The collection also probes translation in its broadest sense: linguistic translation between Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, English; cultural translation between Mediterranean polities and Northern Europe; and technological translation signified by “spdfrar.” These layers suggest how stories survive and are transformed as they pass through tongues and devices. Objects recur as translation devices themselves: charts that migrate from hand-drawn sketches to engraved plates to pixelated maps; letters that are copied and recopied, each iteration erasing and accreting meaning. Fansadox 187 thereby stages history as a palimpsest whose earlier inscriptions are never fully effaced.
Set during the height of the Barbary Coast's privateering era (roughly the 16th to 19th centuries), the story focuses on the capture and enslavement of European travelers by Mediterranean corsairs. Narrative Focus: Fansadox Collection 187 By Templeton Barbary Corsairspdfrar