Sean,
There hasn't been any 'kneejerk dismissal of universities'. As far as
I can tell the whole discussion has been within a context and has
stayed in it. I've joined in on the edges because the subject is a
concern of mine and has been for quite a while and it is good to see
people talking about it - a few years ago nobody except myself
appeared to want to discuss anything around this subject.
I must emphasize yet again - because of the way these things are
carelessly or willfully misinterpreted - I am not 'against' the kind
of poetry I enjoy having friends and supporters in university
departments and having it discussed in depth etc. That is great. But
there is a pay-off, and that pay-off needs to be recognised and
negotiated with.
On the wider issues of course it is possible to make cases for and
against the universities as they function today, but that is a huge
subject and not really applicable here. We could argue, for example,
about the politics, myths and realities of the extension of university
inclusion, and I am sure that at certain points such a discussion
would touch on matters relating to poetry, but it would be some way off.
Cheers mate
Tim A.
On 22 Oct 2009, at 11:01, Sean Bonney wrote:
> I think the kneejerk dismissal of universities going on round here
> is rather reactionary, as if it was still the 1950s and universities
> were still strictly for the middle and upper classes, which is no
> longer the case, and hasn't been for a long time
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