In this article, I analyse dramatic works in which a Turk is the main protagonist or has a supporting role. Different plays and dramas are taken into account: folk or Reading Society plays, dramas written in the wake of German and French plays, and even simple evening drama stories, classified as history plays due to the topics or modest themes. Historical topics and with them images of Turks first appeared in the period of Reading Society drama, when the demand that a play featuring general Slavic or Slovene history should be written emerged. The consequences of such demands, opposed by Josip Stritar who claimed that there should not be any restrictive conditions, were light dramas that for critics have little artistic merit. Several questions arise: Why is the image of Turks so darḱ Why are they always presented as the mortal enemy? How can we go beyond the stereotype?
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