tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post6402198064795687267..comments2024-03-28T05:13:13.921-04:00Comments on Books, Inq. — The Epilogue: Bizarre ...Frank Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-947813833611233772009-03-08T10:01:00.000-04:002009-03-08T10:01:00.000-04:00So Sven is farther behind than I thought. He has s...So Sven is farther behind than I thought. He has still to catch up with the Middle Ages. As for my remark, R.T., take it, it's yours!Frank Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-40547456369403064812009-03-08T03:28:00.000-04:002009-03-08T03:28:00.000-04:00"You've chosen the right word in "reactionary," Fr..."You've chosen the right word in "reactionary," Frank, but comments like the one you cite also suggest someone who hasn't thought seriously about the conditions under which texts survive across time. When medievalists read a given text, often they don't know who wrote it; its historical context is frequently debatable; they're unlikely to be reading it in its original form, i.e., on vellum folios; and the version that survives may be decades or even centuries older than any copy the original author saw or touched. <BR/><BR/>Often derided as stodgy or conservative, medievalists and classicists have been way ahead of other literary types in embracing new technology and in having the conceptual framework to understand texts "fragmented into retrievable bits of information." The author of that piece means well, but he's blinded by his own modern cultural prejudices regarding authors and books.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-71734360380783642442009-03-07T16:13:00.000-05:002009-03-07T16:13:00.000-05:00Also in an Atlantic "Dispatch," Matthew Battle, a ...Also in an Atlantic "Dispatch," Matthew Battle, a librarian, writes <A HREF="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200903u/amazon-kindle-2" REL="nofollow">In Defense of the Kindle</A>.Dave Lullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01053227199985293516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-53747751950742690532009-03-07T16:10:00.000-05:002009-03-07T16:10:00.000-05:00(Another typographical error forces me to include ...(Another typographical error forces me to include a corrected posting, so I apologize for cluttering your mailbox and blog with my poor keyboarding.)<BR/>You said: "Better a lousy explication of your own than somebody else's, however brilliant." I must warn you now that I am intent upon stealing that advisory statement and using it on students in the future (though I will give proper attribution). Please do not think poorly of me for being such a bold-faced thief. In any event, with respect to the effectiveness of that advice to students, I do not know if it will make a difference? Time will tell.R/Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791522136032565027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-19267996738130247972009-03-07T16:07:00.000-05:002009-03-07T16:07:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.R/Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791522136032565027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-25670047937056555052009-03-07T15:59:00.000-05:002009-03-07T15:59:00.000-05:00Two different issues, I think. Birkerts seem to be...Two different issues, I think. Birkerts seem to be complaining simply because of the ease of finding some information via technology. And I am quite happy to look something up at the computer without having to get up from what I am doing, find a particular volume and look something up that way.<BR/>That said, Google ought never to be a substitute for your own reading and thinking, which is what students are supposed to be learning. In my day, they would look interpretations up in books. Today Google speeds the process for them. If caught either way they deserve that reservation in Dante's lower depths. Better a lousy explication of your own than somebody else's, however brilliant.Frank Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-285697419049471732009-03-07T15:45:00.000-05:002009-03-07T15:45:00.000-05:00CORRECTED COMMENTS: Somewhere in your intriguing b...CORRECTED COMMENTS: Somewhere in your intriguing blog entry I detect a not-so-happy commentary on Google. I confess to being seduced by the convenience of Google, but I remain disturbed about its artificially authoritative usurpation of more traditional means of inquiry. I urge (without success) that students in my literature classes avoid Google when doing their reading and studying, unless they wish to be consigned to one of Dante's lower rings, Nevertheless, it never fails that students in a classroom discussion will boldly offer what they think is their singular analyses of a poem, but--when pressed on the matter--they wind up confessing that Google was the source for their insight. I close with this rhetorical question as my reaction to Google (and Blackberry): What on earth is happening to intellectual curiosity and the thrill of reading and discovery?R/Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791522136032565027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-28226987466333294732009-03-07T15:42:00.000-05:002009-03-07T15:42:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.R/Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791522136032565027noreply@blogger.com