Old Email Archive

digest 1998-02-03 #001


11:25 PM 2/2/98 -0800
From: "Society for Literature & Science" 

Daily SLS Email Digest
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2 Feb 1998 14:17:43 -0800
From: "Wayne Miller" 
Subject: FWD: Bad Writing Contest!
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 20:13:25 +0000
Subject: The Bad Writing Contest!
CALL FOR ENTRIES.  Philosophy and Literature, a journal of the
Johns Hopkins University Press,  announces the fourth Bad Writing
Contest.  Please cross-post the following announcement on related
lists for humanities, culture theory, philosophy, social sciences,
criticism, editing, etc.
*******************
The Philosophy and Literature Bad Writing Contest
The challenge of the Bad Writing Contest is to come up with the
ugliest, most stylistically awful single sentence (or two) from a
published scholarly book or article.  Ordinary journalism, fiction,
etc. not allowed, nor is translation from other languages into
English. Entries must be non-ironic, from actual serious academic
journals or books--parodies cannot be admitted in a field where
unintentional self-parody is so rampant.  Winning entries will be
checked by our researchers before prizes are awarded.
Judging will be by editorial staff of Philosophy and Literature.
Finder of the winning sentence will have first choice from a list of
splendid new books in history, philosophy, and the humanities. The
second-place winner will have second choice, and so on.  We are
certain winners will be pleased with the selection.  We expect the
award of six prizes. If necessary, there will be a seventh prize (a
book by Jacques Lacan) and eighth prize (the complete works of Jacques
Lacan).  Multiple entries are welcome.  Entries also accepted by fax
and normal post.
We've fine prizes for this fourth contest, so join the fun! Please use
the subject heading "Bad writing entry" and copy the
quotation, along
with bibliographic details, directly to Denis Dutton, editor of
Philosophy and Literature.  The address:
constant.force@clear.net.nz
Contest deadline (new): 31 July 1998.
**********************
Anyone may join Philosophy and Literature's Internet discussion
group, PHIL-LIT,  by sending the message
SUBSCRIBE PHIL-LIT Your Name
to: LISTSERV@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU
**********************
Dr. Denis Dutton
Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy of Art
Editor, Philosophy and Literature
University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
telephone: 643-366-7001, ext. 8154
fax: 643-364-2858
email:constant.force@clear.net.nz
http://calliope.jhu.edu/journals/philosophy_and_literature/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2 Feb 1998 15:12:01 -0800
From: Matt Kirschenbaum 
Subject: Re: FWD: Bad Writing Contest!
Far be it from me to spoil anyone's fun, but I should point out
(and doubtless many will already be aware of the controversies
surrounding this in past years) that those hauled up for one of
the "Bad Writing" awards are invariably doing
theoretically-intensive work in gender studies, postcolonial
studies, queer studies, Marxist or high pomo theory (Fredric
Jameson is a past recipient).
So with the yucks comes an agenda of sorts, especially given
the publicity that Philosophy and Literature's editors succeed
in generating; the "winning" entries in the contest are duly
distributed to the academic and mainstream press where they are
often run in the same key as the traditional recounting of
outrageous session titles from MLA.
This should not be taken as an inflammatory riposte to Wayne
Miller or anyone else, but I do think these issues have some
particular urgency for SLS, given the organization's concern
with commuicating across disciplinary boundaries.
Instituionalizing (as the Phil. Lit. editors have done) the
censure of _any_ critical writing practice, even arguably
"bad"
instances of it, strikes me as (at best) a misguided exercise.
Matt
>
> Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 20:13:25 +0000
> Subject: The Bad Writing Contest!
>
> CALL FOR ENTRIES.  Philosophy and Literature, a journal of the
> Johns Hopkins University Press,  announces the fourth Bad Writing
> Contest.  Please cross-post the following announcement on related
> lists for humanities, culture theory, philosophy, social sciences,
> criticism, editing, etc.
>
> *******************
>
> The Philosophy and Literature Bad Writing Contest
>
> The challenge of the Bad Writing Contest is to come up with the
> ugliest, most stylistically awful single sentence (or two) from a
> published scholarly book or article.  Ordinary journalism,
fiction,
> etc. not allowed, nor is translation from other languages into
> English. Entries must be non-ironic, from actual serious academic
> journals or books--parodies cannot be admitted in a field where
> unintentional self-parody is so rampant.  Winning entries will be
> checked by our researchers before prizes are awarded.
>
> Judging will be by editorial staff of Philosophy and Literature.
> Finder of the winning sentence will have first choice from a list
of
> splendid new books in history, philosophy, and the humanities. The
> second-place winner will have second choice, and so on.  We are
> certain winners will be pleased with the selection.  We expect the
> award of six prizes. If necessary, there will be a seventh prize
(a
> book by Jacques Lacan) and eighth prize (the complete works of
Jacques
> Lacan).  Multiple entries are welcome.  Entries also accepted by
fax
> and normal post.
>
> We've fine prizes for this fourth contest, so join the fun! Please
use
> the subject heading "Bad writing entry" and copy the
quotation, along
> with bibliographic details, directly to Denis Dutton, editor of
> Philosophy and Literature.  The address:
>
> constant.force@clear.net.nz
>
> Contest deadline (new): 31 July 1998.
>
> **********************
>
> Anyone may join Philosophy and Literature's Internet discussion
> group, PHIL-LIT,  by sending the message
>
> SUBSCRIBE PHIL-LIT Your Name
>
> to: LISTSERV@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU
>
> **********************
>
> Dr. Denis Dutton
> Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy of Art
> Editor, Philosophy and Literature
> University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
> telephone: 643-366-7001, ext. 8154
> fax: 643-364-2858
> email:constant.force@clear.net.nz
> http://calliope.jhu.edu/journals/philosophy_and_literature/
>
>
===================================================================
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum                    University of Virginia
mgk3k@virginia.edu or mattk@virginia.edu   Department of English
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/~mgk3k/       The Blake Archive | IATH
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2 Feb 1998 18:08:46 -0800
From: Joseph Duemer 
Subject: Re: FWD: Bad Writing Contest!
The problem is that Wayne Miller uses one aesthetic frame of reference
to judge work produced in another, and does so without attempting to
understand the poetics of his targets. The undertaking is
intellectually
dishonest, and his competition is a conservative attack on textual
practices meant to disrupt the ordinary workings of custom, prejudice,
and power. Not that there isn't some turgid theoretical writing, there
is. But had I the time and patience tonight I could produce for you
sentences from Locke or Hume every bit as "bad" as those
identified by
Miller's competition. I'm a poet and I care deeply about language,
which
means I can smell low politics even when it is disguised as a form of
high-minded humor. You want really comic treatment of pomposity? Try
reading Alan Ginsberg, or listen to him sing his late songs. If this be
considered an "inflammatory riposte," that's fine with me.
=======================
Joseph Duemer
School of Liberal Arts
Clarkson University
Potsdam NY 13699-5750
315-262-2466
Fax: 315-268-3983
duemer@polaris.clarkson.edu
http://web.northnet.org/duemer
=======================
"We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric,
but out of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry."
--Yeats
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2 Feb 1998 21:57:20 -0800
From: "Clyde McConnell" 
Subject: Bad Writing Contest
RE: Bad Writing Contest
According to Joseph Deumer:
(a) being a poet + (b) caring deeply about language = ability to
smell low politics even when it is disguised as a form of
high-minded humor....
Are these _necessary_ or _sufficient_ conditions, or necessary
and sufficient?
C. S. McConnell
Department of Art
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta