"buried under mountains of pointless grant applications imposed on us humanists by the insane and suicidal cargo-cult of STEM worship, which in the end is just a poorly disguised worship of money and power"
As a mathematician, I want to emphasize that mathematics is not a "Naturwissenschaft" but a "Geisteswissenschaft", thus belongs at least as much in the humanities as it does in science.
This was wonderful. I’m genuinely moved by Matthew’s project and the thoughts from everyone involved. When I read about this sort of activity everything else just pales in comparison. Reading, thinking, and writing with others—what else even is there? This is the good life.
I've started marking up books I own - highlighting and adding commentary to the margins - before sharing the marked-up book with friends or colleagues who I think would also enjoy the book. I've noticed that entices them to share in the same reading and more likely to engage with the text.
Has anyone else tried this marked-up book hot-potato method? Seems like a more inviting way to engage in shared reading (when people's attention is at a premium) compared to book clubs or joining a bucolic reading commune..
I've only done so once, with a copy of the Bhagavad Gita (with an introduction by Aldous Huxley) that I shared with my dad. I had written notes for my own sake when I first read it, but he wrote his own responses to my notes when he read it himself. It was an interesting exchange.
Wow, when circles intersect...I first came across William Deresiewicz as the author of one of the best books about reading Jane Austen (and there have been plenty) in the last few decades. Now here he is at the Hinternet! Yes, there is a renaissance in the humanities, and it is happening in reading groups and Substacks. How wonderful!
Wonderful read, fine project, worthy (if this is the right word) ambition. No-one is paying attention to anything any more, with so many stimuli clamoring for the little attention we have. I almost felt guilty reading this short essay on my iPhone. But then realized I never would have encountered it without this perfect agent of distraction. How to square that circle in an age in which the accelerated grimace has turned into a dangerous scowl?
I'm the last to defend some (any) notion of academia, but I'm not sure I can make sense of this definition of close reading ("the scrupulous examination of the text for patterns of language and image, narrative structures and strategies, manipulations of generic expectations, formal balances and juxtapositions, allusions, concealments, ambiguities, and anything else you can find, then the further attempt to interpret them") without the contributions of generations of Joyce scholars -- or at the least, let's say, some people who speak Hiberno-English to catch Joyce's rhythms, or know Dublin to feel his topographies -- and without the academic schools of thought that actually defined "close reading" (New Criticism) "generic expectations" (Barthes), "narrative structures" (Russian formalism, Genette), and ambiguities (Empson). It's not that these authors, schools, and scholars need to be read along with Joyce's novel — I entirely understand stepping outside detailed engagement in order to free up attention — but the program that's described here is academic: it belongs to the last hundred years or so, and it was articulated in universities.
Having attended 10-day meditation courses in the Vipassana tradition, I can imagine how deeply rewarding programs such as this one would be. I appreciate how the the vast and unrelenting maelstrom of technological distractions in more and more aspects of our day-to-day living makes doing just about anything with real focus and attention increasingly difficult, so it's no surprise that reading (and not only reading) become a casualty of modern life.
There is something wonderfully mystical and monastic about reading and, yes, wanting to share what is discovered and revealed with others is an aching part of the experience for me. To go others a reason to slow down, pause, and take in not just the words on a page but what those words reveal to you about yourself, about how you relate to the world around you, and that all things in life can likewise serve that revelation.
I'd love to viist a center like the one described here someday. I do enjoy reading and do my best to take my time with it. I recently finished a book that Agnes Callard mentioned in her recent discussion with JSR on a book by Robert Musil--the book is Brache's Death of Virgil, a book that requires slow, slow, deliberate and sometimes painstaking effort but was absolutely rewarding from beginning to end. (It took me ... a few months?)
Thank you for your efforts, William, to everyone who contributed and to the Hinternet for sharing it.
PS What is the painting at the beginning of the essay? It's incredibly evocative.
Unfortunately, I live on the other side of the world currently, William, in Taiwan. However, if I find myself back in that part of the world, it would be something I’d be very interested in doing. Thanks again!
