|
I, like everybody else, have a crush on David Gergen. I, like everybody else, have a crush on Fareed Zakaria, even if he doesn’t sport an eloquent swirl of comb-over. There is something so soothing these days about intelligence that is not afraid to speak its name, softly, modestly, openly. Even on TV.
Now, I also have a new crush, and so should you, on Justin E.H. Smith. He is not, alas, on TV. He is a professor of philosophy and a philosopher who also happens to write for 3quarksdaily, which is how I came across him. He is also a master of parody, by which I mean his work, in its own rareified way, reminds me of Veronica Geng at her best, the highest humorist compliment that can be paid. This sentence alone, from a post called “Divers Quaeries,” originally posted in 3quarksdaily, won my heart forever:
Hi-ho, to all those expert in the arcana of Finno-Ugric inflection: Won’t you kindly let us know how the vocative case is faring in Samoyed?
click here! and enjoy…
|
|
I have been teaching a creative writing class at Barnard, and the students are surprisingly good. I’ve read a lot of really good stuff. But I must admit that one of my favorite bits of prose is this sign that hangs in every bathroom in Barnard Hall. If this sign was in every restaurant instead of those dreary threatening ones about the health department and what it is always nagging us about, I think there would be a lot more delicious hand washing and a many fewer colds.
|
