Cervantes in Algiers: A Captive's Tale

369 Pages·2002·3.3 MB·English

by  Maria Antonia Garces

María Antonia Garcés
Cervantes
in Algiers
A CAPTIVE’S TALE
Cervantes in Algiers
A CAPTIVE’S TALE

Cervantes in Algiers
’
A CAPTIVE S TALE
María Antonia Garcés
Vanderbilt University Press
NASHVILLE
© 2002 Vanderbilt University Press
All rights reserved
First edition 2002
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Frontispiece: Detail from La 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.
isbn 0-8265-1406-5 (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,
December 29, 1962–March 17, 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”

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Introduction:
Cervantes: Trauma and Captivity 1
1 The Barbary Corsairs 15
2 Writing Algiers:
Masters, Slaves, and Renegades 66
3 Staging Captivity:
El trato de Argel 124
4 An Erotics of Creation:
La historia del cautivo 182
5 “Anudando este roto hilo”
[Tying Up This Broken Thread] 233
Chronology 255
Notes 261
Bibliography 299
Index 327

Illustrations
A Bird’s-Eye View of Algiers 61
The Assault of Charles V 62
Algiers: The Siege of Charles V 63
The Port and City of Algiers 64
Khair ad-Dìn Barbarossa 65
Christian Slave Beaten in Algiers 119
French Christian Slave in Algiers 120
Algerian Corsair Captain 121
An Admiral of the Algerian Fleet 122
A Jew from Algiers 123
Torture of the Hook 178
The Gate of Bab Azoun 179
An Algerian Holy Priest 180
Turkish Soldier from Algiers 181
Algerian Woman at Home 230
A Moorish Woman from Granada 231
Algiers: XVIIth Century 232
ix