On page 332, Maalouf describes a project that Hasan (under the Roman name Joseph Leo) is conscipted to work on: "an enormous lexicon in which each word should appear in a multitude of languages, including Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Saxon, German, Italian, French, Castilian, Turkish and many others...[which the printer devising the plan] had given the name Anti-Babel". Babel references a story from the Old Testament, set sometime after the Great Flood and in a world in which everyone spoke the same language and were all one people. God decided to confuse the languages of man and scatter them throughout the earth. Interestingly, I could not find a matching story in the Quran. There is mention of a Pharaoh who decrees that a tower should be built, so that he could survey the God of Moses and call him a liar. The Quran says that this scheme ends in ruin, but says nothing of languages or people being separated. After some research, I have found many different explanations for this. The one I found most interesting was a quote from the Quran, saying "Among His
proofs are the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the
variations in your languages and your colors. In these, there are signs
for the knowledgeable. (30:22)" This suggests two opposing viewpoints: one in which man's diversity is a source of conflict, and one in which it is a source of strength. Hasan, as someone who is by the end of the book neither entirely Muslim nor entirely Christian, represents events that support both views.
Hasan lives through many wars and conquests: first of the Catholic Conquistadors against Granada, of the Ottomans and the Mamelukes in Egypt, and finally of the Lutherans and the Catholics in Rome. These wars often see religion against religion, and language against language. But, as represented by Hasan, his diverse family, and the similar experiences he sees around the world, these people are more alike than they are different. The religious undertones are supported by frequent references to the "people of the book": the treatment of Muslims, of Christians, and of Jews. Hasan himself has been a Moor in Spain, a Muslim in Egypt, and a Medici in Rome. He has loves or marries first an African slave girl, his Mulsim cousin, then a Circassian princess, and finally a Jewish conversa.
From a feminist viewpoint, I feel obligated to point out that the female characters serve only as plot devices to move or keep Hasan in one place or another, and to involve him in various intrigues or conflicts. The women are often and easily replaced, despite promises to "love [each one] forever", and the only memories lasting of each one is her physical beauty and memories of lustful nights. Nur is the only one to challenge Hasad's absolute authority over his wives, and to hold ambitions of her own, yet even she leaves something to be desired as a feminist example. Nur's ambitions are not strictly for herself but for her son. Finally even these great schemes (the future of Egypt's rule) are quietly dismissed and pushed aside in the story. Nur's political schemes are explained for the last time on page 318 in a total of 8 lines; her sex scene with Hasan takes up nearly the entire page of 242.
you bring up an interesting point regarding a feminist interpretation of Leo Africanus. Certainly, the stories that comprise the book are all from a time period where the general perception on women still hovered around property of their husbands, and ambitionless, static creatures who existed almost entirely for sex.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think as someone who had traveled far and wide, who had often been at the mercy of another's whim or religion, the character of Hasan would have a more liberal or understanding perspective on women. And yet, I don't believe we can really ask for anything to be different in the scope of the book. Intentional of Maalouf or not, the portrayals of women in Leo Africanus are either indicative of the time period being portrayed or the less-than-flattering representation of women that still persist in this century.