Nordic Journal of Renaissance Studies 16 • 2019
Todd Kontje
Turks and Other Germans in the Work of Daniel Casper von Lohenstein
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Nordic Journal of Renaissance Studies 16 • 2019 | |
| With a view of the background of his role as public administrator in the complex geopolitical situation of Silesia a number of works by Lohenstein (1635–1683) directly or indirectly relate to the Turkish theme, simultaneously treating themes of relevance to the author's own context. His drama Ibrahim Sultan about a monstrous Oriental despot thematizes relations between autocratic power and the role of court and bureaucracy as advice and restraint. Although events in Lohenstein's last work, the huge novel Grossmütiger Feldherr Arminius oder Herrmann, take place in Germanic and Roman antiquity and have a nationalistic theme related to the socalled Hermann-Schlacht, it is also an indirect reflection of Lohenstein's attitude to the Turks, a depiction of modern Turkey in the guise of ancient Rome. |