Category Archives: Uncategorized

Naming Names

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Francois Lachance

It was upon a second reading of Mark Merlis American Studies that it struck me that a key chapter is built upon a structure of “naming names” which is of course in keeping with the theme of the book which … Continue reading →

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Reputation Rich Cash Poor

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Francois Lachance

Under the sign of Petronius, the arbiter of taste, we place this quotation for your delectation: Places like the Waldorf [New York] or Drake [Chicago], even though they’re desired by wealthier people, tend never to appear on the Top 10 … Continue reading →

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History Through Hockey

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Francois Lachance

It is with hard-earned composure that the hero of the story tells his story in the proper setting where there is comfort and the memories of a well-loved game. We settled for sitting in the stands while the rink man … Continue reading →

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Didactic Dragon

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Francois Lachance

John Gardner describes an encounter between Grendel and a dragon which provides the occasion for an exquisite disquisition. After another long pause, he said: “Approach it this way. Let us take this jug.” He picked up a golden vessel and … Continue reading →

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Tardy Acknowledgements

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Francois Lachance

Apologies all around through missives to a mutual friend… Please pass along my apologies to X for invading her head space…. in any event I could have turned around to see if she did a double take… she did seem … Continue reading →

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Glass Bead Game – American Style

Posted on February 19, 2010 by Francois Lachance

Ivanhoe IVANHOE is a pedagogical environment for interpreting textual and other cultural materials. It is designed to foster critical awareness of the methods and perspectives through which we understand and study humanities documents. An online collaborative playspace, IVANHOE exposes the … Continue reading →

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Fit Wit

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Francois Lachance

In the last century, we were treated to an intriguing practice. Interrogation of how academic discourse would be inflected. See Gregory Ulmer Teletheory: Gramatology in the Age of Video Teletheory is concerned with discovering and inventing the kind of thinking … Continue reading →

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Anthropomorphic Fantasia

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Francois Lachance

It is the sheer extravagance of this passage from the insect chapter where Alexandra Horowitz in her On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes captures the imagination and catapults the reader into what amounts to a world of wondrous activity. … Continue reading →

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Roughing It

Posted on February 13, 2010 by Francois Lachance

Terry Eagleton. Saints and Scholars. A eureka moment for the character Wittgenstein. Notable for the physicality with which it is described. Then one day a friend took his photograph on the steps of Senate House and Wittgenstein asked him where … Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Diogenes

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Francois Lachance

Vanessa Place. The Discourse of the Slave (BookThug, 2010). At one point in this essay there is a conflation of teller (Diogenes Laertius) and told (Diogenes the Cynic). For some reason they are listed as different appellations of the same … Continue reading →

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