March 9, 2007

Trading Up With Gilgamesh

By DAVID DAMROSCH

The American public has a deeply ambivalent attitude toward scholarship. Parents are eager to have their children taught by leading scholars but are often bemused by what the scholars actually do, particularly in their work outside the classroom. Regularly mocked as purveyors of arcane topics in clotted prose, professors often display a reciprocal ambivalence toward the general public. To call a young colleague's work "rather ... journalistic" is to signal a negative vote on tenure. As much

Digital or Print Subscription

Web Pass

Already have an account? Log In Now.