Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 19:27:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: Juergen Hahn <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Cueros de vino - ( Juergen Hahn)

Since I previously championed the theological
interpretation I feel compelled to comment again on
this item.

I regret to say that I find the theory of DQ's
allegorical slashing of the Eucharist absolutely
unsupported by any evidence in the text. On the other
hand, my previously expressed thesis of DQ's imaginary
slaying of Pandafilando, allegorically combating the
Original Sin of Pride as an antidote to Anselmo's
prideful Curiositas, is indeed amply supported by the
text, and accurately reflects Cervantes' intention.
Thus, far from being a crypto-Protestant DQ in this
fitful dream stage profiles himself on the contrary as
a quite orthodox defender of mainstream Catholic
doctrine. And that is obviously bad news for today's
fanatical institutional critics.

30 years after making this finding I still feel
vindicated because I based it entirely on empirical
textual evidence. Yet, far from feeling triumphant I
feel, on the contrary, quite somber. If we do not
watch our proof, are we not abetting the current
decline of scholarship? I perceive with dismay that in
the present postmodern scholarly atmosphere facts have
been dogmatically declared non-existant, and truth as
being as valid as non-truth, with all such differences
usually being rendered indistinguishable with diffuse
Foucaultian pseudo-philosophical double-talk, where
even the original text under discussion matters
little. And in this Orwellian rhetorical space any
empirical evidence rates only as shabby "empirical
bias." An interpretation is no longer valued for its
self-sustaining proof but entirely for its usefulness
for serving the ideological goals of a politically
correct social improvement agenda. If we continue to
abet this trend it bodes ill for all our intellectual
institutions!

Juergen Hahn
CCSF

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