From: Edward Hobbs (EHOBBS@WELLESLEY.EDU)
Date: Fri Jul 17 1998 - 15:54:36 EDT
Colleagues:
With some astonishment and puzzlement, I find that Daniel Rian~o has posted
an attack on my veracity or competence (or both) , including
"...posting of E. Hobbs re: Poimandres...was wrong, as he is now."
"The edition whose existence E. Hobbs so obstinately tries to deny..."
Such language is taboo on this List, as we have repeatedly made clear;
and it is especially puzzling coming from Mr. Rian~o, whose request to
publish an ad on this List was approved by Jonathan, Carl and myself,
and at Rian~o's request, I translated his submitted text into good English.
His response was to post the language quoted above, together with an
altogether preposterous "hypothesis" to explain my "obstinacy".
And the FACT of the matter is that---
I was not wrong, but exactly correct in my statement that the volume is:
"a collection of his [Reitzenstein's] essays, with some
selections printed which are related to his studies of them.
It is not regarded as an edition of Poimandres."
The book, the original 1904 edition of which I examined (a 1966 reprint
of which Mr. Rian~o says he has), and have used in seminars I co-taught
at Harvard, IS a collection (of over 300 pages) of his "critical studies
of the relationships between Graeco-Egyptian literature and early Christian
literature," as I wrote in my first post. It also has about 32 pages of
"selections printed which are related to his studies of them,"
to quote myself again. The book has 389 printed numbered pages (vii +
382), which means that his printing of chapters 1, 13, 16, & 18 make
up about 8% of the volume. This is not called an "edition of Poimandres"
at Harvard, but a volume of essays with selections. Today we would call
this "Essays on Poimandres, together with excerpts from the text itself."
This volume by Reitzenstein is rightly regarded as the beginning of genuine
academnic work on Hermetic literature, and I prize it as much as anyone else
might. But it is not normally classed as an "edition of Poimandres,"
HOWEVER: My chief purpose is not to prove the accuracy of my description, but
to protest the insulting language of Mr. Rian~o's post. Carl and I have both
on occasion been the objects of rude attacks, which is awkward for us to
respond to, as Chairs of the List. I have been wrong many times in my life;
this is not one of them. And I have been obstinate; but I have never
obstinately denied the existence of a book which I am holding in my hand,
and have studied for many years.
Edward Hobbs
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