>Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 14:15:38 -0700 (PDT) >From: Juergen Hahn <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Molinos >To: [log in to unmask] >Comment: DomainKeys? See http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys >DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; > >b=FWHPCVSlatKxdE20HRPOUGeVtUAq+K5d7hkL39s5ZqtxmKX3l0QHbLGibZV83Klf050YNQbyN >T8wwUcqKJMJTG8yTxnMqSaLDPwsXDOC9aYwcVyNIxUe/1PUk6nlHDBCFMCufGw29QyDYqSCPmo8 >K0puSJhL9QDsOLdgF8qWXfY= ; >Original-recipient: rfc822;[log in to unmask] > >I applaud G.L. Gingras for taking the molino-debate >where it belongs: into the actual text, and into >Cervantes' own cultural sphere. > >I am sorry, but I cannot accept the proposed >connection of the "moneda de molino"-idea to DQ's >adventure until I see an enormous amount of detailed >empirical textual proof. DQ striking an allegorical >blow against Golden Age monetary policy? That seems >too far off Cervantes' novelistic intention to make >sense. > >By now I have read quite a number of interesting, >elaborate studies on Golden Age windmills, but like >most material culture studies, these end up being >unsatisfactory, because they fail to link convincingly >all the accumulated data to the text itself. For, DQ's >adventure is, in my view, not so much about windmills, >as it is about his mad obsession with giants, which he >then readily projects on any remotely suitable object. >The windmills just happened to be there. That in the >end the windmill tilt turned out to be the most >impressive, most memorable iconic image of his story >must have surprised even Cervantes himself. > >My point is that any thematic relevance for the text >resides less in the windmills, no matter how >esthetically impressive, than in the giants, and DQ in >his lucid moments is quite explicit about this: "Hemos >de matar en los gigantes a la soberbia"(II,8). Killing >giants means combating the Original Sin of Pride, a >knight's Godly act ("gran servicio de Dios"[I,8]), an >act that he repeats in the wineskin episode, where he >allegorically kills Pride (Pandafilando) in response >to Anselmo's Original Sin of prideful impertinent >curiosity. (I elaborated on this in BHS [1972]). > >In short, there is indeed a theme that connects with >giant-killing and windmills, a theme that relates >directly to Cervantes' purpose, and it is emminently >provable in the text. But it is a theological theme, >and I am afraid that theological and Humanistic themes >do not have great currency among most critics these >days. They would rather pursue all the (post)modern >"-isms" like Marxism, Freudianism, colonialism, >empirialism, no matter how anachronistic and >unfitting, no matter how little textual proof. We are >watching in this 400th anniversary year the dark >sinister cloud of ideological, epistemological >distortion hovering not only over Cervantine, but over >all of literary studies. Let us hope (to God?) that >the 500th will be more positive and enlightened. > >Juergen Hahn >CCSF >San Francisco, CA > > > > > > > > > > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around >http://mail.yahoo.com