… and I hope Justin will share the details on that painting. There’s quite a story in it.
If the humanities have gone to the graves of academe, the professors have only themselves to blame, e.g., the inane nihilistic rot called "post-modernism" like "deconstruction" and the hateful Frankfort school who gave us frauds like Adorno and Habermas (Walter Benjamin is the sole exception). In the 1980's I witnessed this destruction first-hand. Creative Writing departments for many years saved literature from these cretins and their Latinate gibberish but now when I receive a job notification from The Chronicle of Higher Education I see that creative writing jobs now require applicants to have expertise in form of theory. "Post-colonial," for example. In other words, one's novels poems or essays have to have the correct political agenda or the applicant doesn't stand a chance. But literature will live on, of course, without colleges and universities that cost hundreds of thousands for nearly worthless degrees. Because of what Albert Jay Nock in his superb book Our Enemy, The State calls "the remnant." What the father at the end of No Country for Old Men carries in a horn: "the fire."
Would that be Frankfort, Kentucky? I do have a long-standing interest in the so-called Kentucky Hegelians, a minor off-shoot of the St. Louis Hegelians, but they were mostly active in Lexington.
So it’s a good thing that I’m a slow reader. Yay! This article has made me feel so hopeful. I will send a donation to the Matthew Strother Center in your honor.
Genuinely confused about the term (pun?): allodidact. Is it an inside joke or am I brick-thick? Mentioned 5 times in the post. All I can find is "The Urban School of Rhodes is a continuation of the "Allodidactic School" founded by Metropolitan Paisios of Rhodes."
I coined the term spontaneously down there in the last paragraph, then Justin brought it up into the title and introduction. As you can see, I modeled it on "autodidacts," but instead of people teaching themselves, they are teaching others ("allo-" being the Greek for other, as in "allograft").
"buried under mountains of pointless grant applications imposed on us humanists by the insane and suicidal cargo-cult of STEM worship, which in the end is just a poorly disguised worship of money and power"
As a mathematician, I want to emphasize that mathematics is not a "Naturwissenschaft" but a "Geisteswissenschaft", thus belongs at least as much in the humanities as it does in science.
This was wonderful. I’m genuinely moved by Matthew’s project and the thoughts from everyone involved. When I read about this sort of activity everything else just pales in comparison. Reading, thinking, and writing with others—what else even is there? This is the good life.
This is beautiful, Bill -- thanks so much for writing and posting it.
You're welcome, Zena.
I've started marking up books I own - highlighting and adding commentary to the margins - before sharing the marked-up book with friends or colleagues who I think would also enjoy the book. I've noticed that entices them to share in the same reading and more likely to engage with the text.
Has anyone else tried this marked-up book hot-potato method? Seems like a more inviting way to engage in shared reading (when people's attention is at a premium) compared to book clubs or joining a bucolic reading commune..
I've only done so once, with a copy of the Bhagavad Gita (with an introduction by Aldous Huxley) that I shared with my dad. I had written notes for my own sake when I first read it, but he wrote his own responses to my notes when he read it himself. It was an interesting exchange.
Wow, when circles intersect...I first came across William Deresiewicz as the author of one of the best books about reading Jane Austen (and there have been plenty) in the last few decades. Now here he is at the Hinternet! Yes, there is a renaissance in the humanities, and it is happening in reading groups and Substacks. How wonderful!
Wonderful read, fine project, worthy (if this is the right word) ambition. No-one is paying attention to anything any more, with so many stimuli clamoring for the little attention we have. I almost felt guilty reading this short essay on my iPhone. But then realized I never would have encountered it without this perfect agent of distraction. How to square that circle in an age in which the accelerated grimace has turned into a dangerous scowl?
