Tolkien wrote some of his finest literature under shell fire or in hospital during the Great War so my own excuses of writer's block and an atmosphere of tension unconducive to my way of thinking seem a bit spurious. Having said that, I am having some difficulty because I have written, so far, to three academics beseeching their help in compiling a bibliography for my project and not one of them has replied. Who knows, maybe they are indeed rather busy but it seems more likely that they dislike me personally and would see my little project run like a trickle of water into the sand. I have long been resolved to say something eternal about Tolkien because his work is the only subject on which I can pronounce authoritatively and it would be a terrible waste if the project were abandoned because certain people with their high policies thought so little of me.
That is, in a nutcase, the only real reason you have heard almost nothing from me recently.
In other news, His Royal Highness Prince Charles and his wife have been in Ireland this week. Shaking hands with Mr Adams, diplomatically referring to "these Islands" in a speech at the National University of Ireland, and other conciliatory gestures. I don't know; I despise Irish politics. Maybe that's because my family come from Ulster. See the map? My Irish family come from the county with the sectarian name.
UPDATE: More comments can be read
here.
Academics are professionals. To contact an academic out of the blue, without being enrolled anywhere, nor possessing mutual contacts or a letter of introduction, is like asking a plumber to help you fix a pipe for free. Did you offer payment for their consultancy? Anything in exchange for their 'help'? Do you even have a degree - some academic evidence that is worth them investing their time in creating something 'eternal'? (I do hope you did not use that word in your request!?) Sorry to be frank, but as an academic myself I would find such a request not only reeking of a delusion of grandeur, but not worth my time.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm sorry for not realising that people were so mercenary.
DeleteIt's called the real world. Preparing lectures, marking essays, doing your own research. And then a request to 'help' from someone you don't know and who has no qualifications. It's not a question of money, but simple prudence.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Gandalf's account of Gollum creeping up into the Misty Mountains...
DeleteI didn't ask anyone to set aside hours of their time to compile for me a detailed reading list with chapters, paragraphs and references. I simply asked for a few worthy authors. If someone wrote to me (and they have sometimes) and asked for the same, it would be no trouble to name a few journals and books. I wouldn't even need to look them up!
Of course, I am not qualified so perhaps they might be taken with a pinch of salt.
When you are overworked, even simple emails get ignored. Things get filtered. I speak from experience.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I should not have commented on your qualifications or motives. None of my business. My apologies.
Please, think nothing of it. So far as I can remember Evelyn Waugh left Oxford without a degree and he did all right for himself. A very different age, of course, and connexions meant more then than they do now. My grandmother worked in the costume department at the Royal Opera House for thirty years and her influence availed nothing to get me a job there. Having said that, the question of being qualified is a prickly question to-day. I know of many people with degrees who, a century ago, would not have been accepted to a reputable university, and it is taken for granted nowadays that people go through the sausage factory education system and come out somehow better equipped for the workplace, with a degree in media studies to boot. Is that really so? I suppose I have the distinction of having failed a Divinity degree; although I didn't fail academically; I was asked to leave.
DeleteI suppose by this "project" I am trying to obviate the feeling of disgrace at having no purpose or direction in life.
By the way, you will no doubt be relieved to know that I did not use the word "eternal" in any of my letters.
Believe me, Patricius, it usually isn't personal. I am an HR administrator at a famous university here in the UK, and I often have a hard time getting academics to respond to my emails---and that's for official business! Yet they always want a quick response when they want to know much sabbatical they've earned. They are busy with teaching, research, and an obscene amount of bureaucratic duties (committees, panels, workshops, boards, etc.), and they get too much email from people like me!
DeleteHowever, who knows. They might respond. Some are actually quite good about those things.
Yes, there are a few who respond to letters and e-mails. I am not paranoid, though. It is distinctly possible that two of the academics contacted dislike me personally. It's like the time last year when I went into St James' Spanish Place, someone approached me after the concert and asked if I was Patricius and, if so, what I was doing there.
Delete