Description
Book SynopsisIn the early modern period, hundreds of thousands of Europeans, both men and women, were abducted by pirates, sold on the slave market, and enslaved in North Africa. Barbary Captives brings together a selection of early modern slave narratives in English translation for the first time.
Trade ReviewBarbary Captives is a singularly inventive anthology of captivity narratives that charts the experience of Mediterranean captivity and enslavement in the early modern era. These narratives of enslaved Europeans in North Africa provide a remarkably nuanced perspective on religious tensions and political conflicts within Europe and across the Mediterranean region. The experience of captured Europeans enhances our historical knowledge of the experience of Black slavery across the Atlantic. Mario Klarer’s anthology traces a wide interdisciplinary and intertextual arc that bridges historical archives with literary genres. Klarer’s careful editorial eye opens up a world of scholarly inquiry that was hitherto hidden and obscured. -- Homi K. Bhabha, author of
The Location of CultureThe published and manuscript narratives compiled by Europeans seized and enslaved by Muslim corsairs are rich but complex and controversial sources. Mario Klarer has done readers interested in the varieties of early modern captivity a great service by combining and editing examples of this genre from nine different European regions and over a span of three centuries. -- Linda Colley, author of
The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern WorldAn important and deeply revealing collection of texts. Shedding light on the rise of the novel, the modern autobiography, and the reception of African American slave narratives, this book maps uncharted territory in literature and history alike. -- Stephen Greenblatt, author of
The Swerve: How the World Became ModernBarbary Captives is an immensely valuable resource both for the cultural history of Old World slavery represented in the memoirs of Europeans from Iceland to Spain held captive in Muslim lands and for the history of genre, the literary history of the novel and of later narratives of Black slavery with which the memoirs in this collection are intimately entwined. It is a work of global history in granular detail. -- Thomas W. Laqueur, author of
Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to FreudTable of ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Balthasar Sturmer,
Account of the Travels of Mister Balthasar Sturmer (1558 German manuscript; captivity in Tunis 1534–1535; complete text)
2. Antonio de Sosa,
Topography of Algiers: Attempted Escape of Miguel de Cervantes (1612 Spanish print edition; captivity in Algiers 1577; selection)
3. Ólafur Egilsson,
The Travels of Reverend Ólafur Egilsson (undated Icelandic manuscripts; Icelandic raid and captivity in Algiers 1627–1628; selection)
4. Emanuel d’Aranda,
Short Story of My Unfortunate Journey (undated Dutch manuscript; captivity in Algiers 1640–1641; complete captivity narrative)
5. Antoine Quartier,
The Religious Slave and His Adventures (1690 French print edition; captivity in Tripoli 1660–1668; selection)
6. Andreas Matthäus and Johann Georg Wolffgang,
Travels and Wonderful Fortunes of Two Brothers in Algerian Bondage (1767 German print edition; captivity in Algiers 1684–1688; complete text)
7. Isaac Brassard,
The Tale of Mr. Brassard’s Captivity in Algiers (1878 French print edition; captivity in Algiers 1687–1688; complete captivity narrative)
8. Thomas Pellow,
The History of the Long Captivity and Adventures of Thomas Pellow ([1740?] British print edition; captivity in Morocco 1715–1738; selection)
9. Hark Olufs,
The Remarkable Adventures of Hark Olufs (1747 Danish print edition; captivity in Constantine 1724–1735; complete text)
10. Maria ter Meetelen,
Miraculous and Remarkable Events of Twelve Years of Slavery (1748 Dutch print edition; captivity in Morocco 1731–1743; selection)
11. Marcus Berg,
Description of the Barbaric Slavery in the Kingdom of Fez and Morocco (1757 Swedish print edition; captivity in Morocco 1754–1756; selection)
12. Elizabeth Marsh,
Narrative of Elizabeth Marsh’s Captivity in Barbary (undated British manuscript; captivity in Morocco 1756; complete captivity narrative)
13. Felice Caronni,
The Account of an Amateur Antiquarian’s Short Journey (1805 Italian print edition; captivity in Tunis 1804; selection)
Appendix: Selection of European and American Barbary Captivity Narratives
List of Works Cited and General Works on North African Piracy and Captivity
Index of Persons and Locations
