An article by Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature Anjela Peck titled “Antichrists, Saviors and Turks in Lope de Vega’s El Otomano famoso” was published in the 2011 edition of the journal Renaissance Drama.
According to Peck, “Lope de Vega’s El Otomano famoso (1598-99?) is a recently discovered play about race, religion, and the threatening political power of the Turks to Spain and the world in the late sixteenth century. When contextualized historically amidst Spaniards’ anxieties regarding Turks and moriscos (Spain’s Muslims, most of whom were forcibly-converted to Christianity in the 16th century), as well as early modern Spanish Christian and Muslim prophecies about a coming Eastern Emperor who would usher in the end of the world, El Otomano famoso stages the power and potency of Islam to change the racial, religious, and political landscapes of Spain and the globe.”
Renaissance Drama is published annually by the Department of English in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University.
