Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Russell Weaver's stories about me are another matter

The anecdote I just posted about a student drunk-dialing me is amusing. I am rather more baffled by Russell Weaver in his new book on BILLY BUDD. I have marked a dozen passages where the language is twisted so as not to be obviously grudging. This is from memory, but it will let you know the genre: "This is not to obviate what Parker says." I see that my first name is misspelled in Works Cited and that Yannella's last name is misspelled. I cringe. The elderly and the dead deserve more respect. I can't read Weaver until we are done with the final Northwestern-Newberry volume, but it is proving curious to turn through. I see that Weaver knows me better than I know myself, for he frequently says what I must think and what I would have thought. Well, no, no, not really.
Back to the Historical Note to the final volume.

No comments:

Post a Comment