Bierhorst Bashing -- was Looking for a poem...

[r. joe campbell]

Nocnihuan,
   As Fritz has pointed out, John Bierhorst is a member of a very small
set of scholars who hold his point of view about a Nahua Ghost Dance.  I
don't know enough to comment on the merits of his point of view or that of
his critics, but I am continually distressed at one of the biggest results
of the issue -- it distracts attention from **all the rest of the value**
in his two-volume work on the Cantares.
   I just consulted a Nahuatl scholar (whose opinion I respect and
sometimes agree with) <8-< and my question "Do you ever check Bierhorst?"
elicited the answer "Of course!!"  Further, "Does it ever help you?" got
the same answer.  Since I agreed with the reaction, naturally, my respect
for my colleague grew a notch.
   My humble opinion is that the community of Nahuatl scholars would gain
a lot by getting past the knee-jerk reaction to John's work on the basis
of one point of disagreement and take an extended look at the valuable
resource that he provided us with through what was a long period of
careful labor (preparation of the text and making that humongous
vocabulary!). Yotlan.

Saludos,

Joe


>
> Bierhorst holds that the poems in the Cantares Mexicanos were part of a
> Nahua "Ghost Dance" ritual destined to revivify the essence of fallen
> warriors in a crypto-rebellion against the Spanish.  No other scholar who
> has studied the song cycle has been able to discover such a theme.
>