You might want to have a look at the seminar on George Scialabba’s What are Intellectuals Good For? over on CT. Introductory post; Bérubé; Jacoby.
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19 comments
August 3, 2009 at 9:57 pm
serofriend
Words also serve as signifiers and causation for violence, and perhaps intellecuals more than anyone else recognize and grapple with this frightening fact, as well as come to the aid of scholarly “family” members in academic arenas.
August 3, 2009 at 9:59 pm
serofriend
Intellectuals also teach each other how to use html italics correctly.
August 4, 2009 at 8:35 am
Michael Bérubé
I’m going to leave a comment in recognizable Crooked Timber commenter tone and see if Vance takes the bait.
August 4, 2009 at 10:22 am
Erik Lund
By standing on a stack of 2–3 public intellectuals, even a short person can reach the top shelf at the supermarket.
August 4, 2009 at 10:27 am
Vance
Watch out, Michael, I might try responding in Unfogged commenter tone.
August 4, 2009 at 10:39 am
dana
Christ almighty, I’ll ban both of you.
–
By standing on a stack of 2–3 public intellectuals, even a short person can reach the top shelf at the supermarket.
Or — just build it into the tenure requirements, provided you can make it part of their duties to reach the high shelves.
August 4, 2009 at 10:55 am
Jason B.
By standing on a stack of 2–3 public intellectuals . . .
Here in Oklahoma, they can only sell 3.2 Public Intellectuals. I suppose we’re better off.
August 4, 2009 at 11:20 am
Michael Bérubé
That’s fine with me, Vance — CT actually has a blogging category, “wandered here from Unfogged by mistake,” so we’re all set.
Also, somebody really oughta put up a link to Rich Yeselson’s essay, which is Teh r0xx0r, as Edmund Wilson used to say.
August 4, 2009 at 12:05 pm
ben
Bérubé’s (your? how does one proceed in a situation like this?) post has gotten surprisingly little commentary, especially since the concluding sentences seemed (to this unsubtle reader) a little breezy.
August 4, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Charlieford
“… they were about nothing other than the employment and articulation of public standards of judgment.”
So, Dylan or the Eagles? And yes, those are the only two options.
August 4, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Jason B.
So, Dylan or the Eagles?
Wow. I mean, since they are obviously the only two options one has only one choice to make:
the Citizen Kane of music videos
I’m so sorry.
August 5, 2009 at 6:22 am
Charlieford
Sorry’s the word.
August 5, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Michael Bérubé
the concluding sentences seemed (to this unsubtle reader) a little breezy.
George Benson or Chuck Mangione? And yes, those are the only two options.
I was only tryin’ to say I like arguing with George. Scialabba, not Benson. But I agree about the “surprisingly little commentary” part. Makes you wonder if it was all worth the trouble.
August 5, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Vance
I would have responded more seriously had I done my bit and read the book. Not that my response would by itself have made the review worth the trouble; but perhaps the overall response has been weak because others, like me, haven’t done their homework.
It’s also possible that in reviewing a collection of essays by a generalist (however distinctive), the tendency is simply not to play long ball.
August 5, 2009 at 2:01 pm
ben
I tried to order the book from Powell’s. But they were out. This so discouraged me that I couldn’t bring myself to obtain it elsewhere.
August 5, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Vance
It sat in my Amazon shopping list for months (perhaps I saw it mentioned first chez McLemee), but only now have I taken the further steps to order it. None of Scialabba’s books are in the local library.
August 5, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Michael Bérubé
I would have responded more seriously had I done my bit and read the book.
Oh, easy enough to say now. But seriously, this seriously raises a serious question. My local bookstores didn’t have a copy, and Powell’s didn’t have a copy, and the only reason I got one was that Dissent sent me a review copy. (My review for Dissent has only a few points of overlap with my review for CT — I concentrate mostly on George’s take on modernity, so that my review looks a little like Yeselson’s except not nearly as smart about Lasch and not nearly as feisty and fun.) So regardless of whether anyone here agrees with George (here’s that breezy bit from my conclusion again), surely we can agree that it would be a happy world in which anyone here could pick up his books simply by going down to the neighborhood books-about-ideas kiosk/cafe.
August 5, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Vance
Definitely. But where are you going with that thought? Just that it’s hard out there for an intellectual? Or specifically that there are fewer places one can go to encounter ideas? (I’m thinking of how I used to stumble on things at Cody’s on Telegraph, while now I resort, well, not literally to StumbleUpon, but to the netz.)
August 6, 2009 at 10:31 am
serofriend
I’m thinking of how I used to stumble on things at Cody’s on Telegraph.
Now it’s Amazon, Google, and other networks. RIP Cody’s.