Category Archives: English

Departments on the Defensive

From the New York Review: * Academic criticism can thus be regarded as an innovation of the 1920s, like the lie detector, water skiing, the timed traffic light, and the bread slicer. * the pitched battles over curriculum and methodology … Continue reading

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Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne

Here are some highlights from this 2022 book by Katherine Rundell: * The power of John Donne’s words nearly killed a man. It was the late spring of 1623, on the morning of Ascension Day, and Donne had finally secured … Continue reading

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Conflict in the Academy: A Study in the Sociology of Intellectuals (2015)

Review: “In late 1980, an apparently minor dispute at Cambridge University became headline news. The question was whether or not the young lecturer Colin MacCabe – whose work was heavily influenced by recent developments in structuralist and post-structuralist theory – … Continue reading

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Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies: New Zealand and the United States

Here are some highlights from this 2012 book by David Hackett Fischer: * When one compares these many accounts, one notices that the same language of description tends to occur. Karl Popper described New Zealanders as “decent, friendly and well-disposed.” … Continue reading

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Paul Johnson’s A History Of The English People

In his prologue to the 1980 edition, Johnson wrote: * A third objection to this book is that, in its exclusive preoccupation with the English, or rather with the peoples who have occupied the land we call England, it presupposes … Continue reading

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