria Antonia Garces.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. isbn0-8265-1406-5(cloth : alk. paper) 1. Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de,1547-1616—Captivity, 1575–1580.2. Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de,1547–1616— Knowledge—Algeria.3. Algeria—History—1516–1830.4. Islam—Relations—Christianity I. Title. pq6338.a6g37 2002 863'.3—dc21 2002004335

To the memory of my beloved son Álvaro José Lloreda Garcés, December29,1962–March17,1988

Farewell, thou child of my right hand and joy! My sin was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy.

—Ben Jonson, “On My First Son”

1

2

3

4

5

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction: Cervantes: Trauma and Captivity

The Barbary Corsairs

Writing Algiers: Masters, Slaves, and Renegades

Staging Captivity: El trato de Argel

An Erotics of Creation: La historia del cautivo

“Anudando este roto hilo” [Tying Up This Broken Thread]

Chronology

Notes

Bibliography

Index

ix

xi

1

15

66

124

182

233

255

261

299

327

Illustrations

A Bird’s-Eye View of Algiers The Assault of Charles V Algiers: The Siege of Charles V The Port and City of Algiers Khair ad-Dìn Barbarossa

Christian Slave Beaten in Algiers French Christian Slave in Algiers Algerian Corsair Captain An Admiral of the Algerian Fleet A Jew from Algiers

Torture of the Hook The Gate of Bab Azoun An Algerian Holy Priest Turkish Soldier from Algiers

Algerian Woman at Home A Moorish Woman from Granada Algiers:XVIIth Century

ix

61 62 63 64 65

119 120 121 122 123

178 179 180 181

230 231 232