27.7.04

libros para épocas de intolerancia

Tres libros importantes. Cada uno de ellos muestra una larga época de tolerancia y crecimiento entre las tres religiones monoteístas más importantes - Judaismo, Cristianismo e Islam. El centro fué la España medieval. Allí vivió y prosperó durante mil doscientos años una enorme comunidad judía, principalmente en la ciudades de Toledo y Córdoba (que llegó a ser la "Jerusalén de España").

Una hermosa revisión histórica de la "experiencia sefardita" la pueden encontrar en esta obra.
El libro "Adorno del Mundo" expone la viviencia conjunta de las tres religiones en España medieval.
Y finalmente, esta obra de Vivian Mann, "Convivencia" se centra en la misma época de tolerancia y progreso conjunto.
Los judíos sefarditas (que vivieron en España) desarrollaron una rica cultura musical cuyo mejor exponente son las romanceras, canciones de amor que han sobrevivido más de mil años en las comunidades de Turquía, Marruecos y Bulgaria. Éste álbum doble trae una hermosa compilación de romanceros judíos y canciones cristianas medioevales.

8 comentarios:

franhilz dijo...

Gente- en castellano y en inglés- no está de acuerdo conmigo. Esa época, opinan, no fué un paraíso, todo lo contrario.

Aquí el primer comentario que cita incluso otras fuentes:

"Yo he visto varios documentales acerca de esa época y no parece que haya sido muy tolerante.
Estaba buscando un artículo de PBS pero no lo encontré, te dejo éste que es más o menos por el mismo estilo:

http://www.hraic.org/spanish/espana_musulman.html

Y después cita otro link:

http://www.poesiadelmomento.com/hispanica/20judia.html

Y más específicamente, ésta página:

http://poesiadelmomento.com/hispanica/17musulmana.html

Gracias, material muy interesante, El Bodegón.

franhilz dijo...

Y en ingles:

"This intriguing book deals with the religious situation in Spain during some 800 years of mediaeval Spanish history. The author, a professor at Yale, is well versed in the subject and is acquainted with relevant literature in which she is a professional. She writes for the general reader rather than the specialist, and her style is to pick on a series of episodes or portraits of key individuals and write these up rather like a kind of superior journalism. This approach makes for some repetition which is confusing to the reader who is unacquainted with the period.

The theme of the book is that in particular under Ummayad rule and the Caliphate of Cordoba, there was an acceptance by all concerned of contrasting religious faiths and a consequent harmony which in our own day we do well to learn from. The degree to which the author believes in her theme, and her growing enthusiasm for it, is shown by her occasional use of the term 'interfaith' as the book concludes to describe the Muslim years. To say the least of it, this is surprising. Others who have studied and described the Muslim Spanish centuries have come to quite different conclusions. In my judgement, the theme is seriously over-presented. There was nothing like interfaith in mediaeval Spain. There was no inter-religious tolerance, as distinct from inter-cultural penetration, as we understand it. There is a large body of contrary evidence which Menocal either does not mention or brushes aside. This is serious because the study of mediaeval Spanish life and culture is a minority interest and not many have the background to challenge the theme of a book highly praised in Christianity Today magazine.

We receive the impression that the high level of conversion from Christianity to Islam (perhaps 20% by 800AD; 50% by 1000AD; 90% by 1200AD) is due to a perception of the superiority of Islamic culture to current Christian culture: but it is far more likely that conversion was a reaction to the cultural, social and political subjection to which the dhimma system steadily reduced the Christian communities. This subjection has documentary evidence from the period and also has been replicated throughout the areas around the Mediterranean which Islam has come to dominate.
Entirely absent from the book is any appreciation of the issues of truth which are raised when different faith communities attempted to live in one social and political unit. There is no discussion of theology and creed at any point in the book. By implication, such matters are, or at any rate were, of no moment. This explains Menocal's negative approach to the various Berber invasions of Islamic southern Spain and the invaders' thoroughly intolerant view of the presence of Christians and Jews in Muslim regions. But the Berber rejection of non-Muslim communities was driven by a perception of what was true in terms of the Quran and its subsequent traditions, and was thus far closer to genuine Islamic practice than had been the attitudes of the easygoing, pleasure-loving rulers of early centuries. In the same way, the Christian obverse of the Berber attitude, bitterly criticised as the book draws to a close, can be interpreted in part as a Catholic conception of what the truth of the Catholic interpretation of Christianity required.

Ornament of the World is a politically correct, postmodern book in which there is no value given to the possibility of truth, distinctive truth, arising from religious belief: and it is therefore assumed without question that those who act from motives of distinctive belief are necessarily less human, less humane than those who are prepared to "live with contradiction" which is one of the author's frequent phrases of commendation. The end of the book brings the theme up-to-date: an epilogue is written after the destruction of the World Trade Centre on the 11 September 2001. Unless we can get back to the life and times of mediaeval Spain, it is implied, we are in for this sort of trouble more and more. But mediaeval Spain does not teach the lesson which this message requires it to and thus provides a false hope for those who accept it. At this level, the message of the book is quite serious as well as false."

Muchas gracias, también! - El Bodegón.

franhilz dijo...

Y me siguen pegando en el suelo!:

"No he leído ni uno de los libros que citaste.
Pero si el autor(a) en verdad cree que fue una época idílica ,romántica y religiosamente perfecta ,sólo puedo pensar tres cosas:

O no lee Historia o es una ilusa sonsa,romántica que todavía cree en castillitos y principes azules o simplemente es una oportunista haciendo plata con los acontecimientos actuales. Nada malo en eso,sólo que debe agregar al prólogo que su libro es ficción barata.

Me extraña de ti???.
No te me duermas!.

franhilz dijo...

