![]() For nearly 800 years, from the early eighth century, the south of Spanish was an Islamic civilisation. Spanish orientalism continues today in the world music scene, as flamenco is celebrated in the cinema of Carlos Saura and Tony Gatlief.Īs with Italy, Spanish culture internalises this division within its own territory. This culminated in Bizet’s Carmen, which orchestrated and choreographed the wild Andalusian spirit. The Spanish south, in particular Seville, became the setting for the passions of European opera, such as Barber of Seville, Don Giovanni, and Il Travatore. The rest of Europe used Spain as a stage for the grand passions. The Spanish themselves conspired to construct a romantic image of themselves: the middle class reacted against the Bourbon invaders by inventing a defiant national culture drawn from the Madrid working class, including bull-fighting and flamenco. The resulting French disdain for the Spanish cast an orientalist shadow, popularised in the literary genre of travel writing known as the Espagnolade. After expelling the French, the restored King Ferdinand VII initiated a reaction against liberalism. If the Spaniard were a Muslim he would be a complete African’.įrom 1795, Spain was occupied by Napoleonic France for nearly ten years. According to Stendhal, ‘Blood, manners, language, way of living and fighting, everything in Spain is African. They were variously described at Turkish or Arab Christians-anything but European. To their neighbours across the Pyrenees, the Spanish were a barbarous people, tainted by their African influence. The negative view of the Spanish was further elaborated by the French. What has been termed the ‘Black Legend’ of Spain emerged during the Reformation, where the Inquisition was depicted by Protestants and Anglo-Saxons as a sign of inherent Spanish cruelty. While the Enlightenment promoted the pursuit of reason based on natural order, Spain remained captive to a theatre of violence as it persecuted heretics and bulls. Spain seems an exception to civilised Europe.
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