December 16, 2005

How the Job Talk Can Do Its Job

To the Editor:

I was excited to read Cary Nelson's thoughtful piece about the pitfalls, and pratfalls, of the innocuous-seeming job talk that lurks like a black hole at the center of so many faculty searches ("Job-Talk Blues," The Chronicle Review, October 14).

I wish to register just one quibble: Rather than recommending a one-size-fits-all job "performance," as Nelson does, we might do better to encourage the chairmen of departments and search committees to communicate very