Wednesday, August 05, 2009

More bizarre ...

... What If You Pull a Literary Hoax and Nobody Notices? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

What was the aim of the hoax? Readers? The editors of the journal. What was being satirized? Academic criticism? Wallace? DiLillo?

2 comments:

  1. If the literary-studies journal Modernism/Modernity wishes to be taken seriously (and perhaps the editors/publisher does not care about their reputations), then someone needs to step up and explain himself or herself. My students (based on my guidance) make an assumption that an article in a juried publication is somewhat credible, at least to the extent that it is not a post-modern, tongue-in-cheek joke perpetrated on the readers; the critical position in a legitimate article ought to be examined and criticized, but 99.9% of students (including graduate students) would never imagine they are being manipulated in the ways outlined in the article you have cited. Modernism/Modernity seriously undermines its credibility now and for a long time within academia because of such shenanigans. Of course, the mystery remains: Who was responsible? Why? What on earth were they thinking?

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  2. CORRECTION: The phrase "editors/publisher does not care" ought to read "editors and publisher do not care." I regret the error caused by haste.

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