Book chapter
EXPULSION FROM PARADISE: EXILED INTELLECTUALS AND ANDALUSIAN TOLERANCE
In the Light of Medieval Spain, pp.91-113
New Middle Ages, Springer Nature
01/01/2008
DOI: 10.1057/9780230614086_5
Abstract
In popular culture, al-Andalus is nostalgically represented as a paradise of tolerant coexistence. Many novels, films, and popular histories depict Muslims, Jews, and Christians living together in harmony and prosperity; as a logical consequence, what destroyed alAndalus was intolerance, be it Muslim as in Youssef Chahine’s film Al-Massir (Destiny) or Christian as in Salman Rushdie’s novel The Moor’s Last Sigh. In these depictions, al-Andalus represents the ideal lost homeland, the place where almost everyone could have lived free from violence and discrimination because of ethnicity, religion, or political allegiance. Significantly, many of those who promote this idealized image of al-Andalus have suffered persecution, violence, and/or exile. Imaginatively inhabiting al-Andalus in their writing or filmmaking is a way to make a home for themselves to replace the one that has rejected them. Idealizing depictions of Andalusian coexistence enable their authors to explore possibilities for making the real world a more survivable place and/or for remaking the self in order to be more able to survive exile. Such depictions fuse history and fantasy to produce a credible Otherworld that mirrors this one and other selves who have survived and to some extent overcome the fragmentation of exile.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- EXPULSION FROM PARADISE: EXILED INTELLECTUALS AND ANDALUSIAN TOLERANCE
- Creators
- Denise K. Filios
- Contributors
- Simon R Doubleday (Editor)David Coleman (Editor)
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- In the Light of Medieval Spain, pp.91-113
- Publisher
- Springer Nature; BASINGSTOKE
- Series
- New Middle Ages
- DOI
- 10.1057/9780230614086_5
- ISSN
- 2945-5944
- Number of pages
- 23
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/2008
- Academic Unit
- Spanish and Portuguese; International Programs
- Record Identifier
- 9984398938102771
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