Una amiga me ha enviado el siguiente comentario aparecido en Amazon.con acerca del libro:

"This 'Ornament' More Romantic Than True; Better Alternatives, June 12, 2002
Reviewer: A reader

My wife and I have a home in Andalusia. We also are enthusiastic but 'minor' league students of Moorish & Jewish history in Spain. So I bought this book as a easy-to-please, generalist and wanna-be fan.
Unfortunately, this book comes up light on two levels. It provides few new relevations about the role of Moors and Jews in Medieval Spain. It also lacks good story telling on the major figures and thought leaders of this 700-year period. I found Menocal's analysis sharp and able, but sometimes overdone. And like too many academics, Menocal is neither a good storyteller nor writer. In summary, the lack of new insights and sharp writing spoils the book for me.

More broadly, the fundamental premise of the book: That Arabs, Jews and Christians lived peacefully under Moorish rule, is more romantic than true. Except for a very brief period of 50 or so years around 900 AD, there was more persecution than tolerance over the 700 year Moorish period. Ask the Jews of Granada that were slaughered in 1066, or the thousands of Christians who were deported by the Almoravid dynasty to Morocco as slaves in 1126. During the same period, it is well known the Berbers of Northern Africa would frequently pillage Spain, robbing Andalusian Arabs and Christians alike. Later, of course, a united Christian Spain would deport the heavily taxed and persecuted Moors in 1492; some authorities report Muslims were forced to leave their children behind as slaves for the Christian Monarchs to work in various trades.

I believe the book's only bright light is an interesting and original tale about how the enlightened Arabs and Jews of the period translated and preserved some of the world's best literature and science thought lost after the fall of Rome and Greece. The works of Aristotle, for example, were translated from Greek to Arab, then several hundred years later by the Christian clergy from Arab to Latin and other romance languages.

An alternative book about Islamic and Jewish influences in Andalusia is Richard Fletcher's "Moorish Spain." Fletcher is considered by some authorities to be the Bernard Lewis of Islamic Spain and his well-written 1990 book remains the one of best efforts covering that period. Another well-written book, but more detailed effort, is L.P. Harvey's "Islamic Spain 1250-1500." A third book, a superior piece of modern travel writing, rich in Moorish and Jewish history, is Gees Nooteboom's "Roads to Santiago."

All three of books are widely available, offer an unvarnished overview of Moorish & Sefardic Spain, and are worth consideration for people seeking a non-academic overview of this classic period."

franhilz dijo...

Y también me ha enviado este comentario acerca de la "inexactitudes históricas del libro":

"Pleasant Tales for Little Folk, June 23, 2004
Reviewer: A reader

A book that purports to have some scholarly support, and that fails to list every single one of the major scholarly books on Islamic Spain -- especially failing to note the vast contributions of E. Levi-Provencal, and the less vast, but still important works of C.-E. Dufourcq, cannot be taken seriously.
The book begins, and ends, with romantic views which owe their origin to Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra and Chateaubriand's Les Derniers des Abencerage. The unpleasant facts about mass murders of Christians (as in Toledo) or Jews (as in Grenada) are omitted altogether; chapters are treacly divided, in this book fit for Oprah's Book Club, and the sentimental pieties of the age (yes, just why can't we all get along?). Not a hint of what it meant to be a non-Muslim under Islam. Instead, we have the same old standbys: you know, the "Abrahamic" faith we all share, and the wonders of translation that were performed (here Menocal gets confused, and wants to give Islamic Spain credit for translations performed by the conquered Christians and Jews in Baghdad, under Haroun al-Raschid, that big spender).

The book as history is worse than worthless. Its popularity, however, holds a certain sociological interest: it shows the desperate desire on the part of non-Muslims to want to believe, coute que coute, in the sheer possibility of "convivencia" in a once-wonderful civilization (fictive, but calming to the Infidel nerves), where Jews, Muslims, and Christians got along so splendidly.

Do yourself a favor. Learn French, and then read Levi-Provencal on Islamic Spain. Or Dufourcq. Forget about this "contribution" to scholarship by the Director of the Whitney Center for the Humanities at Yale -- but don't fail to ask yourself what that says about standards at Yale, and elsewhere."

franhilz dijo...

Y yo... pobre pajarillo inocente - que incluso iba a recomendar el adquirir el texto a la Biblioteca de mi ciudad.
Sorry.

franhilz dijo...

A mi correo personal, unamigo me envió este comentario acerca del tema:

"El famoso Siglo de Oro de España que todo el mundo utiliza como ejemplo de "convivencia" y "tolerancia" de las 3 religiones no fue tan así. Si bien los musulmanes tuvieron su apogeo cultural durante esa época (y mucho gracias a la contribución artística, científica, etc. de los judíos).
Los cristianos más que "tolerados" eran oprimidos. Fue uno de los primeros casos en la historia donde se utilizo el "deterrent": “si no te portas bien te violo a tu mujer en frente tuyo y después te corto la cabeza”. Con un mensaje así es fácil la “convivencia”.
Saludos."

.... saludos ....

Anónimo dijo...

Where did you find it? Interesting read emagrece sim brazilian diet pill nexium side effects testing cleveland maternity apparel wholesale Cheap international calls to skorea Phendimetrazine online source Awnings and roses bed and breakfast canada http://www.rhinestone-dress-sandals.info/maternity-semiformal-dresses.html Phone interviews in qualitiative research Volkwagen seat covers Oemb mv circuit breaker for outdoor radar detectors http://www.payrollnewslettersinemailmarketing.info/maternityweddingdressescanada.html apple laptop http://www.broke-haven-kitchen-cabinets.info/new_mexico_house_walnut_china_cabinet_review.html maternity clothes Sexy roulette game chrysler jet boat clothes maternity sale