Islam in Spanish Literature: From the Middle Ages to the Present

Abstract

Islam in Spanish Literature is a sweeping reinterpretation of Spanish literature, taking as its given the enormous debt to Arab culture that Spain incurred through the eight centuries of Islamic presence on the Iberian Peninsula. This volume takes up the thread of the work of the Arabist Miguel Asin Palacios, the first to comment extensively upon the marked Islamic features in many Spanish classics. After an initial survey of the presence of Islam and Judaism in Spanish history and culture, succeeding chapters explore the Muslim context of Juan Ruiz, the author of the Libro de buen amor; St John of the Cross; St Teresa de Jesus; the anonymous sonnet No me mueve, mi Dios; aljamiado-morisco literature and then official Moorophile literature, standing in such dramatic contrast to one another; and last, the novelist Juan Goytisolo, who, writing today, continues to reflect upon the impact of the East on Spanish culture. It is no exaggeration to state that this book redefines the ground of the study of Spanish literature; it will be hard for the contemporary reader ever again to read it with innocence, as a literature exclusively European.