Signs of spectacular resistance : the Spanish Moor and British orientalism

“In 1492,” as the children's rhyme goes, “Columbus sailed the ocean blue....” The rhyme makes no mention of another, equally momentous and cataclysmic event of that year: the fall of the Nasrid dynasty bringing to a close Islam's 750-year stewardship of Spain. It is a matter of wonder how rapidly and completely that history has been willed into forgetfulness to the point where, to say the least, there exists a frozen zone in the European imagination when it comes to the subject matter of Khalid Bekkaoui's fascinating book. The historical coincidence of Columbus and Abu-Abdullah, New World discoveries and Old World extinctions, marks a momentous transition in our histories, as Europe disowned its past and turned towards an imperial future beyond its borders. Muslims suffered most from the forced conversions, burned libraries and ethnic cleansings, but the Inquisition also severed Spain, and consequently Europe, from its Muslim inheritance to the point where the very term, “The Spanish Moor,” conjures a strange contradiction: a European Muslim, between cultures, both included and excluded, neither the one nor the other. Europe had created its first, but by no means its last, colonial hybrid. But, however much the Catholic monarchs might have wished it, Al-Andalus did not simply disappear; its influence endures – often faint and elusive, sometimes powerful and conspicuous – in European customs, folklore, food, medicine, mathematics, music, science, architecture, language. And on the British stage. William Congreve, born just a few short kilometres from where I write this, in Bardsey, a village close to Leeds, has Manuel say to the captive Zara in The Mourning Bride: “I release you, / And by releasing you, enslave myself.” This short exchange captures, for me, the essence of Dr. Bekkaoui's inquiry. Ranging as it does from Dekker to Stockdale, from the end of the sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth centuries, his book returns us again and again to those moments when the contradictory states of releasing and enslaving become peculiarly enmeshed in each other. In this illuminating work, the Spanish Moors, as seen by dramatists from this distant island, emerge in all their perplexing “betweenness” as being capable of enslaving their captors. Khalid Bekkaoui convincingly argues that the Spanish Moor fulfils the role of a speculum mentis on the English stage; to act as simulacrum of fear and loathing, but also of admiration and desire. Abandoned by history, the Spanish Moor's liminal nature provides Dekker, Dryden, Congreve, Stockdale and numerous others with a theatrical space where they can entertain and explore ambivalent emotions about nationhood and historical destiny, where they can permit their political and religious sympathies to be displayed, where they can test prevailing notions of the integrity of race and miscegenation. The Spanish Moor is also a prognostication of their own nation's engagement with others: are these stories of liberation or colonisation? Of Fath or Reconquesta? Who has dominium over the world? None of these texts, Dr. Bekkaoui argues, presents us with a wholly ‘non-coercive knowledge’ of the other, but the Moor does exist as an uncanny double who persistently challenges notions of Western identity and allows us to peer into the contradictory codes inherent in texts fractured by profound anxieties. CONTENTS Acknowledgements v Preface vi INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1. Said's Orientalism a. Deconstructing Orientalism 13 b. Form as a Form of Orientalist Ideology 17 c. Text and Context 21 d. Exteriority, Humanism and Historical Determinism 23 e. Said and the Question of Native Resistance 29 f. Orientalism and Drama 35 2. Heterogeneity of Colonial Discourse a. Discursive Inconsistencies and Slippages of Colonial Authority 38 b. Discourse of Difference and Counter-Orientalist Discourse 43 c. Macherey: Subtext and Effaced Contest 47 d. Conquering Imagination and Unrehearsed Enunciations of Anxieties 52 3. From Ambivalence to Resistance a. Mimicry or the Uncanny Double 58 b. The Prisonhouse of Bhabha's Ambivalence 66 c. Theorizing the Rhetoric and Politics of the Third Wor(l)d Eye/I 72 PART TWO: CASE STUDIES 1. “Hell is a Dream”: Counter-Stereotypical Discourse in Lust’s Dominion a. Orientalist Discourse on the Moor 77 b. Moorish Blackness and Mask of Cruelty 82 c. “These Birds Sing Sweetly”: Disorienting Racial Aggression 90 d. Theatrical Metaphors and Reversal of the Rhetoric of Blackness and Whiteness 97 e. Dramatic Form and Forms of Resistance 102 2. The Conquest of Granada and Anxieties of Conquest a. Consolidating the Tale of Empire 107 b. The Malicious Monarch behind the Mask of Magnanimity 116 c. Discursive Uncertainties in the Representation of Almanzor 118 d. “I must th'oblation for my People be”: Almahide's Struggle for Granada 123 e. Recreating the Missing Struggle and Absent Gaze 128 3. Strategies of Resistance in The Mourning Bride a. The Idealized Portrait of the Moor 136 b. Images of Conquest and Castration 140 c. The Moorish Captive and the Spanish Princess 150 d. “Seeing, / And Unseen”: Zara's Raid on Surveillance 152 4. Ximenes and the Unsettling of Orientalism a. Contradictions in the Conversion of the Moorish Prince 162 b. The Moor, the Light of Dark Europe 168 c. The Turbaned Spanish Queen 173 d. White Male Fear of White Female Fascination with the Moor 181 Conclusion 184 Bibliography 189 Ranging As It Does From Dekker To Stockdale, From The End Of The Sixteenth To The End Of The Eighteenth Centuries, This Book Returns Us Again And Again To Those Moments When The Contradictory States Of Releasing And Enslaving Become Peculiarly Enmeshed In Each Other. In This Illuminating Work, The Spanish Moors... Emerge In All Their Perplexing 'betweenness' As Being Capable Of Enslaving Their Captors. Bekkaoui Convincingly Argues That The Spanish Moor Fulfills The Role Of A Spectrum Mentis On The English Stage; To Act As Simulacrum Of Fear And Loathing, But Also Of Admiration And Desire. Abandoned By History, The Spanish Moorʹs Liminal Nature Provides Dekker, Dryden, Congreve, Stockdale And Numerous Others With A Theatrical Space Where They Can Entertain And Explore Ambivalent Emotions About Nationhood And Historical Destiny... -- Back Cover (abridged). Introduction ---- Part I. Theoretical Background. 1. Saidʹs Orientalism --- 2. Heterogeneity Of Colonial Discourse --- 3. From Ambivalence To Resistance ---- Part Ii. Case Studies. 1. Hell Is A Dream: Counter-stereotypical Discourse In Lustʹs Dominion --- 2. The Conquest Of Granada And Anxieties Of Conquest --- 3. Strategies Of Resistance In The The Mourning Bride --- 4. Ximenes And The Unsettling Of Orientalism ---- Conclusion. Khalid Bekkaoui. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [189]-207). Introduction None Part I. Theoretical background. 1. Saidʹs orientalism - 2. Heterogeneity of colonial discourse - 3. From ambivalence to resistance None Part II. Case studies. 1. "Hell is a dream": counter-stereotypical discourse in Lustʹs Dominion - 2. The conquest of Granada and anxieties of conquest - 3. Strategies of resistance in the "The Mourning Bride" - 4. Ximenes and the unsettling of orientalism None Conclusion.