1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910255205503321

Autore

Colbert Cairns Emily

Titolo

Esther in Early Modern Iberia and the Sephardic Diaspora : Queen of the Conversas  / / by Emily Colbert Cairns

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2017

ISBN

3-319-57867-7

Edizione

[1st ed. 2017.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XI, 189 p. 11 illus. in color.)

Disciplina

296.38

Soggetti

Judaism and culture

Europe—History—1492-

Jewish Cultural Studies

History of Early Modern Europe

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1 -- Introduction -- 2. Esther In Iberia & Constructing A Catholic Nation Upon The Judeo-Christian Model -- 3. A Jewish Heroine In Early Modern Spain -- 4. Esther In The Portuguese Nation -- 5. Sisters In The Law Of Moses -- 6. Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

This book explores Queen Esther as an idealized woman in Iberia, as well as a Jewish heroine for conversos in the Sephardic Diaspora in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The biblical Esther --the Jewish woman who marries the King of Persia and saves her people -- was contested in the cultures of early modern Europe, authored as a symbol of conformity as well as resistance. At once a queen and minority figure under threat, for a changing Iberian and broader European landscape, Esther was compelling and relatable precisely because of her hybridity. She was an early modern globetrotter and border transgressor. Emily Colbert Cairns analyzes the many retellings of the biblical heroine that were composed in a turbulent early modern Europe. These narratives reveal national undercurrents where religious identity was transitional and fluid, thus problematizing the fixed notion of national identity within a particular geographic location. This volume instead proposes a model of a Sephardic nationality that existed beyond geographical borders.