Literary Approaches to Aben Humeya

Abstract

The article covers several literary works which deal with the historical figure of Aben Humeya, the leader of a thwarted Moorish revolt against Philip II of Spain in the XVI century. Aben Humeya in literature embraces both political symbolism and aesthetic pageantry. On the one hand, for the Romantic liberals of the 19th century he serves as an antecedent of the struggle against a repressive government, both in the peninsula and in the colonies (Martínez de la Rosa; Fernández y González). On the other hand, he accommodates well the inclination of Romantics and Modernists to Orientalism (Villaespesa). The rise of the historical novel in the past few decades also found in Aben Humeya a valuable fount to revive the Moorish chronicles (Acosta Montoro, Asenjo Sedano, Salvador, Villena, Falcones).