A response to Poe

In response to Poe's blog entry

Mr. Poe, there is a difference between a "critical review" and a "negative one". I'm sure you know what the difference is.

As to announcing my review before receiving my copy of your book, you have also pointed out that part of your book can be read online, e.g., at amazon.com.

While Mr. Poe waits for my review of his book, he is invited to comment on a number of inaccuracies contained in his book and presented here:

Readers of Mr. Poe's book should also be nefit from reading a scholarly review of his work, which appeared in the Journal of Near Eastern studies [via the RADG]. An excerpt:

"This study is as breathless, lopsided, haphazard, and misinformed as
can be imagined. Written in an excited, journalistic style, the book
has a nonlinear structure. Unlike an academic presentation, it has a
decided story arc. The rhetorical posture of the book stands
explicitly against that of conventional scholarship, an enterprise
that Poe regards as part of the problem and not the solution. Poe is
a unique contributor to Afrocentric literature in that he is white;
unfortunately, he simply parrots scholars from that and parallel
traditions, primarily Martin Bernal. (2) In terms of methodology,
there is the typical conflation of history, archaeology, myth, and
literature, all seamlessly and uncritically woven into a single
narrative. Homer, Herodotus, Pausanias, the Parian marble, the Mit
Rahina inscription, the Book of Enoch, and numerous other texts are
read literally and harmonized effortlessly. There is also the typical
paranoia, primarily about conspiracies to withhold knowledge (not
unfounded concerns to African-Americans) and to deprive Africa of its
glorious Egyptian past."

I had unfortunately decided to write my review before I was aware of the above review being published, which contains many of the points I wanted ro raise. However, the 80 chapters of Mr. Poe's book contain much that I would like to comment on, and I will, at my convenience.

Posted by Dienekes at March 27, 2003 03:45 PM | PermaLink