Early Modern Dialogue with Islam: Antonio de Sosa's Topography of Algiers (1612) (History, Languages, and Cultures of the Spanish and Portuguese Worlds) - Softcover

De Sosa, Dr. Antonio

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0268029784 ISBN 13: 9780268029784

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press, 2011

Synopsis

An Early Modern Dialogue with Islam: Antonio de Sosa’sTopography of Algiers (1612) makes available in translation a riveting sixteenth-century chronicle of European and North African cultural contacts that is virtually unknown to English-speaking readers. The Topography was written by a Portuguese cleric, Doctor Antonio de Sosa, who was captured by Algerian corsairs in 1577 and held as a Barbary slave for over four years while awaiting ransom. Sosa's work is a fascinating description of a city at the crossroads of civilizations, with a sophisticated multilingual population of Turks, Arabs, Moriscos, Berbers, Jews, Christian captives, and converts to Islam from across the world.

In the Topography of Algiers, Sosa meticulously describes the inhabitants' daily lives; their fashions, pastimes, feasts, and funerals; their government; the landmarks of the city itself; and much more. Readers will be struck by the vibrancy of his narrative, rendered into English with crisp accuracy by Diana de Armas Wilson. The Topography is a treasure trove of amazing customs, startling behavior, and historical anecdotes that will enthrall readers. The extensive introduction by María Antonia Garcés is a superb archival study of the Mediterranean world described by the Topography, as well as an exposé of the adventurous, even scandalous, life of its author. The introduction also discusses the fraudulent publication of Sosa’s Topography under another man’s name.

Sosa's chronicle stands out for its complexity, vitality, and the sharpness of the author's ethnographic vision. No other account of captivity in this period offers such a detailed and dynamic tableau of Algerian society at the end of the sixteenth century.

About this title

About the Authors

Dr. Antonio de Sosa, 1538-1587, was a Spanish priest who after being enslaved in Algiers became the first biographer of Miguel de Cervantes. As a captive he wrote Philip II constantly begging him to pay his ransom and included detailed reports on the ports and ramparts of Algiers―which were included in the Typografia.

María Antonia Garcés is professor of Hispanic Studies at Cornell University.

Diana de Armas Wilson is professor emerita of English at the University of Denver.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0268029784
• ISBN 13: 9780268029784
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 424
• Editor: Garcés María Antonia