But Enough About Me: Why We Read Other People's Lives (Gender and Culture Series)

Through the memoirs of contemporaries and pieces of her autobiography, Miller explores the unexpected ways that the stories of other people's lives give meaning to our own. __But Enough About Me__ is a group biography, or even an ethnography, of women, primarily middle-class and urban, now in their fifties and sixties. The book also mounts a defense of the memoir against accusations of terminal narcissism by showing how the forms of life writing—memoirs, diaries, essays—are as much about others as they are about their authors. In her latest work of personal criticism, Nancy K. Miller tells the story of how a girl who grew up in the 1950s and got lost in the 1960s became a feminist critic in the 1970s. As in her previous books, Miller interweaves pieces of her autobiography with the memoirs of contemporaries in order to explore the unexpected ways that the stories of other people's lives give meaning to our own. The evolution she chronicles was lived by a generation of literary girls who came of age in the midst of profound social change and, buoyed by the energy of second-wave feminism, became writers, academics, and activists. Miller's recollections form one woman's installment in a collective memoir that is still unfolding, an intimate page of a group portrait in process. "Muslim enclaves within non-Islamic politics are commonly believed to have been beleaguered communities undergoing relentless cultural and religious decline. Cut off from the Islamic world, these Muslim groups, it is assumed, passively yielded to political, social, and economic forces of assimilation and acculturation before finally accepting Christian dogma." "Kathryn A. Miller radically reconceptualizes what she calls the exclave experience of medieval Muslim minorities. By focusing on the legal scholars (faqihs) of fifteenth-century Aragonese Muslim communities and translating little-known and newly discovered texts, she unearths a sustained effort to connect with Muslim coreligionists and preserve practice and belief in the face of Christian influences. Devoted to securing and disseminating Islamic knowledge, these local authorities intervened in Christian courts on behalf of Muslims, provided Arabic translations, and taught and advised other Muslims. Miller follows the activities of the faqihs, their dialogue with Islamic authorities in nearby Muslim politics, their engagement with islamic texts, and their pursuit of traditional ideals of faith. She demonstrates that these local scholars played a critical role as cultural mediators, creating scholarly networks and communal solidarity despite living in an environment dominated by Christianity."--Jacket. Muslim enclaves within non-Islamic polities are commonly believed to have been beleaguered communities undergoing relentless cultural and religious decline. Cut off from the Islamic world, these Muslim groups, it is assumed, passively yielded to political, social, and economic forces of assimilation and acculturation before finally accepting Christian dogma. Kathryn A. Miller radically reconceptualizes what she calls the exclave experience of medieval Muslim minorities. By focusing on the legal scholars ( faqihs ) of fifteenth-century Aragonese Muslim communities and translating little-known and newly discovered texts, she unearths a sustained effort to connect with Muslim coreligionaries and preserve practice and belief in the face of Christian influences. Devoted to securing and disseminating Islamic knowledge, these local authorities intervened in Christian courts on behalf of Muslims, provided Arabic translations, and taught and advised other Muslims. Miller follows the activities of the faqihs, their dialogue with Islamic authorities in nearby Muslim polities, their engagement with Islamic texts, and their pursuit of traditional ideals of faith. She demonstrates that these local scholars played a critical role as cultural mediators, creating scholarly networks and communal solidarity despite living in an environment dominated by Christianity. Introduction : the Muslim exclaves in Christian Spain On the border of infidelity From Dar al-Islam to Dar al-Harb : landscapes of mudejar Spain Transmitting knowledge and building networks Write it down! Pretending to be jurists The scholar's jihad, the mudejar mosque, and preaching Captive redemption : from dar al-harb to dar al-Islam. Contents List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments 1. But Enough About Me. What Do You Think of My Memoir? 2. Decades 3. Circa 1959 4. The Marks of Time 5. "Why Am I Not That Woman?" Epilogue: My Grandfather's Cigarette Case, or What I Learned in Memphis Notes