Riassunto esame Letteratura inglese, docente P. Partenza, libro consigliato Dynamics Of Desacralization, P. Partenza

Dynamics of desacralization

The idea of desacralization

The idea of desacralization has become almost commonplace, attributing to the word the rejection of what is sacred. To desacralize implies challenging the sacred or traditional features of an institution or tradition; it consists in bringing back to reality and historical truth, what had a religious significance, or what was not supposed to be cast in doubt. It made men reconsider their role in the world.

Guyonne Leduc: the desacralization of men

Guyonne Leduc focuses her attention on the eighteenth century, known as “The Golden Age of Patriarchy”. Sophia’s pamphlet was published in 1739, and it was named “Woman Not Inferior To Men”. The writer of this pamphlet wants to share his idea about the female gender inferiority. It received an anonymous answer written by a man, “Man Superior to Women”. This made the writer of the first pamphlet write a second one, “Woman Superior Excellence Over Man”. The identity of the author of these two pamphlets is unknown. Some think that it is Lady Mary Montague, because she defended women against Lord Chesterfield’s article on “Common Sense”, while others think that it is a man.

In this period, women were considered weak and inferior by society because they were men’s property. In her work, she refers to men with negative demonstrative adjectives, such as “that”, or with negative words like “thing” or “dogged” with irony. Even if she was not influenced by Poulain's work “Woman As Good As Men”, we can say that his idea pushed her to desacralize men.

Christopher Stokes: the desacralization of sign

Stokes analyzed three different theories.

Locke’s theory

The first is by Locke. Locke’s essay “Concerning the Human Understanding” influenced philosophy in Britain. There was the distinction between simple and complex ideas. He proved that everything could be created from its premises. Another important thing is his theory about “language”. In his book “Of Words”, he explained that sensorial experiences are at the root of language. The necessity of words comes from the conceptions that are hidden in our mind, and they require a physical expression in order to be recorded by us.

Therefore, we create signs and then we associate them with ideas. He wants to show how language can work as a communicative system when it corresponds to private experiences. Sensorial experiences bring men to create their own language, even if there are different kinds of languages. The sign has a dualistic view: one is the matter or the letter, and the other is the idea.