Speaking of the Moor explores why the Moor became a central character on the English stage at the turn of the sixteenth century. Looking closely at key early modern dramatic and historical texts, the book uncovers the Moor's complex identity as a Mediterranean figure poised provocatively between European and non-European worlds.

Speaking of the Moor
From "Alcazar" to "Othello"

Emily C. Bartels

2008 | 264 pages | Cloth $55.00 | Paper $22.50
Literature
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Table of Contents

Introduction: On Sitting Down to Read Othello Once Again

Ch. 1 Enter Barbary: The Battle of Alcazar and "the World"
Ch. 2 Imperialist Beginnings: Hakluyt's Navigations and the Place and Displacement of Africa
Ch. 3 "Incorporate in Rome": Titus Andronicus and the Consequence of Conquest
Ch. 4 Too Many Blackamoors: Deportation, Discrimination, and Elizabeth I
Ch. 5 Banishing "all the Moors": Lust's Dominion and the Story of Spain
Ch. 6 Cultural Traffic: The History and Description of Africa and the Unmooring of the Moor
Ch. 7 The "stranger of here and everywhere": Othello and the Moor of Venice

Conclusion: A Brave New World

Notes
Bibliography
Index