Overreacting slightly? First, I'm an academic myself. Second, my partial
agreement with Josephine's remark was hardly meant as a serious attack on
the profession, more as a pleasantry. (If you want evidence of academics
stating the obvious it shouldn't be hard to find.) Third, I have sat through
a seminar on supermarkets at Southampton University, and though I haven't
sat through one on tattooing (inscribing the body, as I think it's
technically called), there was a paper on the subject in a postgraduate
magazine while I was doing my Ph.D. there. I do think it's regrettable that
less attention is paid now to literature and more to other cultural
phenomena, but I wasn't spoiling for a fight, and I'm amazed you seem to
think I was.
Best wishes
Matthew
----- Original Message -----
From: "Malcolm Phillips" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 7:49 PM
Subject: an academic point
> At 7:27 pm 21/8/01 +0100, Matthew Francis wrote:
> >What you say about academics stating the obvious and getting the credit
has
> >a lot of truth in it.
>
> Oh really. There I was thinking it was a generalisation offered with
little
> evident concern for proof. Like this:
>
> >university seminars these days tend to be about things like supermarkets
and
> >tattooing rather than _Lear_, which is regrettable.
>
> But perhaps I'm stating the obvious. How academic of me. Three cheers for
> Barthes, who also renovated the definition of the word _doxa_ which
springs
> suddenly and horrifically to mind.
>
> Malcolm
>
> / / / / / / / / / / / /
>
> Flat 59 room 2
> Albany Park
> St Andrews
> KY16 8BP
> Scotland
> (00 44) + 1334 427862 (internal university number 7862)
>
|