See history at Chautauqua

Saturday, June 10, 2000 | 8:40 a.m.

Although Mary Wollstonecraft, a well-known radical thinker in 18th century, traveled in famous literary circles, her name escaped many history books.

Moses Maimonides, who was considered the most important medieval Jewish philosopher, is also almost unknown today.

Both will be in town next week to tell their stories as the Las Vegas Chautauqua 2000 takes audiences on a trip through the millennium to meet some influential thinkers.

The four-day educational event at Summerlin's Hills Park, includes presentations of Geoffrey Chaucer, Francis Bacon, W.E.B. DuBois, Bertrand Russell and Robert Oppenheimer.

At Chautauquas, scholars portray historical figures using monologues and a question-and-answer period. The name Chautauqua comes from Lake Chautauqua, N.Y., where the forums originated.

Southern Nevada audiences used to familiar headliners, such as Teddy Roosevelt and Mark Twain, will be treated to more obscure characters this year. Using unfamiliar names in a city where Chautauqua is just beginning is "a bit of a risk," said Clay Jenkinson, Las Vegas Chautauqua's artistic director, who will portray Bacon and Oppenheimer.

Wollstonecraft, an English author who lived only 38 years (1759-1797), was a major contributor to a radical literary magazine and wrote "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" and "Thoughts on the Education of Daughters."

She has been recognized as the original thrust in modern feminism. She recommended a national system of education rather than teaching a select few and believed that women should have the same educational and occupational opportunities as men.

Wollstonecraft died after giving birth to Mary Shelley, the author of "Frankenstein."

Although many were stunned that a woman would dare write about political theory, it was her scandalous affairs, suicide attempts and independence that brought forth the most explosive criticism. The details of her life were published -- with good intentions -- by her husband, William Godwin, after her death.

"It didn't matter that she had these brilliant ideas, her personal life was so scandalous," Virginia Johnson, an English teacher at North Idaho College, said.

Johnson, who first became Wollstonecraft for her English class, has taken the character to forums on the origin of ideas; to a debate on civil disobedience and human rights with Thomas Jefferson and Mahatma Gandhi; then to a Community College Humanities Association conference in Chicago.

"She's been with me for a few years," Johnson said with a laugh. "People are saying she's taking over my life."

Her main challenge in presenting Wollstonecraft at the Chautauqua is that many people have never heard of her, she said. She plans to use quotes to show Wollstonecraft's sense of humor and present her optimism in spite of her setbacks.

"She was an independent spirit through it all," Johnson said. "There was an inner fire in her that drove her to be independent, to keep learning, to keep living."

Fred Krebs has the same challenge presenting Moses Maimonides, another unknown.

"I would say that probably virtually no one is familiar with him," said the professor of history at Johnson Community College in Overland Park, Kan. Krebs will wear a medieval robe and turban for his portrayal.

A Jewish philosopher and physician from a prosperous family in Cordoba, Spain, Maimonides and his family left the country and settled near Cairo, Egypt, after a fanatical Muslim sect entered Cordoba.

Maimonides codified the Mishneh Torah, which was the oral tradition of Jewish custom and law, and arranged the laws into categories.

Using Aristotelian philosophy, he strove to show how philosophy and science were compatible with religion.

His beliefs later influenced Christian philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas, who opened the Christian church to Aristotle's philosophy.

Krebs, who has been doing Chautauquas for 15 years, said he will portray Maimonides as a practical man trying to understand ways to help ordinary people follow their faith. And he'll talk about his experiences as a physician and traveler.

Krebs says he hopes audiences will walk away with a better understanding of history.

"If Maimonides had not reintroduced Aristotle into the intellectual life of the Mediterranean and Western European worlds, I don't think the scientific revolution of Newton and Galileo would have been possible," Krebs said. "This is a man of the world, and he is also beyond the world."