Comments on: Proxy Hopes

By: N Pepperell

N Pepperell — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 04:04:57 +0000

I also know that people actually are trying to look out for my interests, as they understand them – and, in a sort of generic way, the advice I receive is often sound (even when it conflicts with other advice, which is also often sound in its own way, as well…).

I’m not completely clear why career advice sometimes spills over into forms of expression that are a bit… aggressive – my guess is that people become frustrated when milder forms of expression don’t seem to connect, and are trying to ensure they get a reaction. I disappoint on this front as well, I’m afraid – I generally become more disconnected when the interaction becomes too far removed from anything in which I can recognise my intellectual interests…

I’m probably giving the impression that I’m some kind of romantic purist about academic work, but I actually have a high tolerance for the administrative and financial side of university life. I’ve been fairly heavily involved in this sort of thing, given that my position doesn’t really require it of me. But I think of this sort of work as a kind of material precondition for creating a buffered intellectual space in which serious work can be done. When it comes to jockeying around for position within that buffered space, I lose all interest…

I don’t know whether it’s joy that I find in my work – at the best of times, I can lose myself in what I do – and, when I can achieve this, I feel like I’m where I belong…

By: Sinthome

Sinthome — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 01:41:11 +0000

I suspect that the issue of where one teaches becomes more pressing when you have to directly work with the idiocy of administration. Small minded administrators can make life miserable and severely inhibit the joy of research. On the other hand, I think you’re in the right frame of mind. Although ambition can be a powerful motivator, it’s likely that intellectual joy is more productive in the long run… You’re very Spinozist in your temperament.

Spurious is beautiful, which is why I write him love letters.

By: N Pepperell

N Pepperell — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:24:39 +0000

Spurious is really beautiful, isn’t it? I can’t stop laughing either – but the posts still break my heart… I went scrolling back through the site the other day (I’m on sick leave at the moment, so I’m allowed to procrastinate ;-P), and there are just some devastating posts on academic life… As well as some beautiful posts on the relationships developed with philosophical works…

I haven’t read Marilynne Robinson (my literary knowledge is truly shameful), but I will follow up on your recommendation. (Always happy to get recommendations like this, as this is one of those areas where my background is almost too poor to know how to rectify the situation…)

By: Joseph Kugelmass

Joseph Kugelmass — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 16:13:20 +0000

Beautiful post. It seems to me that one of the largest difficulties in the humanities is the fact that we don’t know, exactly, where the work of others comes from. Aware that they occasionally, and admirably, produce a paper, a speech, or a course design that does a little to advance the cause of knowledge, we end up trying to adopt them (in all the invasive ways you describe) in order to make that progress secure. The irony is that that ignores whatever eccentric sort of hunting the other needs to do — like the quiet and the space you describe.

The real humility of this post — which is an interesting contrast to the clichéd forms of false humility I’ve been trying to debunk in my recent thread at the Valve — plus the striking reference to quietude, makes me wonder if you’ve read Marilynne Robinson. Gilead is a beautiful book and perhaps one that will strike a chord with you.

I can’t stop laughing when I read Spurious. I’m linking (him? her?) right soon.