Normally, I complain about the ubiquitous misuse of the term “deconstruction.” I find that, more often than not, when people say “deconstruction” they actually mean “destruction,” but they also want to show that they went to college. (See the “deconstructed” fashions hyped on Project Runway, for example, which are just ensembles of shredded or otherwise…
Read MoreIn Eduardo Mendieta’s recent review of Nicholas Adams’ philosophical text Habermas and Theology, Mendieta begins with the following: “Adjoining two nouns in the title of a book is like writing a blank check to “cash.” One better know who is receiving the check and one better make sure to have sufficient funds when it gets…
Read MoreIn the recent film “The Prestige” (based on the Christopher Priest novel of the same name), the narrator explains the structure of a standard magic trick. Every illusion, we are told, has three parts: First, there is the setup, or the “pledge,” in which the magician shows us something that appears ordinary but is probably…
Read MoreFor those of you who have been following my trials and tribulations with finishing the last stages of the PhD, I am happy to announce that I have finally defeated my arch-nemesis, the Logic Exam. Yeah, that’s right, the sun even shines on a lame dog sometimes. Only one last (big) hoop to jump through…
Read MoreI was eager to read the “10 Questions About the Future of the Humanities in America” posed by Thomas Mallon in the current issue of The American Scholar. Then, alas, I actually read them. If you haven’t already seen them, here they are: ——————- 1. How can American professors learn to write about literature in…
Read MoreI want to give kudos to a friend of mine, Alex Stehn, for being such a fantastic teacher. He was telling me the other day about his desire to teach a class on Christianity and Marxism–a really fantastic proposition in my view–and it got us talking about the way many of our students think about…
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