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"Male-male rivalry and female passive choice, the two principal tenets of Darwinian sexual selection, raise important ethical questions in The Descent of Man--and in the decades since--about the subjugation of women. If female choice is a key component of evolutionary success, what impact does the constraint of women's choices have on society? The elaborate courtship plots of 19th century Spanish novels, with their fixation on suitors and selectors, rivalry, and seduction, were attempts to grapple with the question of female agency in a patriarchal society. By reading Darwin through the lens of the Spanish realist novel and vice versa, Travis Landry brings new insights to our understanding of both: while Darwin's theories have often been seen as biologically deterministic, Landry asserts that Darwin's theory of sexual selection was characterized by an open ended dynamic whose oxymoronic emphasis on "passive" female choice carries the potential for revolutionary change in the status of women.Travis Landry is assistant professor of Spanish at Kenyon College."Travis Landry has an enviable gift for selecting the best quote to support an argument and it is truly a pleasure to read a book about canonical novels that has something new to say on every page." -Lou Charnon-Deutsch, State University of New York at Stony Brook "A fascinating book. Landry's work is groundbreaking because he never leaves Darwin behind to explore Spanish literature outfitted merely with a couple of Darwinian catchphrases. Rather, he has read and reread The Descent, and, much like Darwin working in nature, comes to see the workings of Darwinian principles infusing ideas and practices in Spanish culture, far more deeply than has previously been shown." -Dale Pratt, Brigham Young University"--
HISTORY / Modern / 19th Century. --- SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Evolution. --- LITERARY CRITICISM / European / Spanish & Portuguese. --- Literature and science --- Spanish fiction --- Sexual selection in literature. --- Poetry and science --- Science and literature --- Science and poetry --- Science and the humanities --- History and criticism. --- Darwin, Charles, --- Darwin, Charles, Robert --- Influence.
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In 1766, the Moroccan ambassador A?mad ibn al-Mahdi al-Ghazzal embarked on an unprecedented visit to Spain during a time of eased tensions between the two countries. The sultan Sidi Mu?ammad ibn 'Abdallah wanted the return of Muslim prisoners and sacred Islamic texts, while the Spanish king hoped to improve trade and security across the Strait of Gibraltar. With royal welcome and escort, al-Ghazzal traveled for several months in order to meet with Carlos III at his summer palace north of Madrid. There they negotiated a historic treaty, and then the Moroccan ambassador made his way back to Marrakesh, where the treaty was ratified in the presence of the Spanish ambassador Jorge Juan and hundreds of freed Muslim captives. In total, the trip lasted a year and covered more than fifty Spanish cities and towns. Most remarkable, however, is the fact that al-Ghazzal's travelogue, in which he recorded the experience in great detail and moving prose, has been lost to history. This first full translation with critical introduction recovers his voice. It offers insight into the dawn of modern diplomacy and its overlap with literature; it looks at eighteenth-century Europe through Arab eyes; and, it explores the deep nostalgia that the Islamic past of Andalusia provoked for a Moroccan traveler who traced his family ties to exiles of the region. Finally, al-Ghazzal's visit has further significance as the neglected backdrop to one of Spain's most canonical eighteenth-century works, the Moroccan Letters of José Cadalso. Thus, the world literature approach of the present introduction also reimagines the pluralism of Cadalso's "foreign gaze" through the encounters of the actual ambassador in his own words.
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Ghazzāl, Aḥmad ibn al-Mahdī, --- Travel --- Spain --- Description and travel
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