Casanova & Yusuf Ali Discuss Masturbation
October 20, 2004
Yes, I admit it is in The New York Review of Themselves, which is why I only just noticed it–an undeniably intriguing review of Thomas W. Laqueur’s Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation. Not only does this book constitute a critique of modernity, it is rife with Pantagruelian profaneness. Reviewer Stephen Greenblatt contributes to that theme with reminiscences about Harvard graduate instructors struck with great fear and anxiety when they were faced with teaching Laqueur’s material.Modern masturbation–and this is Laqueur’s brilliant point–was the creature of the Enlightenment. ….
Confirmation of this surprising conclusion comes from someone who can hardly be accused of prudery: Giacomo Casanova. The great Venetian lover and adventurer recalled a conversation he had in Istanbul in the 1740s with a distinguished Turkish philosopher, Yusuf Ali. “He asked me if I was married.” Casanova, who was still at that time contemplating entering the priesthood, replied that he was not and hoped never to be. “What!” Yusuf Ali answered. “Then I must either believe that you are not a complete man or that you want to damn yourself, unless you tell me that you are a Christian only in show.” “I am a complete man, and I am a Christian,” Casanova answered, adding candidly, “I will further tell you that I love the fair sex and that I hope to enjoy many conquests among them.”
“Your religion says that you will be damned,” said the Muslim sage. “I am sure that I shall not, for when we confess our crimes to our priests they are obliged to absolve us.” In the same spirit of candor, Yusuf Ali replied that he found this idea idiotic, and then he asked, “Is masturbation a crime among you too?” “An even greater crime than unlawful copulation,” the Venetian answered. “So I know,” Yusuf Ali continued, “and it has always surprised me, for any legislator who promulgates a law which cannot be enforced is a fool. A man who has no woman and who is in good health cannot but masturbate when imperious nature makes him feel the need for it.”
Casanova’s response goes to the heart of the history that Laqueur has written, for in it we watch Christian moralism give way to medicalization:
We Christians believe just the contrary. We claim that young men who indulge in the practice impair their constitutions and shorten their lives. In many communities they are closely watched, left absolutely no time to commit this crime on themselves.Masturbation is a crime not because it violates a divine edict–Casanova is far too worldly to brood on that possibility–but because it is for him what smoking or obesity are for us.
This is Casanova & Yusuf Ali Discuss Masturbation in The Japery, a part of The New Pantagruel. Previously: “We didn’t want to upset you.” | Next: Archaeologists Find Luther’s Commode | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)
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