>Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:53:38 -0400 (EDT) >From: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: We have seen the enemy, and it is us. >To: [log in to unmask] > >«Y entre los santos de piedra >y los álamos de magia >pasas llevando en tus ondas >palabras de amor, palabras». > >Que estrofa mas evocativa! No la conocia. Gracias por citarla, Emilia. > >Spanish literature is not alone in the situation >that many at this forum lament. Many literature >departments around the country have eliminated >Medieval Studies or made them ancillary to other >studies of greater relevance.... Look at the >department of English at your university or >college and see who publishes on Chaucer; or who >publishes on Chaucer in order to show something >other than the chauvinism, patriarchalism, >obscurantism, and brutality of Medieval times, >against which some select Medieval writers >miraculously rebelled, as indubitably >demonstrated by the professor's >research. Taking a class dedicated to >Shakespeare is no longer part of the program, >but something voluntary. The same goes for >French. A course on Cervantes has ceased to be >a requirement of the undergraduate curriculum, >and in some cases this requirement has been >eliminated with the enthusiastic acquiescence of >Golden Age scholars, who have been against >"privileging" or "hierarchizing." The >humanities are studied basically in order to >show how chauvinistic, racist, and generally bad >the context in which they have appeared and >thrived has been; and how they have been placed >largely at the service of exploitation, etc., >that is, the humanities are studied in order to >show how ideological they have actually >been. Some years ago I thought the situation >was bad; but the situation has worsened since I >published my American Academia and the Survival >of Marxist Ideas. So the question is, if those >who study the humanities do not consider them >worth defending, why should administrators? If >we consider the sixteenth and seventeenth >centuries not a "Golden Age," but an age of >exploitation, religious obscurantism, and >general badness, which a few clever writers >secretly managed to denigrate, until we of >course thanks to our superior abilities have >managed to detect and prove their Straussian >deceptiveness, why should administrators be >concerned with subsidizing the study of this >historical cesspool, or students be concerned >with studying it at all? At best, let us better >conflate it with something of greater interest, >such as Liberation Studies, for example. If we >study Medieval and sixteenth and seventeenth >century writers basically to show how bad their >times were, how can we communicate any love of >the culture that, somehow, strangely, fostered >the existence of such great writers (notice the >paradox here) to our students so that they get >interested in studying the period >themselves? Of course in many cases the concept >of greater or lesser writer has disappeared as >well, along with the concept of greater or >lesser, period, so there are no great writers to >study anymore. Now, who would want to study >something under these conditions >consistently? I suppose we professors would, >along with pathologists, but that is not enough >to keep a field alive indefinitely...(I am >tempted to create a field: The Pathology of >Literature; two famous French professors once >did publish a book on "The Parasite" once, and I >am sure many other professors read it). If the >humanities have been basically an ideological >instrument of exploitation, etc. etc. should we >wonder that neither administrators nor students >put the humanities very high on their list of >priorities? I just attended a lecture on Persae >by a famous English professor. Her >prize-winning line of argument was how racist, >chauvinistic and eurocentric Persae and its >interpretations have been, at least until >recently, when, as she points out, satirical or >subversive adaptations have been made in order >to put Persae at the service of human >liberation, as understood by the English >professor of course. She expressed her >annoyance at other interpretations by >characterizing them as "bourgeois liberal >crap." Those where her exact words. She kept >mocking the notion that Salamis and Thermopilae >had anything to do with Western liberty--Western >liberty being in any case a notion that she >laughs at too. A month ago I attended another >lecture on Persae by yet another famous >professor, this time a classicist from >Stanford. His line of argument was that >egalitarianism is highly desirable, as is the >redistribution of wealth. Since he has the gift >of gab, as we all more or less do (after all, we >are professors), he did manage to make this >argument while talking around Persae. So my >friends, we have seen the enemy of the >humanities, and it is not administrators or students: it is us. > > > >---------- >See what's free at <http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503>AOL.com. 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: 1-866-602-2679 (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.mla.org/>MLA / <http://www.ou.edu/cervantes/coloquiocervantes.html>Coloquio <http://www.ou.edu/cervantes/coloquiocervantes.html>Cervantes / <http://www.ou.edu/teatro/coloquioteatro.html>Coloquio Teatro de los Siglos de Oro