Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 13:59:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: Juergen Hahn <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Was Cervantes a feminist?
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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