In the bookmarks for awhile: James McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom and current head of the AHA, criticizes Dubya’s use of revisionist history and “revisionist history.”
Category: Ivory Tower
Schadenfreudenberger.
Upon the publication of Lucky Girls, author-to-be Curtis Sittenfeld evaluates the Nell Freudenberger backlash for Salon. I knew Nell decently well in college and, although I haven’t read her full book yet (I just ordered it, and expect to attend the reading tonight), I suspect Sittenfeld is right in noting (however snarkily) that the literary grousing in certain circles has more to do with frightful envy than with Nell’s ostensible luck. Whether or not she fell into good fortune with the New Yorker story, it’s pretty clear to all who meet her that Nell is not only smart and talented but also remarkably down-to-earth, and I very sincerely doubt she would have escaped notice for long. In sum, she earned her big break, and most of those who’d think otherwise are just trafficking in sour grapes.
Update: The Complete Review, cited in the Sittenfeld piece (and this entry) as backlash central (and an otherwise compelling source of literary info, as far as I can tell), responds to the Freudenberger furor, in part by complaining about my “typically American sense of entitlement.” (Continentals, it seems, appreciate much better the formative value of laboring away in penury and obscurity for years – no silver platters for them!) I don’t particularly want to get in a flame war with another site about something as unoffending as Nell’s success — why begrudge her this moment? Nevertheless, two points:
1) The Saloon claims they must continue to harp on Freudenberger because the hits and search-requests demand it, which anyone who keeps a weblog knows is disingenuous. If site content was dictated by search requests, I’d be posting essays on “Sex Machines” and “WTC Ghosts” every week.
2) I think the Saloon does clarify their position to where there’s an inkling of point to be had: “The big issue we’ve had, from the first, with Freudenberger, and the reason we’ve harped on her case so is that she got a fat contract (two, actually, one from Ecco/HarperCollins and one from Picador UK) without having written practically anything.” The doling out of literary contracts is clearly an important state-of-the-industry issue that deserves coverage and note by journals like the Saloon. But, again, arguing that Nell isn’t receiving undue condemnation from the Saloon and other outlets because she’s “pretty and went to Harvard” is also disingenuous. After all, I don’t see the Saloon publishing fake dialogues entitled, “Whoa Jon Foer!,” and critiquing his back-of-the-book sartorial sense. (Full Disclosure: Jon’s brother Frank is a friend and former colleague of mine, and I personally wouldn’t hold Foer’s success against him either – there’s that sense of entitlement again.) In sum, the Saloon can argue good intentions all the live-long day, but it’s pretty clear from the levels of snark exhibited in their Freudenberger posts that the site’s opprobium for her reflects less wholesome motives than dispassionate, just-the-facts-ma’am coverage of the literary scene. Schadenfreudenberger, perhaps?
Moment of Decision.
Rick Perlstein, author of Before the Storm, profiles historian George Chauncey for U. Chicago Magazine, and underlines the central role he and other scholars played in the Lawrence v. Texas decision.
Supastar!
The Boston Globe examines the rise of the academic star system, the ensuing university rat race, and how they both affect those scholars who actually do the teaching. Sadly, as you might expect, it means even less money to go around for the bulk of PhDs.
Reality Check.
“Like actors, however, humanities graduate students have to realize that – except for a few jackpot cases – there is no market for their product. When you choose a career path with no market, you have to love it enough to do it for free.” Breaching the Web passes along a rude awakening for the academy-minded. Statistics like these are always a bit disappointing…still, I think a PhD can be helpful in other career tracks besides academia, and particularly in a field like History or English that lends itself to a lot of overlap with the “real” world. The numbers are grim, but most fellow graduate students I encounter seem to know the score.
1896 it ain’t.
Resembling nothing so much as the guy who takes out a $10000 credit card advance and suddenly feels flush, the GOP contemplates an era of political dominance. (In fact, the administration is feeling so sure of itself these days that they’re bringing old Iran-Contra hacks like Elliot Abrams out of the woodwork.) Sorry, y’all, but the “young college Hipublican” vote only goes so far…most of these kids will drop you faster than a Linear Algebra class once their parents’ portfolios finish taking the Dubya tumble. As for the purported hepcats in this pic, I guess it all depends on your definition of “hip.” I can’t say I’m too plugged into the youth zeitgeist these days, but I do live and work at a university…and somehow I doubt these five Bushies are the leading lights of campus. They just look like five angry and self-satisfied white people to me, and there’s plenty of those to go around.
The Trail at Yale.
Investigators try to ascertain exactly what happened at Yale Law School yesterday. At first I figured it might have been some disgruntled Kaczynski type. But now that it turns out the alleged bomb exploded in a classroom rather than the mailroom, my guess is some bored Elis were testing out their copy of The Anarchist’s Cookbook. Either way, two random classrooms in New Haven seem an unlikely target for Al-Qaeda.
Ghan-Buri-Gone.
In LOTR news this morning, the new official magazine offers some moderate spoilers about ROTK and TTT:EE, including what’s in, what’s out, and what Shelob will look like (don’t read if you haven’t read the books.) In related news, was Frodo in fact trying to obtain a PhD?
Elvish Hegemon and the Subaltern Orc.
And now the terrible Orcs invade Balin’s tomb. Let’s be clear about a few things here. The Orcs are fighting a war of self-defense against the invading Fellowship. They basically busted in on the Orcs’ place here…One would think that if the Orcs were as bad as the corrupt Man-Elf coalition says, they would be a lot better at fighting. Via a friend of mine in the department, it’s the lost Fellowship of the Ring commentary track by Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. Touche.
Only a Master of Evil, Darth.
Having – finally – finished the research paper on Herbert Croly that has been weighing on me lo these many months (I’ll probably post it here once I’ve received some professorial feedback), I’ve now completed all the requirements for the masters degree and should be receiving an MA next month. Next stop on the PhD train, the MPhil, which I’ll receive upon completing my orals exams (based on the absorption of 250 or so history books) sometime in the winter. I hope to have some interactive fun with the whole process and to post the lists somewhere on this site, with commentary on each book as I get through them. But we’ll see…the best laid plans of mice and men and all that.