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Sir Thomas Browne, Paolo Giovio, and the Tragicomedy of Muleasses, King of Tunis

Sir Thomas Browne, Paolo Giovio, and the Tragicomedy of Muleasses, King of Tunis
Sir Thomas Browne, Paolo Giovio, and the Tragicomedy of Muleasses, King of Tunis
This article has two aims: to tell the remarkable story of the Tunisian king Muley al-Hasan, or ‘Muleasses’ (1484–1550), whose cruelty and luxury astounded Europeans of the 1540s, and to trace his depiction in a range of humanist works over the century or so following his death. The latter part focuses especially on the physician and moralist Sir Thomas Browne (1605–82), situating a manuscript passage on al-Hasan against Browne’s broader literary strategies and attitudes toward oriental figures. The whole story, finally, is taken as a case study of the relationship between the portrayal of character in humanist scholarship and literature; I argue that our understanding of the latter will be improved by a return to the study of the former with increased critical nuance.
1543-0383
668-693
Ossa-Richardson, Anthony
919e73c8-2ae7-4800-9134-d4b6ebb4b6b8
Ossa-Richardson, Anthony
919e73c8-2ae7-4800-9134-d4b6ebb4b6b8

Ossa-Richardson, Anthony (2016) Sir Thomas Browne, Paolo Giovio, and the Tragicomedy of Muleasses, King of Tunis. Studies in Philology, 113 (3), 668-693. (doi:10.1353/sip.2016.0017).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article has two aims: to tell the remarkable story of the Tunisian king Muley al-Hasan, or ‘Muleasses’ (1484–1550), whose cruelty and luxury astounded Europeans of the 1540s, and to trace his depiction in a range of humanist works over the century or so following his death. The latter part focuses especially on the physician and moralist Sir Thomas Browne (1605–82), situating a manuscript passage on al-Hasan against Browne’s broader literary strategies and attitudes toward oriental figures. The whole story, finally, is taken as a case study of the relationship between the portrayal of character in humanist scholarship and literature; I argue that our understanding of the latter will be improved by a return to the study of the former with increased critical nuance.

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Accepted/In Press date: 22 March 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 14 August 2016
Published date: 14 August 2016
Organisations: English

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Local EPrints ID: 407757
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/407757
ISSN: 1543-0383
PURE UUID: c1ad418d-847b-45dc-8a96-99c41b04fabe

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Date deposited: 25 Apr 2017 01:07
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 12:56

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Author: Anthony Ossa-Richardson

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