The Taming of the Turk

For centuries the figure of ‘the Turk’ spread fascination and fear – in the theatre of war and on the theatrical stage. On the one hand, ‘the Turk’ represented a spectacular dimension, an imaginary world of pirates, sultans and odalisques; on the other hand, he stood for the actual Ottoman Empire, engaged in long-lasting confrontations and exchanges with Occidental powers. When confronted with historical circumstances – military, commercial and religious – the cliché image of ‘the Turk’ dissolves in complex combinations of potential references. The Taming of the Turk: Ottomans on the Danish Stage 1596–1896 elucidates, for the first time, three centuries of cultural history as articulated in dealings between the Kingdom of Denmark and the Ottoman Empire seen in a general European context. From the staging of ‘the Turk’ as a diabolical player in royal ceremonies of early modern times, to the appearance of harmless ‘Turkish’ entertainment figures in the late nineteenth century. Artistic, theatrical and theological conceptions co-act in paradoxical ways against a backdrop of pragmatic connections with the Ottomans. The story of this long-forgotten connection between a small northern-European nation and a mighty Oriental empire is based on a source material – plays, paintings, treaties, travelogues etc. – that has hitherto chiefly been neglected, although it played a significant role in earlier times. The images of ‘exotic’ figures sometimes even turn out to be self-images. The documents hold the keys to a number of mental and fundamental (pre)conditions, and thus even to imagery constructions of our day.

Bent Holm, born 1946, MA, Phil.Doc. Until 2014 associate professor, Institute for Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen. Research travels to Italy, France and India. Doctoral dissertation 1991, (‘Sun King and Emperor of the Moon. Iconographic Studies in Francois Fossard’s Cabinet’), about the Comédie Italienne in an anthropological and iconographic context. Has published interdisciplinary studies on historical and dramaturgical issues in Danish, English, Italian, French and Polish. Dramaturg; published (2013; ‘Provoking Holberg. From Study to Stage’) about the interplay between scholarly research and artistic creativity. Translator of plays, among others by Dario Fo and Carlo Goldoni. Received the Holberg Medal 2000. Cavaliere della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana 2006.

Contents Introduction Perceptions of ‘the Turk’ Them and Us The Graveyard of Culture – the Scrapheap of History The Kaleidoscope of History Identity and Staging Images and Voices Chapter 1 Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: Conspiracy and Apocalypse War and Coronation The Turk and the Pope Heresy and Nonbelief The Tamed Turk Popular Belief and ‘the Enemy’ Chapter 2 The Eighteenth Century: Parody and Pedagogy War and Masquerade Parody and Paranoia The Commercial Stage The Theatrical Stage The New Turk The Turk in Paris The Turk in Vienna The Turk in Copenhagen The Dane and the Turk The Christian Knight Nation at War The Swede and the Turk The Turk and the People The Real Seraglio Far from Farce? Chapter 3 The Nineteenth Century: Carnival and Casino Exotic Romanticism The Turk in the Cage Portrait of the Artist as Young Woman The Near East The Pope, the Turk and the German Far from Denmark? Harem and History Afterword Synthesis and Retraction Interplay and Openness Symbol and Stereotype Prophecy and Polyphony Appendix Select Bibliography Index