Below is the brief correspondance I had with Epstein. Note how predictable Epstein is. Give him a compliment, and he is gracious. But dare criticize him, and he enrages. "Epstein has a cult following as a sharp-tongued literary critic and stylist," notes Michael Johnson in his hagiographical review. Well, someone with a sharp tongue ought to have a little backbone, especially in case of a fall from the ole high horse. People seem to gravitate to fakes and charlatans. Look at how many have gravitated to Obama.
Date:
|
Sun,
22 Jun 2008 06:51:51 -0700 (PDT)
|
From:
|
"George
Slone"
|
Subject:
|
Great
essay!
|
To:
|
j-epstein@northwestern.edu
|
Dear Joe,
That was a great essay you
wrote on Honorary Degrees! Thanks much for it. It was bold, honest,
and quite dissident.
From:
|
"joseph
epstein"
|
Subject:
|
Re:
Great essay!
|
Date:
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Sun,
22 Jun 2008 09:10:07 -0500
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To:
|
"George
Slone"
|
Dear Mr. Slone
Many thanks
for these kind and generous words.
Best wishes, Joseph
Epsten
Date:
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Sun,
22 Jun 2008 08:55:14 -0700 (PDT)
|
From:
|
"George
Slone"
|
Subject:
|
Re:
Great essay!
|
To:
|
"joseph
epstein"
|
The fellow actually responded! Ah, well, that's because I
sent a compliment. I'm an informal fellow, so I meant no disrespect
whatsoever by calling you "Joe." That said, I've just read yet
another of your essays. It is unusual, to say the least, for an academic
to write negatively on academe. So, kudos again. Maya Angelou, how interesting! She's a trustee at
Bennett College where
I used to teach. BTW, I am an ardent and outspoken critic of
academe. It is academe that sparked my creating a literary journal.
Below is one of my many academic poems based on factual occurrence. Now,
you need to write an essay on the academic poem! I liked the one you
wrote on the academic novel... very much! No need at all to comment or
reply. I want nothing whatsoever from you. I shall be quoting
you!
Submission
to the Pulitzer Prize Committee for Poetry
Thematic: Higher Education
University
Office Corridor
Ah, another minor dispute in
the
corridor
—my little pleasure for the day—
the Spanish professor bitching
with the department
coordinator,
wanting to know why red pens
were not purchased with the new
department budget monies
I’d just received my paltry
pile:
a brand new grade book
—the Coord hates my using
the registrar’s print-out
rosters—,
a pile of outdated floppies,
and some black magic markers,
the erasable kind employed
to write up a storm on the
board
in a last-ditch effort to
mesmerize
“I DON’T NEED THESE BLACK
DISKS EITHER!
I TOLD YOU I NEEDED RED
PENS!”
“ But Dr.
Abella, they only cost ten
for 99 cents!
You know the Dean would never
approve of such a small
purchase!”
From:
|
|
Subject:
|
Re:
Great essay!
|
Date:
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Sun,
22 Jun 2008 11:28:24 -0500
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To:
|
"George
Slone"
|
Briefly to set the record straight: I stopped teaching five
years ago. I have no advanced degrees; I began teaching in my middle-thirties.
I had some good students, and took my teaching responsibilities seriously, but
always thought of myself as primarily a writer and only secondarily a teacher.
I never had tenure during my thirty years at Northwestern; nor did I want it.
I have never had any great regard for academics, at least not on the
humanities and social science side, and in recent decades I have come to view
most of them as essentially comic characters, lunatics of one bad idea or
another, puffed up by their own unearned self-esteem.
Your poem brought on a smile of
recognition.
JE
Date:
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Sun,
22 Jun 2008 09:47:02 -0700 (PDT)
|
From:
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"George
Slone"
|
Subject:
|
Re:
Great essay!
|
To:
|
"joseph
epstein"
|
Well, I’ve been in and out of the game for about 20 years now (6
years at two French universities, 4 years at two southern HBCUs, 5 at a
northern state college, 3 at a northern private college, 4 months on two US
navy destroyers)… and must agree with you entirely. Brilliant
observations: “The spirit of capitalism, for all that might be said on
its behalf, wreaks havoc when applied to culture and education.” “Universities
attract people who are good at school. Being good at school takes a real enough
but very small talent.” Thank you for stating them! I’ve just
ordered your cardboard book from the public library.
BTW, I used to try to get
published in the American Scholar, but have given up. It seems the
journal prefers highbrow tonality to straightforward critique. Your
writing tends to be replete with quips, while mine devoid of them. But
one must remain flexible in mind. Hell, how can I restrict myself to
those who only write like me?
