Staging Islam

PS-1: Staging Islam in Early Modern Drama

In early modern times England began its long drive for imperial power. What followed was a complex transition process: England changed from a trading country to an imperial nation. As part of this development, the founding of the East Levant and Turkey Company in 1580 consolidated both the Elizabethan commercial interests in the so-called Islamic Mediterranean (i.e. Northern Africa and Barbary) and the nation’s ambition to militarily dominate the region. As it turns out, hardly any other non-Christian ‘contact zone’ (Mary Louise Pratt) has wielded such a direct and strong influence on the English literary imagination. Both informing as well as reforming the whole range of genres, from poetry over prose fiction to memoirs and travelogues, this new Islamic influence had a particularly strong effect on early modern drama. During the 1580s the ‘Moor’ and the ‘Turk’ became major figures on the early modern stage. By looking at four plays, Robert Wilson’s The Three Ladies of London (1581), Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy (ca. 1585-87), Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine (1587) and George Peele’s The Battle of Alcazar (1589), this course sets out to explore the poetical as well as the political profiles of these dramatic figures. To gain a better understanding of the profound impact that these Muslim figures had on the ‘making of’ of a new English national identity, we will concentrate on the question how and to what extent representations of such figures were used both to produce and project new cultural meanings in order to challenge defining narratives of the ‘English Self’ and its (contested) ‘Other(s)’. Requirements: active participation, an oral presentation / guided discussion, and a term paper (c. 8-10 pages; due date: t.b.a.). Texts: Thomas Kyd: The Spanish Tragedy (Norton Critical Edition), Christopher Marlowe: The Complete Plays (Penguin Classics). Please note: a Reader containing copies of Robert Wilson: The Three Ladies of London and George Peele: The Battle of Alcazar will be ready for you by the start of the semester at the Copy Shop.