I'm the last to defend some (any) notion of academia, but I'm not sure I can make sense of this definition of close reading ("the scrupulous examination of the text for patterns of language and image, narrative structures and strategies, manipulations of generic expectations, formal balances and juxtapositions, allusions, concealments, ambiguities, and anything else you can find, then the further attempt to interpret them") without the contributions of generations of Joyce scholars -- or at the least, let's say, some people who speak Hiberno-English to catch Joyce's rhythms, or know Dublin to feel his topographies -- and without the academic schools of thought that actually defined "close reading" (New Criticism) "generic expectations" (Barthes), "narrative structures" (Russian formalism, Genette), and ambiguities (Empson). It's not that these authors, schools, and scholars need to be read along with Joyce's novel — I entirely understand stepping outside detailed engagement in order to free up attention — but the program that's described here is academic: it belongs to the last hundred years or so, and it was articulated in universities.
Having attended 10-day meditation courses in the Vipassana tradition, I can imagine how deeply rewarding programs such as this one would be. I appreciate how the the vast and unrelenting maelstrom of technological distractions in more and more aspects of our day-to-day living makes doing just about anything with real focus and attention increasingly difficult, so it's no surprise that reading (and not only reading) become a casualty of modern life.
There is something wonderfully mystical and monastic about reading and, yes, wanting to share what is discovered and revealed with others is an aching part of the experience for me. To go others a reason to slow down, pause, and take in not just the words on a page but what those words reveal to you about yourself, about how you relate to the world around you, and that all things in life can likewise serve that revelation.
I'd love to viist a center like the one described here someday. I do enjoy reading and do my best to take my time with it. I recently finished a book that Agnes Callard mentioned in her recent discussion with JSR on a book by Robert Musil--the book is Brache's Death of Virgil, a book that requires slow, slow, deliberate and sometimes painstaking effort but was absolutely rewarding from beginning to end. (It took me ... a few months?)
Thank you for your efforts, William, to everyone who contributed and to the Hinternet for sharing it.
PS What is the painting at the beginning of the essay? It's incredibly evocative.
Beautiful comment, thank you Brent. You should consider applying to the program next year. As for the painting, Justin chooses the images.
Unfortunately, I live on the other side of the world currently, William, in Taiwan. However, if I find myself back in that part of the world, it would be something I’d be very interested in doing. Thanks again!
… and I hope Justin will share the details on that painting. There’s quite a story in it.
This is great and inspiring! Congrats to all involved.
If the humanities have gone to the graves of academe, the professors have only themselves to blame, e.g., the inane nihilistic rot called "post-modernism" like "deconstruction" and the hateful Frankfort school who gave us frauds like Adorno and Habermas (Walter Benjamin is the sole exception). In the 1980's I witnessed this destruction first-hand. Creative Writing departments for many years saved literature from these cretins and their Latinate gibberish but now when I receive a job notification from The Chronicle of Higher Education I see that creative writing jobs now require applicants to have expertise in form of theory. "Post-colonial," for example. In other words, one's novels poems or essays have to have the correct political agenda or the applicant doesn't stand a chance. But literature will live on, of course, without colleges and universities that cost hundreds of thousands for nearly worthless degrees. Because of what Albert Jay Nock in his superb book Our Enemy, The State calls "the remnant." What the father at the end of No Country for Old Men carries in a horn: "the fire."
Would that be Frankfort, Kentucky? I do have a long-standing interest in the so-called Kentucky Hegelians, a minor off-shoot of the St. Louis Hegelians, but they were mostly active in Lexington.
tl;dr
;-)
So it’s a good thing that I’m a slow reader. Yay! This article has made me feel so hopeful. I will send a donation to the Matthew Strother Center in your honor.
Wow! Thank you!
Just made the donation. Thank you for your valuable work!
Took a lot of words for readers who love to read to say they love to read.
Genuinely confused about the term (pun?): allodidact. Is it an inside joke or am I brick-thick? Mentioned 5 times in the post. All I can find is "The Urban School of Rhodes is a continuation of the "Allodidactic School" founded by Metropolitan Paisios of Rhodes."
I coined the term spontaneously down there in the last paragraph, then Justin brought it up into the title and introduction. As you can see, I modeled it on "autodidacts," but instead of people teaching themselves, they are teaching others ("allo-" being the Greek for other, as in "allograft").