*** CURRENTLY UNDER RECONSTRUCTION ***

"There is no amount of pretty in the world that can cover a venomous heart."

Ah, the irony! Rhonda Huntress said that, and she also said:

http://forums-archive.secondlife.com/327/85/252954/3653.html (The quote in Rio's post, sixth post down.)

http://forums-archive.secondlife.com/327/85/252954/3828.html (Top post.)


Friday 21 January 2011

Misguided? I don't think so.

I find this post of Scylla's hysterically funny. I'll quote you a bit:

"My interest in Milton is informed by feminist literary theory, but also by historicist approaches and reception history.  I am particularly interested in changing perceptions of Milton's Eve over the course of the later 17th and 18th centuries"

She isn't doing a PhD on Milton; she's writing a manifesto on the development of pretentious feminist bigotry. I think that falls under the category of "Women's Studies", don't you?

PS I'm not so sure if it also gets classified as "Really Useful" though.

4 comments:

  1. I read that as well and was chuckling at the references to "informed by ..." and "reception history". As I hold an MA in History I am always intrigued by the efforts of lesser intellects to impose their presentist attitudes and analyses on past events.

    Reminds me of the Sarah Mclachlan ditty from a few years ago about creating a myth, as though that would be something to strive for so to obfuscate the past. I usually encounter these efforts, here in Canada, especially when people try to paint a picture of an aborignal utopian life that leaves a lot to be desired in the truth department. When you find the past morally repugnant, sanitize it to your liking.

    It's all a lot of self ingratiating intellectualizing. As most of Scylla's feminist indoctrinating diatribes usually are.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know what you mean, Derek. I went out once (with the emphasis on "once" with an American postgraduate student in London who was researching life in 18th Century Ireland by reading fiction written during the period. After I suggested that she look up the definition of "fiction" in a dictionary I didn't hear from her again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "...while over 70% of men and 90% of women were unable to spell their name on the Protestation Act of 1642. Depositions from the Northern Circuit Assizes confirm this gradual improvement in illiteracy rates from 65% for men in the 1640s to only 30%
    in the 1740s."

    This as an indicator of literacy among the populace of 17th and 18th century England is mitigated by the fact that the ability to write ones name is not the only indicator of literacy, as learning to write involved more intensive training, so reading rates are probably a little higher.

    However, it should be understood that while the ability to read in no way indicates what was read. The idea that Milton was a choice among a significant number of the commoners who had the ability to read is nonsense. For the most part the Bible was the only book most people ever saw or owned. Perhaps they came across a pamphlet or two, usually of a political or bawdy nature, but I would hazard that most individuals had no idea who John Milton was. And, after giving the test whatever it was a cursory glance it was then put to the use reserved for most paper, sanitary, ahem.

    Further, any ideas concerning religion, ie the nature of Eve or any other interpretations were derived specifically from the priests or Church. To do otherwise would result in charges of heresy and you would find yourself kindling for the next town bonfire or summarily drawn and quartered, and your head placed upon a pike at the town gates.

    So to my mind, a dissertation on the evolving characterization of Eve in Milton is largely a work of intellectual navel gazing or theoretical arm waving. Any indication of an evolution of such as a reflection of the notions of a minority elite who were able to get their hands on the text and understand it would only be the fodder for left whinge lunches or tea parties or the SL GD forum of course.

    Hardly the stuff of social significance from a historical perspective.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My sister college hosts a pretty definitive site on Paradise lost, and if I were female I would not want to be associated with Milton's Eve as described there: http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/darknessvisible/characters/adam_and_eve.html

    ReplyDelete