>Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 13:59:18 -0700 (PDT) >From: Juergen Hahn <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Was Cervantes a feminist? >To: [log in to unmask] >Comment: DomainKeys? See http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys >Original-recipient: rfc822;[log in to unmask] > >I would agree that Cervantes shows among his female >characters some which todays's feminists can find >appealing. > >But, does that make him a "feminist"? Here I see an >insurmountable problem. Like Sr. Rodriguez, I become >uncomfortable with the application of deliberately >anachronistic terms. How valid can any analysis be >whose first principle is essentially flawed? There is >a profound intellectual dishonesty in this approach. >What right do we have to judge authors by terms they >never heard of? Previous generations of critics at >least had the decency to use the term "avant la >lettre" in such discussions, and I compliment Sra. >Rodilla for her courtesy. But since the 1970's a whole >generation of scholars has staked its reputation on, >and made an entire industry out of stuffing all the >modern "isms" like Feminism, Marxism, Freudianism, >imperialism, gay activism, etc., down the throats of >unsuspecting authors like Cervantes and Shakespeare, >and then passing judgment. And to make this dishonest >practice seem at least superficially plausible they >invented the equally anachronistic period term "Early >Modern". Ah, if only Cervantes and Shakespeare had >been enlightened enough, like us superior Moderns, >surely they would have agreed to our dogmatic social >improvement program? > >This dishonst practice is so widespread now, >especially in the most elite universities like >Stanford (where I experienced it personally) and the >MLA, that any disagreement is plainly regarded as >"Quixotic." Lenin, I believe, stated sinisterly that >he who controls the discourse, controls society. And >if you don't like it, off with you to the intellectual >Gulag. Clearly, tilting at windmills has to be >reinvented, but who will take up the charge? Don >Quijote, where are you when we need you? > >Juergen Hahn >City College of San Francisco