> This is almost exactly how a grad school friend of mine described the
> study of English in 1957. He called English professors frustrated preachers,
> which is of course also a good description of the chief founder (and still
> secret guiding spirit) of english studies: Matthew Arnold.
'contrarian' complaints form traditions in themselves, so it's hardly surprising that today's kvetches might sound like those of a few decades ago. but the resemblance doesn't mean they're any more or less valid. it's a little like a bear market: keep on betting on it, and sooner or later you'll win. i'm wickedly bearish on the state of the humanities today: this stuff ain't gonna age well. some--maybe many--of the conceptual will be im- pressive and vital for a long time to come; but the mind reels at how resistent good ideas are to the mannerisms within which they were born.
the paragraphs that were quoted didn't strike me as bashing at all; but, then, i think a majority of what's emanating from ac- ademia is unadulterated horseshit. the stylistics are complete- ly inexcusable, and the macro-level jousting with windmills is absurd: the 'world' many of these wankers are attacking exists largely in their addled suburban adolescence afaict, and/or is a by-product of their bourgeois ambitions. there's no shortage of interesting people and problems outside of the intellectual fortresses, and the world would be better off if those who are insane enough to labor for 5-10 years over a PhD would work on something less reflexively heemed in by The Project of Truth.
the curiously certain 'uncertainties' of job markets will only make matters worse by extending the infantalization of 'junior' academics past their thirties and into their forties. at a cer- tain point i wonder when all these allegedly clever folks will glom on to what's going on and do something about it. how they can watch gleaming towers of filthy lucre get built all around them and put up with their working conditions is completely be- yond me. but, since they seem to be adept at doing so, it's no wonder that the intellectualism they produce in these contexts fairly reeks of inverted priorities and nomenclature run quite amok. very decadent stuff, forever wanking about 'politicizing' everything under the sun but barely a concrete sign of politic- al engagement to show for it.
the project and the world would fare much better if anyone who isn't solidly tenured abandoned academia--and the people would fare better too, imo. i'm sympathetic to just about everything but the form it currently takes.
if that sounds familiar, fine.
cheers, t