10. "The Moors?" by Ross Brann Medieval Iberia and its "multicultural" situation occupy a special place in the literary imagination of various writers inclined to find it appealing for reasons of their own time, place, and cultural condition. Zofloya or, The Moor (1806) by Charlotte Dacre, The Manuscript Found in Saragossa (c. 1815; trans. 1996) by Jan Potocki, Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra (1832), Leo Africanus (1988) by Amin Maalouf, The Death and Life of Miguel de Cervantes (1991) by Stephen Marlowe, Tariq Ali's Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (1992), Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh (1995), are only a few of the more inspired works of fiction written in European languages set in or drawing upon images, figures, and themes from medieval Iberia. In particular, they offer evocative representations of a highly cultured people identified as Moors. Surprisingly, "Moor" and "Moorish" are employed regularly in academic circles and in popular culture without much question or reflection. Yet Andalusian Arabic sources and medieval Spanish texts, neither refer to individuals as Moors nor recognize any such group, community or culture. Just who were they? And what is the significance of their name? Click here for full text Get Adobe Acrobat Reader here