In The Year of Magical Thinking–a book on which I will write a bit more anon–Joan Didion quotes her late husband, John Gregory Dunne, as saying that having a notebook handy–to write down a thought, an idea, filed away for future reference and deployment–was the difference between being able to write and not. There is muchContinue reading “Paying Attention To The Muses’ Visits”
Author Archives: Samir Chopra
Naguib Mahfouz On Forgetting And Habit
In Naguib Mahfouz‘s Autumn Quail, Isa, the corrupt bureaucrat whose long, slow, and painful decline after a purge following the 1952 revolution in Egypt the novel tracks, brings back Riri, a woman of the night, to his home. The next day, He woke up about noon and looked with curiosity at the naked girl sleepingContinue reading “Naguib Mahfouz On Forgetting And Habit”
A Most Irritating Affectation
The most irritating affectation of the modern intellectual is to pretend to be technically incompetent. I exaggerate, of course, but I hope you catch my drift. Especially if you’ve encountered the specimen of humanity that I have in mind. (Mostly on social media, but often in person too.) The type is clearly identified: a clearlyContinue reading “A Most Irritating Affectation”
The Fall Of Norman (And Norma) Bates
We know the story of Norman Bates: Norman had been excessively dominated by his mother since childhood, and when she took a lover, he became insanely jealous that she had “replaced” him, then murdered his mother and her lover. Later, he developed a split personality to erase the crime of matricide from his memory andContinue reading “The Fall Of Norman (And Norma) Bates”
Book Release Announcement: Eye on Cricket: Reflections On The Great Game
I’m pleased to announce the release of my second book on on cricket–‘the game, not the animal, or the cartoon character’: Eye on Cricket: Reflections on the Great Game (HarperCollins, 2015; online sale point in India here). This brings together a collection of essays based on my blogging over at ESPN-Cricinfo–over the past six years.Continue reading “Book Release Announcement: Eye on Cricket: Reflections On The Great Game”
On Becoming Canadian
I’ve become Canadian. By that, I don’t mean that I’ve acquired Canadian citizenship, begun enjoying universal healthcare and ice hockey, started bragging about how much bigger Canadian grizzlies are than American ones or how much better Molson’s is than Miller’s. And so on. Rather, it’s just that I have become blasé about the cold weather that hasContinue reading “On Becoming Canadian”
A Bad Teaching Day
Yesterday, I had a bad teaching day. First, I was scattered and disorganized in my Twentieth Century Philosophy class; I repeated a great deal of material we had already covered; I offered only superficial explanations of some important portions of the assigned reading; I did not answer questions from students satisfactorily. (It was pretty clearContinue reading “A Bad Teaching Day”
Mary McCarthy On Henry Mulcahy’s Selfishness
In Mary McCarthy‘s The Groves of Academe, John Bentkoop, a faculty member at Jocelyn College, offers his take on his beleaguered colleague, Henry Mulcahy, who has set in motion schemes of varying deviousness in his bid to hang on to his precious position after receiving a dismissal notice from the college president: Hen has a remarkableContinue reading “Mary McCarthy On Henry Mulcahy’s Selfishness”
Of Therapy And Personal And Academic Anxieties
Reading some of the discussion sparked by Peter Railton’s Dewey Lecture has prompted me to write this post. In the fall of 1996, I began studying for my Ph.D qualifier exams. I had worked full-time at a non-academic job for the previous year, saving up some money so that I could take a month orContinue reading “Of Therapy And Personal And Academic Anxieties”
Steven Weinberg’s History Of Science Syllabus
A few years ago, on reading–perhaps in the New York Review of Books—Steven Weinberg mention his teaching an undergraduate history of science class at the University of Texas, I wrote to Weinberg: Professor Weinberg, […] I believe you teach a class on the history of science at UT-Austin. I would be very interested in perusing yourContinue reading “Steven Weinberg’s History Of Science Syllabus”
Samir Chopra 