What Killed American Lit.

wsj ^ | aug 27-28, 2011 | joseph epstein

[ken21]

severed from tradition and reali life, literature as it is taught in universities is strictly an intramural game.

[Cronos]

I'll take your German and put in Polish which has all 7 cases! Nominative, Accusative, Genitive, Locative, Dative, Instrumental and Vocative with different endings for the nouns!

So, dog = "pies" in Polish and bottle = "butelka", but if I want to say

This is a good dog, this is a good bottle, I say "To jest dobry pies, to jest dobra butelka"

But, if I want to say "In the room is a good dog and good bottle", I say "W pokóju jest dobrego psa i dobrą butelkę" --> Accusative, pies becomes psa and butelka becomes butelkę

Now, if I want to say "I have a good dog. I have a good bottle" it is "Mam dobrego psa i dobrej butelki" --> Genitive pies becomes psa and butelka becomes butelki

then "I think of a good dog and good bottle" is "Myślę o dobrym psie i dobrej butelce" --> Locative, pies becomes psie, butelka becomes butelce

Then "Thanks to the good dog and good bottle" is "Dzięki dobremu psowi i dobrej butelce" -> Dativa

"I am with the good dog and good bottle" = "Jestem z dobrym psem i dobrą butelką" -> Instrumental

Vocative is only used for expressions of "To Mr. ...." etc.

[miss marmelstein]

It’s just a matter of taste, that’s all. I LOVE “A Moveable Feast.” The book that send me to Paris. But the Nick Adams stories - magnificent.

[Jeff Head]

Yes, I am still around. Reports of my death have been (I cannot say greatly) exagerated.

For whatever reason, through some of the most difficult suregery, recovery and rehab I could have imagined, the good Lord chose to prolong my days. Thanks in large part no doubt,, to the faith and prayers of so many.

Thanks for the kind workds about my book series. It was self published and still sells fairly well to this day. Most recently I have gotten it out on the various e-reader formats.

Anyhow, again thanks. I have my next checkup down in Houston in two weeks where they do MRIs, CT Scans, blood tests, etc., etc. to ensure that what they did continues to hold and that the cancer has not returned.

I'm grateful to be alive, to be able to see new grandchildren born to my own children, to interact with and be an example to them, to witness for my God and Savior, Jesus Christ, to be in the company of my wonderful wife, and to be able to continue to try and be involved to whatever degree in this monumental battle for our liberty, our Republic, and our way of life.

[Palladin]

Good luck with your checkup in Houston, and congrats on the new grands.

I have two new grands and a new great-grand, and am so grateful the Lord sees fit to keep me around.

I’m not as strong a witness as you, but I try, with guys like you as role models.

God Bless!

[Coleus]

.

[Little Bill]

Cronos, my FRiend, the WOGs start at Calais, to paraphrase my Gramps, who leaned that in WW1.

[Tax-chick]

... men and women who wrote books of general intellectual interest and had names known outside the academy—Perry Miller, Aileen Ward, Walter Jackson Bate, Marjorie Hope Nicolson, Joseph Wood Krutch, Lionel Trilling, one could name a dozen or so others

Bwahahahaha! I've heard of Lionel Trilling, although the only works of his I have read are some collected essays.

And I come from generations of readers and collectors. None of these writers was on the shelf in my parents' or grandparents' houses.

[Anoreth]

I have no idea who any of those people are. But I do have the midde part of John Locke's An Essay on Human Understanding, which is absolutely fascinating. The other two parts are out of print, so I have to hope I run into them at another used bookstore one day.

[Tax-chick]

Try alibris.com or another online used book retailer. Lionel Trilling wrote snooty Yankeefied novels, which I haven’t read, and snarky Yankeefied essays, of which I’ve read some. Good vocabulary.

[Revolting cat!]

The last three almost correct, all others incorrect.

[x]

Criticism is an extractive industry, like mining. Veins get played out and it gets hard to find new ones.

Academia expanded so much in the 20th century that most of the scholars have nothing much to say, whatever approach they take to literature.

So sure, most of the race-gender-class-sexualorientation stuff is worthless. After a certain point, though, even a more worthy approach ceases to produce anything worthwhile.

Something similar happens in the the creation of literature. Tens or hundreds of thousands of MFAs who've all had the same background and experience, who haven't strayed far off the academic path aren't likely to produce much of value. Quantity crowds out quality.

[ken21]

ain’t that the truth!

everything you say i believe.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

And I come from generations of readers and collectors. None of these writers was on the shelf in my parents' or grandparents' houses

Oh thank goodness! I was reading through the list and going "Who? Who?" so often that hubby asked me if I wanted a mouse.

[Cronos]

the WOGs start at

well, of course the English said that about the Scots and Irish and Welsh too!

I think French is a good language to learn as a starter 2nd langue -- it's not as easy as English or Spanish to start, but at mid-range it is easy enough.

[Tax-chick]

It appears there’s a cultural divide between the author - mainstream though he imagines himself to be - and the more general American reader.

[Lady Lucky]

As a writer most of us fundamentally know one thing.

Most of us know some fundamental grammar rules.

[GOP Poet]

yeah usually our copy editors. lol. i always get a kick out of the jerks that have to be copy editors because they aren’t really creative because their anal side won’t let them. they generally take it out on the true creatives because they are jealous. truth is we know and laugh our asses off at the poor souls. let ‘em correct our copy. they have to get paid somehow.

[Lady Lucky]

I’m just grateful you’re not a tattoo artist.

[GOP Poet]

jealousy is unbecoming. :)