It is true: my great-great grandfather studied with Alexander von Humboldt. He was born in 1816 or 1817, making him a close contemporary of Karl Marx. We know that he and Marx corresponded later, as the letters have been conserved, but it occurs to me that they may have met first as students. Humboldt was … More Alexander von Humboldt
The discussion started on Facebook and continued here. My postscript is that this is the currently official psychology for the masses. (I am told it is elitist to say one does not have a lumpen-mind, and I know there are many professors and intellectuals who do have lumpen-minds, but I do not.) In the 1990s … More Postscript on “positive psychology”
The theme of the 2016 MLA convention is Literature and Its Publics: Past, Present, and Future. In the meantime, I am told there are two types of academic worker: intellectual knowledge workers and educational service workers. This is my problem: I am supposed to be the former, but pressed to be the latter. It is all well … More The MLA, and a diagnosis, and some fascinating questions
I made a few comments elsewhere, that these are nice instructions for living but are not psychology. I wanted to say more, but it would not have been polite, as it was on the author’s sister’s Facebook page and she is a colleague. The author holds a chair and is famous and powerful, but his work is … More On being “positive”
Axé.
No hay tal yo de conjunto. Allende toda posibilidad de sentenciosa tahurería, he tocado con mi emoción ese desengaño en trance de separarme de un compañero. Retornaba yo a Buenos Aires y dejábale a él en Mallorca. Entrambos comprendimos que salvo en esa cercanía mentirosa o distinta que hay en las cartas, no nos encontraríamos … More Encore de la nadería
I saw this really beautiful Swedish film last night, As it is in Heaven, and now I see that there is a sequel in preparation, Så ok på jorden, to be released in the fall. In the meantime you should see Så som i himmelen which is, of course, quite Swedish. Axé.
Do not, as you introduce your job talk, say that your presentation is “part of a larger project” if the larger project to which you refer is a book of essays edited by someone other than you. Faculty, don’t “professionalize” your students by teaching them phrases like the one quoted above if you do not … More Advice to job candidates
The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering. I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. The last scud of day holds back for me, It flings my likeness after the rest and … More Barbaric Yawp
La atestiguación segunda la saco del tercer trozo de la Vida e historia de Torres Villarroel. Este sistematizador de Quevedo, docto en estrellería, dueño y señor de todas las palabras, avezado al manejo de las más gritonas figuras, quiso también definirse, y palpó su fundamental incongruencia; vio que era semejante a los otros, vale decir, … More Yet more nadería
coldhearted scientist وداد 