The Ambiguity of the Turkish in Early Modern German Narrative Literature

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This project is thematically and historically affiliated to the current research project Undetermined Baroque Poetry. Poetic and Confessional Ambiguity in Silesia as Cultural Dynamic Factors of a New German Poetry (1620-1742), and widens its focus in a twofold regard. On the one hand, by taking literary reflections on Islam into account, the range of interest moves from the dimension of inner-Christian confessional differences to those between the two major religious groups. Hence, the focus will be on the differentiation between Islam and Christianity. On the other hand, the ambiguity of 'the Turkish' as a construction of a foreign culture emphasizes phenomena of both religious and ethnic difference. The fundamental stance in researching the question of ambiguity will be the scaling between the threats of and fascination with all things Turkish. The prevailing early-modern concept of the Turkish enemy will be considered against historical perspectives of intercultural amazement. While up to now the scientific point of interest is historically based in the Baroque epoch, the follow up-project will expand into the 16th as well as the 18th century. The textual corpus comprises under-researched literary narrative pieces in early modern descriptions of and reflections on the Turkish. The analysis will zoom in on particular fictional genres, such as the novel and the epic poem, as well as on functional texts (esp. travel literature, pamphlets, broadsheets and periodicals), which portray factual reality in a narrative shape ('Wirklichkeitserzählungen'), according to coeval concepts of reality. These genres will be surveyed in a comparative approach.