The literary milieu, which
tends to be intricately entwined with the academic milieu, tends to be as
tragicomical as the academic milieu. You might get a “charge” out of a
censorship incident regarding the Academy
of American Poets (National Poetry Month sponsors). See www.theamericandissident.org/AcademyAmericanPoets.htm.
You might also get a “charge”
from some of the responses I’ve received over the years from academics and
literati. They form part of a long essay I published (see www.theamericandissident.org/ColdPassion.htm). You’ll
note that I’m also a cartoonist.
These things said, please do not feel obligated to respond. Your essays
made my morning!
Date:
|
Mon,
30 Jun 2008 09:46:23 -0700 (PDT)
|
From:
|
"George
Slone"
|
Subject:
|
Your
book
|
To:
|
j-epstein@northwestern.edu
|
JE:
Waded
through your book (i.e., cardboard). It would have been much more
interesting if you had published an honest critique on Poetry magazine and the
Poetry Foundation, which refuses, by the way, to list The American Dissident on
its site next to other poetry journals. (BTW, the Academy of American Poets
censored me permanently from participating in its forums.) “Heterodoxy
is one of the things serious poetry is, or at least ought to be, about,” you
state. Well, shouldn’t it also be one of the things serious essay writing
is?
Writing
that actually bites the hand that feeds (e.g., risks something on the part of
the writer) is and will be the most powerful writing. Compare, for
example, your essay “Thank you, No” [published in Poetry] to Sinclair Lewis’ “Letter to the Pulitzer Prize
Committee.” Compare Mandelstam’s “Staline” or Villon’s “Estoit-il lors
temps de moy taire?” or Saro Wiwa’s “The True Prison” or Levi’s “Se questo e un
uomo” with any poems written by our American poets frequently pushed in Poetry
magazine.
Essays
failing to risk anything tend to become a dime a high-brow dozen in American
letters, the kind Poetry and New Yorker will eagerly publish because of name
recognition and high-brow tonality. Naming names is great for quality control.
You did that RE Bloom, and I commend you for it. You could have also done
that with Poetry mag. Rather than sit comfortably at Northwestern now
that you're retired why not hammer away at that place. Surely, it must be
intrinsically corrupt. Or are you hoping for a graduation ceremony
gig? What does emeritus tend to mean, if not didn't make waves, didn't go
against the academic grain, and never rocked the Northwestern boat?
From:
|
"joseph
epstein"
|
Subject:
|
Re:
Your book
|
Date:
|
Mon,
30 Jun 2008 12:07:32 -0500
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To:
|
"George
Slone"
|
Dear Mr Slone,
I regret that you
wrote this e-mail, based on such minimal knowledge of me and my writing. I hope
some day that you will, too.
Joseph Epstein
Date:
|
Tue,
1 Jul 2008 12:48:56 -0700 (PDT)
|
From:
|
"George
Slone"
|
Subject:
|
Emeritus
or poet laureate, what difference, especially in the Humanities?
|
To:
|
"joseph
epstein"
|
Dear Joseph Epstein, Emeritus Instructor, Northwestern University:
Please be assured I was not trying to make you feel bad or otherwise insult you
per se, but rather simply trying to point out a gross inconsistency vis-a-vis
the poet laureate and emeritus designations. When I wrote to mention I
enjoyed your article, that was truth.
“As a man who has published a
single poem, my own position is that I would like to be asked to be poet
laureate of the United States so that I could refuse it, for this seems to me a
job that would bring much greater glory to turn down than to take up,” you
rightly state.
Why, however, should the same not
be equally stated regarding the emeritus designation? Imagine if you had
stood up and rejected it… like Sinclair Lewis had
rejected the Pulitzer? Now, that would have made news. Are you
aware of any professors who have ever rejected it? I’m not.
“I think it fair to say that one
of the first qualifications of an American poet laureate is that he not in any
way be dangerous,” you rightly state again.
Well, all I did was affirm that the
first qualification of an emeritus is normally that he not in any way be
dangerous either… at least not to the institution employing him. In
fact, he might also be tempted to turn a blind eye or even lie for that
institution. Yes, I know several emeriti who have done that with my
regard. Of course, I’m not at all implying that you would do that.
Over the years, I’ve observed
those employed or otherwise fed by the academic/literay, established-order
milieu committing similar inconsistencies and breaches in logic. Quite frankly,
I think I caught you in a gross contradiction, one that your indignant response
sparked me to perceive. In other words, I hadn’t even thought about it
prior to your last email. It probably merits a cartoon.
Finally, I have noted your full
indifference regarding my comment that the Academy of American Poets censored
me and banned me from participating in its online forums. That
indifference I have also commonly observed over the years by those of the
academic/literay established-order milieu.
