>Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 17:59:19 -0400 >From: Alberto Rodriguez <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: re: Was Cervantes a Feminist? >To: "A. Robert Lauer" <[log in to unmask]> >Cc: [log in to unmask] >X-Mailer: Office-Logic InterChange 3.26 >Original-recipient: rfc822;[log in to unmask] > >Feminism seems to me to be an anachronical concept with which to judge >Cervantes. We can say that he had a particular inclination to view women >as individuals that are capable of action and independent >thought. Dorotea is a wonderful example. Cervantes also could understand >women and feel great sympathy for their human situation. With few >comments, he gives a full portrait of Maritornes's circumstances at the >inn. There are some authors (Flaubert, for example), who capture the >condition of being a woman with great clarity, and Cervantes is such an author. >I have always hesitated to attribute an author that lived four centuries >ago the political implications of modern or contemporary >terminology. Cervantes could have traces of feminism, but that does not >make him a feminist. I would summarize it with rather simple words: he >liked women, and he understood them quite well. That is all. >Alberto Rodriguez >Dickinson College Prof. A. Robert Lauer The University of Oklahoma Dept. of Modern Langs., Lits., & Ling. 780 Van Vleet Oval, Kaufman Hall, Room 206 Norman, Oklahoma 73019-2032, USA Tel.: 405-325-5845 (office); 405/325-6181 (OU dept.); Fax: 1-530-364-9575 (private) Vision: Harmonious collaboration in an international world. Mission: "Visualize clearly and communicate promptly" <http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/A-Robert.R.Lauer-1/vita.html>VITA / <http://www.peterlang.com/all/>IBÉRICA /<http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/A-Robert.R.Lauer-1/AITENSO.html>AITENSO / <http://www.ou.edu/bcom/>BCom / <http://www.comedias.org/>AHCT / <http://www.juancole.com/>MLA