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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 ofa Sephardic nationality that existed beyond geographical borders.
List of contents
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.
About the author
Emily Colbert Cairns is an Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Salve Regina University. She has published on converso and crypto-Jewish identity in the early modern period in eHumanista, Chasqui, Cervantes Journal, and Hispanófila.
Summary
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 ofa Sephardic nationality that existed beyond geographical borders.
Additional text
“Real success with this book is in the conception of the project, her selection of primary sources, and her close readings of the sources. ... Colbert Cairns has given us an originally conceived, timely, and insightful study of a novel combination of sources, painting us a vivid picture of the Iberian and American imaginary of Esther, an important cultural icon around which crystallize issues of gender, sovereignty, and religious authority. Her reading of the sources is innovative and thought-provoking.” (David Wacks, Bulletin of the Comediantes, Vol. 70 (2), 2018)
Report
"Real success with this book is in the conception of the project, her selection of primary sources, and her close readings of the sources. ... Colbert Cairns has given us an originally conceived, timely, and insightful study of a novel combination of sources, painting us a vivid picture of the Iberian and American imaginary of Esther, an important cultural icon around which crystallize issues of gender, sovereignty, and religious authority. Her reading of the sources is innovative and thought-provoking." (David Wacks, Bulletin of the Comediantes, Vol. 70 (2), 2018)
