Pluma/Espuma: Four Sonetos in a Unicum from Ottoman Smyrna (1659) and their Historical Context

Abstract

Four sonnets by Isaac Moron and Daniel de Sylva are printed in the unicum published by Abraham Gabbai at the Kaf Nahat press in Smyrna. To explain the apparently unconventional phenome-non, a historical contextualization of the Sephardi community of the printer and the poets is suggested. The general and communal history of Smyrna at this time, the culture of the consuls and the close relationship of Smyrna Jews with them and with other culturally relevant figures such as travelers or book collectors explains some of the background. Even in Hebrew texts of that time and place one can find samples of a deeper and relatively complex Hispanism than has been understood until now. The analysis of the sonnets reveals their affinity with the Spanish literature of Amsterdam, with the Iberian reception of the classical tradition and with the esthetic, stylistic and intellectual presuppositions current in the Iberian Peninsula of the 17th c.