Category Archives: I'm too lazy to go to the library

August 10, 2009, 5:39 pm

A Portrait of the Scholar as a Young Procrastinator

Today I:

1. Thought of Aristotle’s failure to succeed Plato at the Academy in terms of a proto-tenure-denial, which makes the founding of the Lyceum a totally sweet vindication.

2. Reflected further that if Aristotle didn’t get tenure, it was probably due to teaching and not scholarship (“Outside letters compared his writing to rivers of gold.”) Pondered what his evaluations must have been like (“Paces too much during lecture.”)

3. Recalled, while reading Plato, a theory expounded by one of my undergraduate professors that, according to some scholars of ancient philosophy, Plato’s dialogues were originally intended to be performed. This theory permits the interpretation of some parts of Plato as addressing the audience directly, and allows bits of dialogue to be taken as asides to the audience, or read as intended primarily for humorous effect rather than philosophical value…

August 10, 2009, 1:01 am

Native American history bleg

By Ari Kelman

Does anyone know of good sources on Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee? Or on Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor? I’m especially keen to find work that considers these books as part of broader reform movements. Oh, and if you’ve read anything especially interesting about the National Museum of the American Indian, I’ve love to hear about that as well. Thanks for your help.