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Jan. 15th, 2009 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsIn the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bookelfe Reading More Nonfiction Initiative, the one I am probably happiest to have read so far is Maria Rosa Menocal's The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain.
("That is not beach reading!" said my mom, when she saw me pull it out in Puerto Rico. "Yes, but I want to read it anyway!" I said.
She probably wishes she had succeeded in talking me out of it, since I spend the next hour or so sitting up every ten or fifteen minutes and going "HEY LISTEN isn't this cool!" while the rest of my family stretched out on beach chairs and tried to ignore me.)
The book covers the history of Andalucia - a region of Spain that was, for a long time, predominantly Muslim, with a large Jewish population, before fractioning into a set of variously Muslim and Christian city-states - from 786 to 1492, when the last of the Muslims and Jews were exiled from Ferdinand and Isabella's Spain. The history is fascinating, though almost certainly too idealistic at times in its examination of the 'culture of tolerance.' Menocal is writing with a clear goal in mind, and you can tell that sometimes she's skipping straight to the super-optimistic view - so occasionally you have to grain-of-salt the history, but then again, I can't think of any history you don't have to remember to liberally season in that way.
Anyways, what I found really, really cool about the book is the examination of the intellectual and linguistic cultures and the impact each had on the other. There's a chapter that starts out with a quote from a Christian scholar freaking out about the degeneracy of youth these days, because all the Christian kids in Muslim-ruled Andalucia are learning Arabic so they can go hang out at *gasp* THE LIBRARY. And LEARN THINGS. Kids these days! Which, admittedly, I find sort of hilarious, but it also leads off into a really cool discussion of secular and religious languages, and the development of Hebrew and Castilian as secular languages following the Arabic model, since there were so many literary works published in Arabic.
(Along more shallow lines, I also learned the brilliant factoid that medieval religious-celebrity-scandal power couple Heloise and Abelard named their kid Astrolabe, after the scientific instrument. Thus clearly kicking off a CELEBRITY BABY NAMING REIGN OF TERROR for millenia to come!)
bookelfe Reading More Nonfiction Initiative, the one I am probably happiest to have read so far is Maria Rosa Menocal's The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain.("That is not beach reading!" said my mom, when she saw me pull it out in Puerto Rico. "Yes, but I want to read it anyway!" I said.
She probably wishes she had succeeded in talking me out of it, since I spend the next hour or so sitting up every ten or fifteen minutes and going "HEY LISTEN isn't this cool!" while the rest of my family stretched out on beach chairs and tried to ignore me.)
The book covers the history of Andalucia - a region of Spain that was, for a long time, predominantly Muslim, with a large Jewish population, before fractioning into a set of variously Muslim and Christian city-states - from 786 to 1492, when the last of the Muslims and Jews were exiled from Ferdinand and Isabella's Spain. The history is fascinating, though almost certainly too idealistic at times in its examination of the 'culture of tolerance.' Menocal is writing with a clear goal in mind, and you can tell that sometimes she's skipping straight to the super-optimistic view - so occasionally you have to grain-of-salt the history, but then again, I can't think of any history you don't have to remember to liberally season in that way.
Anyways, what I found really, really cool about the book is the examination of the intellectual and linguistic cultures and the impact each had on the other. There's a chapter that starts out with a quote from a Christian scholar freaking out about the degeneracy of youth these days, because all the Christian kids in Muslim-ruled Andalucia are learning Arabic so they can go hang out at *gasp* THE LIBRARY. And LEARN THINGS. Kids these days! Which, admittedly, I find sort of hilarious, but it also leads off into a really cool discussion of secular and religious languages, and the development of Hebrew and Castilian as secular languages following the Arabic model, since there were so many literary works published in Arabic.
(Along more shallow lines, I also learned the brilliant factoid that medieval religious-celebrity-scandal power couple Heloise and Abelard named their kid Astrolabe, after the scientific instrument. Thus clearly kicking off a CELEBRITY BABY NAMING REIGN OF TERROR for millenia to come!)
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Date: 2009-01-15 07:25 pm (UTC)If I still belonged to
By the way! Did my package ever get through? I know I sent it stupid late, but I just wanted to make sure.
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Date: 2009-01-15 07:39 pm (UTC)- oh, yes it did and I meant to comment and tell you! *glees* Also to ask you what I should send back with Arsonist's Guide after I've read it (which will totally be in a timely fashion, I promise) - more DWJ? Something else?
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Date: 2009-01-15 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 08:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 07:34 pm (UTC)One of my Middle Eastern professors in uni was from that region of Spain before she moved to Damascus. And she would talk for hours and hours and hours about the Golden Age of Spain. It's fascinating time, but I was with you: it's always so idealist, no matter the source. It's hard to believe.
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Date: 2009-01-15 07:44 pm (UTC)One thing the book definitely did is bump Spain way higher on my list of Places To Visit Someday, Come Hell Or High Water. (Also, is it just me, or is 'Al-Andalus' really fun to say? It sounds magical and golden-age-y.)
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Date: 2009-01-15 08:03 pm (UTC)THIS IS HILARIOUS
I love your book reviews. :) And totally want to read this book now!
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Date: 2009-01-15 08:10 pm (UTC)*beams* Yay! You totally should read it, I think you would find it super cool. And it's one of those books that - sort of re-centers a historical viewpoint, which is always awesome to see done. ("You probably thought the Middle Ages were all about France and England, BUT YOU WERE SO WRONG.")
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Date: 2009-01-15 08:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-15 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-16 01:12 am (UTC)Also, I'm going to add Astrolabe to my "tentative but weird names to give my kids" list.
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Date: 2009-01-16 05:36 am (UTC)Well, there is certainly a Tradition . . . though I'm not sure Heloise and Abelard are the best role models in all senses. >.>
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Date: 2009-01-16 01:13 am (UTC)This books sounds fascinating! I think I will put it on my list.
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Date: 2009-01-16 05:38 am (UTC)I would definitely recommend it! :D