Between reality and fiction: The Ottoman Empire in Miguel de Cervantes "La Gran Sultana Catalina de Oviedo" (1615)

The comedy "La Gran Sultana Catalina de Oviedo" (from now LGS) is one of the masterpieces of the well-known Spanish novelist and playwright Miguel de Cervantes, known by his famous novel "Don Quixote", which many critics consider the first modern European novel. Although the play has not attracted sufficient attention from literary scholars, it includes many interesting references to the two different worlds of the Mediterranean, the Muslim cum Orthodox East and the Muslim cum Catholic West. LGS depicts the political, social and ideological conflicts of the Mediterranean world during the 16th and 17th centuries, all introduced in a special 'Cervantine' style. In the play, Cervantes referred to his personal experiences as a Hidalgo of Spain, an expat living in Italy, a soldier of the Lepanto battle (1571), and a captive in Ottoman Algiers. In addition, he made use of Italian sources, dealing with the Orient in general and the Ottoman Empire in particular. The image he presents is fictitious, but with references to 'real life' that contributed to the shape of the main theme and plot of his play. Accordingly, this thesis examines LGS as a work suspended between historical realities and fiction, touching upon its symbols and 'orientalist' implications. In my thesis research, I used the qualitative method. I started with the close reading approach of analyzing, reading between the lines and teasing out the play's main themes, an enterprise that allowed me to comprehend crucial metaphors and symbols. In addition, I resorted to discourse analysis, studying the language used by the comedy's main characters such as Catalina, Sultan Murad III and Madrigal. Likewise, this approach allowed me to go beyond the direct statements of the characters to approach their implicit meaning(s) highlighting some orientalist connotations and flawed representations of the 'oriental' other. Especially in the two last chapters, I have approached the subject through the biography of Cervantes, a subject intensively studied by literary scholars. Apart from the author's life and experiences, it has proven helpful to include work on the biography of the Ottoman sultan Murad III (r. 1574-1595); for Cervantes has incorporated numerous references to this real-life monarch into The comedy "La Gran Sultana Catalina de Oviedo" (hereafter LGS) is one of the masterpieces of the well-known Spanish novelist and playwright Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), known by his famous novel "Don Quixote", which many critics consider the first modern European novel. Although the play has not attracted sufficient attention from literary scholars, it includes many interesting references to the two different worlds of the Mediterranean LGS depicts the political, social, and ideological conflicts of the Mediterranean world during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, all introduced in a special 'Cervantine' style. In the play, Cervantes refers to his personal experiences as a Hidalgo of Spain, an expat living in Italy, a soldier of the Lepanto battle (1571), and a captive in Ottoman Algiers. In addition, he made use of Italian sources, dealing with the Orient in general and the Ottoman Empire in particular. The image he presents is fictitious, but with references to 'real life' that contribute to the shape of the main theme and plot of his play. Accordingly, this thesis examines LGS as a work suspended between historical realities and fiction, touching upon its symbols and 'orientalist' implications. This thesis utilizes a close reading approach of analyzing by reading between the lines and teasing out the play's main themes, an enterprise that allowed me to comprehend crucial metaphors and symbols. In addition, it resorts to discourse analysis, studying the language used by the comedy's main characters such as Catalina, Sultan Murat III (r. 1574-1595), and Madrigal. Likewise, this approach allowed me to go beyond the direct statements of the characters to approach their implicit meaning(s) highlighting some orientalist connotations and flawed representations of the 'oriental' other. Especially in the two last chapters, I have approached the subject through the biography of Cervantes, a subject intensively studied by literary scholars. Apart from the author's life and experiences, it has proven helpful to include work on the biography of the Ottoman sultan Murat III; for Cervantes has incorporated numerous references to this real-life monarch into this comedy. Moreover, the (fictitious) histories of the other main characters are inventions that include stories of late sixteenth century current events, which match events in the play, while biographical narratives and documents of the time allow us to see how Cervantes filled 'raw reality' with meaning. By using these research methods, I found that almost all the characters mentioned in the play refer to real persons that lived either in Cervantes' environment or in the circle of Sultan Murat III. Furthermore, I have come to believe that Catalina is Cervantes and Cervantes is Catalina. Saavedra fantasized about Istanbul. He wished to discover the city of the famed wonders that he had read about. Thus, in his poetic imagination, he placed himself at the center of the Ottoman world, and as his favored site, he chose the imperial Harem, the most private and inaccessible place that he could imagine. Keywords: Mediterranean, Ottoman world, Orientalism, captive, fiction.