Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A Contemporary Battleground
Gerard Wegemer
“THESTRUGGLE is not merely over an iso- isolated individuals who have not found
lated work of genius but over a whole it possible or necessary to confront vig-
culture”-so says Stephen Greenblatt orously the misconceptions and factual
about Thomas More’s Utopia.’ And he is errors of those who blithely dismiss any-
right. Anyone who has been a part of one who turns to the great literature of
Renaissance literary studies over the the past for what was recognized as
last ten years realizes that the Renais- literature’s first and greatest function: to
sance has become a battleground of artfully and pleasantly teach wisdom to
intense scholarly interest. any who labored valiantly enough to ac-
On the one side are the few but well- quire it.
organized and well-positioned revision- In the middle are the manywho do not
ists and New Historicists who wish to believe truth exists and would define
give validity to their radical revision of wisdom as a relative balance of moder-
“values,” human nature, and political ate opinions.
life.*Basic to this revision is the elimina- This seems to be the sorry state of
tion of “nature”in favor of cultural fabri- scholarly affairs as one turns to what is
cations of power; they would also elimi- perhaps the most debated literary work
nate allusions to the soul in favor of of the Renaissance. Many today herald
assumptions concerning the historically Utopiaas embodying “distinctively mod-
conditioned self. These revisionists are ern elements” in calling for radical politi-
having a dramatic effect on the com- cal and economic reform; others praise
monplace understanding of the Renais- Utopia for advocating “open-ended dia-
sance, introducing as they have a whole logue” about fundamental ethical and
new cast of heroes in an attempt to political i s s ~ e sThe
. ~ Euthanasia Society
dethrone the old. Thomas Cromwell, for of America considers the author of Uto-
example, becomes “the most remark- pia as an early friend and patron of their
able statesman of the sixteenth century,” particular cause. And the Soviets, seeing
whileThomas More becomes a self-seek- Utopia as one of the early communist
ing and deceitful villain. And prototypes, erected a monument honor-
Shakespeare is not to be studied to un- ing More near the center of Moscow.
derstand better the perennial truths of Such is the diverse opinion and confu-
life, but as a vehicle for understanding sion surrounding this little book.
his historical period and its prejudices. Those holding the opinions just cited
On the other side seem to be a few do not generally try to reconcile their