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go from 0 to A.E. Housman Piqued. Lessee, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Edward_Housman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Edward_Housman ... colleagues

by ableal 16y ago

go from 0 to A.E. Housman Piqued. Lessee, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Edward_Housman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Edward_Housman ... colleagues were unnerved by his scathing critical attacks ... they "were often savage in the extreme." Also, for other reasons: A fellow don described him as being "descended from a long line of maiden aunts".

telemachos 16y ago
Once upon a time, I was a Classics student, and even in the 1980s and 1990s, people still got a lot of mileage out of Housman stories and quotations. (He died in 1936.) Apparently, after he died, they found notebooks in his office that he had filled with long elaborate, witty, hurtful insults -- aimed at nobody in particular. When he wrote a review, he would tweak the pre-fab insults as needed and voila. A sick, twisted person, but fascinating. (If you're really curious, check out Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love.)
- ableal 16y ago
  Thanks for the pointer. I tried desultorily to get a (net-)look at the Gow text, but no dice. I'll have to leave it to some weekend/vacation time to chase sources. It's curious that the A.E.H. vinegar does not get wider circulation. My copy of Matthew Parris' Scorn only features a couple of harmless barbs (one the 'malt/Milton' line). There are some scraps over at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred_Edward_Housman http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred_Edward_Housman , and here http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n13/frank-kermode/nothing-for-ever-and-ever http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n13/frank-kermode/nothing-for-ever-... (Also, a passing appreciation by Chesterton, a guide I trust, here http://wikilivres.info/wiki/Autobiography_%28Chesterton%29/Chapter_XIII http://wikilivres.info/wiki/Autobiography_%28Chesterton%29/C...)
  - gursikh 16y ago
    "Nature, not content with denying to Mr — the faculty of thought, has endowed him with the faculty of writing." The name was left blank in the original, but was intended to be filled in and used when a suitable subject should turn up.

by ableal 16y ago

telemachos 16y ago

Once upon a time, I was a Classics student, and even in the 1980s and 1990s, people still got a lot of mileage out of Housman stories and quotations. (He died in 1936.) Apparently, after he died, they found notebooks in his office that he had filled with long elaborate, witty, hurtful insults -- aimed at nobody in particular. When he wrote a review, he would tweak the pre-fab insults as needed and voila. A sick, twisted person, but fascinating. (If you're really curious, check out Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love.)

ableal 16y ago
Thanks for the pointer. I tried desultorily to get a (net-)look at the Gow text, but no dice. I'll have to leave it to some weekend/vacation time to chase sources. It's curious that the A.E.H. vinegar does not get wider circulation. My copy of Matthew Parris' Scorn only features a couple of harmless barbs (one the 'malt/Milton' line). There are some scraps over at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred_Edward_Housman http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred_Edward_Housman , and here http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n13/frank-kermode/nothing-for-ever-and-ever http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n13/frank-kermode/nothing-for-ever-... (Also, a passing appreciation by Chesterton, a guide I trust, here http://wikilivres.info/wiki/Autobiography_%28Chesterton%29/Chapter_XIII http://wikilivres.info/wiki/Autobiography_%28Chesterton%29/C...)
- gursikh 16y ago
  "Nature, not content with denying to Mr — the faculty of thought, has endowed him with the faculty of writing." The name was left blank in the original, but was intended to be filled in and used when a suitable subject should turn up.