The conquered : Byzantium and America on the cusp of modernity / Eleni Kefala.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kefala, Eleni, author.

Series:

Extravagantes (Dumbarton Oaks)

Extravagantes

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Collective memory and literature--Turkey--Istanbul.

Collective memory and literature.

Collective memory and literature--Mexico--Mexico City.

Civilization, Modern.

Psychic trauma in literature.

Conquerors in literature.

Istanbul (Turkey)--History--Siege, 1453.

Istanbul (Turkey).

Mexico City (Mexico)--History--To 1519.

Mexico City (Mexico).

Istanbul (Turkey)--Social conditions.

Mexico City (Mexico)--Social conditions--16th century.

Social conditions.

Mexico--Mexico City.

Turkey--Istanbul.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 158 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, [2020]

Summary:

"In the middle of the fifteenth century, ominous portents like columns of fire and dense fog were seen above the skies of Constantinople as the Byzantine capital fell under siege by the Ottomans. Allegedly, similar signs appeared a few decades later and seven thousand miles away, forecasting the fall of the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco to the Spanish and their indigenous allies. After both cities had fallen, some Greeks and Mexica turned to poetry and song to express their anguish at the birth of what has come to be called the "modern" era. This study probes issues of collective memory and cultural trauma in three sorrowful poems, the "Lament for Constantinople," the "Huexotzinca Piece," and the "Tlaxcala Piece." Composed by anonymous authors soon after the conquest of the two cities, these texts describe the fall of an empire as a fissure in the social fabric and an open wound on the body politic. They are the workings of creators who draw on tradition and historical particulars to articulate, in a familiar language, the trauma of the conquered"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Serendipities

Byzantium, America, and the "modern"

Tradition and theory

Imparting trauma

Texts and their afterlife.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780884024767

0884024768

OCLC:

1182019395