"Mise Kozis" (1848): Multi-Ethnic Night Strolls in Ottoman Constantinople

In the generalized ambience of reform of the mid-nineteenth century, D.G.K., an anonymous Constantinopolitan Greek, decided to broaden the confines of his epoch’s dramaturgy, writing “Mise Kozis” (1848), a comedy on an especially original and daring theme: the visit of a band of men to a semi-improvised brothel in the Top-hane area, at the seafront of ‘European’ Constantinople. The talk tracks the author’s theatrical models, based on the place and date of issue, as well as on sporadic elements in the text. It then proposes a fresh review of the work, no longer to be contained within the context of the history of Neo-hellenic comedy but in the light of the Ottoman theatrical tradition of its era. 

Speaker: Luce Hall 102