Turning Turk: English Theater and the Multicultural Mediterranean

by Daniel J. Vitkus

Turning Turk looks at contact between the English and other cultures in the early modern Mediterranean, and analyzes the representation of that experience on the London stage. Vitkus's book demonstrates that the English encounter with exotic alterity, and the theatrical representations inspired by that encounter, helped to form the emergent identity of an English nation that was eagerly fantasizing about having an empire, but was still in the preliminary phase of its colonizing drive. Vitkus' research shows how plays about the multi-cultural Mediterranean participated in this process of identity formation, and how anxieties about religious conversion, foreign trade and miscegenation were crucial factors in the formation of that identity.

258 pages, Hardcover

First published November 23, 2002

About the author

Daniel Vitkus earned his Master's Degree in English Language and Literature at Oxford University (Hertford College) and his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
He is currently Professor of English at UC San Diego.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vitkus has done some marathon scholarship here, though some of his constructions have subsequently started showing their age. A very important voice on the subject, and integral in tracking our understanding of race in the period.