COLUMBIA THEMES 14 PHILOSOPHY Et: Akee ira Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy, Columbia Unversity EDWARD W. SAID ‘Columbia Themes in Philosophy is new series with a broad and accommodating thematic reich as well as an ecumenical approach to the outdated disjunction between analytical and ‘European philosophy. Ie is committed to an examination of key themes in new and sarding ways and to the exploration ‘of new topics in philosophy, Michael Dummett, Tuth and the Past HUMANISM AND DEMOCRATIC CRITICISMJected, putative, or implied sense of the whole? Its that pos silty which I should like to treatin my next chapeer Reterences ‘Appr Aju, Mode tLe: Crain of Clb- ‘eon Mineapti: Unive of Minnesot res 198 ‘Cai ComtaneP Wang forthe Baran In Bx i oud Chane Them The Compete Poof Canoe ang Tas Theoharis Conancine Theoharis, New Yor Harcourt Frye Non. The Ansty of iio, rinceto: Pine Univers Pes ys Saunders Frances Sonor No Pi te Per? The CIA and te snl Cl onda: Gr, wanton Gaur Meo Comp Ley Stal nd Bh Ran ind New ik: Cambla Univesity Pe 189 ‘Wales, Immanuel “Earocenram ands Avan” Nev La Renee st November December an) 91- 17 THE RETURN TO PHILOLOGY ‘wi.oLoGy 1s JUST ABOUT THE LEAST WITHLT, LEAST SEXY, and most unmodern of any ofthe branches of learning 250- sited with umn, an iis the last ky tocar up in lscusions abou humanism relevance to life at the bewi~ ning ofthe ewentyfirse century. But ta rather discouraging though shall have tos for awhile as ry t0 move iso my subject with my head held high and hope, your endarance strong [suppose that it would help lower resitance to the otherwise perhaps unattractive idea of philology 22 sty antiquarian dipline o beyin by mentioning that pethaps the most radial and ineectally audacious ofall Western thinkers ding the pat 150 years, Netiche, was and alvays considered himself fine and foremost philologst. That shold immediately cpl any vestgl notion of ra} loY 2 form of reactionary learning, the kind embodied in the ‘aracter of Dr, Casaubon in George Ebot’s Midlemarh— Serle, ineffectual, and opeesyivlevant oiePhilology is telly the love of word, but 284 discipline ‘acquires a quasscientifc intllecral and spiritual prestige 2 various periods in all of the major cultural radon, including the Western and the Arabic-lsmic tations tht hhve famed my own development. Saice ito recal briefly that inthe ilmic tadtio, knowledge is premised upon 2 iological anenion to language beginning with the Kor the uncreated word of God (and indeed the word iself means reading and continuing through the emergence of scientific grammae in Khali iba Ahmad and Sibawayh © the rie ofjursprudence{figh) and iad and tw jorispeo dental hermeneutics and interpretation, respectively. Late the study of igh a ugh, or the hermenentics of lange. emerges in Arb-Wamie culture as posssing considerable importance asa practice fr Isami learning, All chee iol a deuiled scientific atention paid to language 28 bearing within it knowledge ofa ind entity limited to wht an- fuage does and docs not do. There was (a mentioned in my Jit chapte) a consolation ofthe interpretive sciences that undeae the sytem of humans education, which was el ‘blshed by the weft ceneury in the Arab universities oF southern Europe and North Afi, well before is counter Battin the Chriian Wes, Samar developments occur in he ‘lowely relate Jude tradition in Andalusia, North Arica the Levant, and Mesopotamia. In Europe, Giambattsa Vico ‘New Scie (744) Inches a interpretive revolution bse ‘pon 2 kind of philological heroism whose results are £9 reveal Nicoche waso puta century anda alter it fruth conceming human history is "a mobile army of sistant, and dificul The science of adn ‘other words paramount for humanistic knowledge Emerson said of language that i i “fossil poet” oF. 3 Richard Poitier explicates the notion, "that there are discov~ erable tac in language of that aboriginal power by which we invent ourselves a a unique form of nature” (135) Poirier ‘When Emerion says in his esy] “Prudence” dat “we ‘write from aspiration ad antagonism, 2 well fom expeti= ence"he meas hae while we apr say something neste mera ac hand indicate that whatever we say can be undet= stood only if i i relcvely faa, We therefore become antgonisac ro conventions of language even hough we a need of them {and need to undentand ow they oper for which aly an attentive philologil reading an sre) Indeed, the socal and terry forms that ak or ou com ance were theses paced in sane fence Even won hat oe se sd oe ded we an dsconer dere fr taformain tat one inte ‘hen Any worn the vant nd even cones of ‘meaning, ges evidence of eier ntagniie W200 Shy hh encourage a to ur on hes gs, IN or rope ther al reer (8) A eve phiologieal sealing sate: tives geting inde dhe proces of language already ging om in word ruking i dslose what may be hidden or incomplete oF smsked or distorted in any text we may ave before uta his view of linguage then, words area pane ae 0 5 nities standing i unasamingy for a ghee wealthy 2+ insead an inegeal formative par of the ray #6 And, Poirier says in an earlier ssa, aio a= ‘hing shared by everyone, wed by ryone i aris mos sob duct of if, and somedhung, besides, wich‘nd yet measurably within sel ts vocabulary and syntax the ‘governing assumptions ofa society’ socal politely and cc omic arrangements... But funike works of mus dance, ‘Paintings. oi] literature depends for its principle oF ese ‘al resource on materi thae i must sare in am ely ge ‘ious way with the society at large and wth is history None ‘an teach us so much about what words do tows and how it tra, we might ey to do something to them which will pe ape modify the order a things om which they depend for thet ‘meaning. To Literate islet the distinction that iit the ‘rade toa dialectical eelationship to words with an itesty allowable nowhere ese. (133-34) Teil be lear for ll his tac reaing isthe indspenst- ‘be atthe inital gesture without which any philology’ sin- i impose. Poirier notes simply but elegantly tht ter {ures words put to more complex and subtle uss, both by Tagan and orginal, than in any other place in sci Fink i absolut ight non wha flows fal Prserv this notion of his that terature provides the most ce een we have f worn acto a cherne Xt most complex and rewarding for all sors of eon seb pris tn rering tour hs eat cae oo ‘objection current here and there SPRRE Profeson of beratur in he United Seats that jst stitsm an ageism and racism, there is one shoulda be ake in by s {cilly i to be misled by seuc- Te ec a Saher ia hs lgie Gee logid ute bare and fits sepped to lente Ce tudes toward authority i ae = it vals yet another sly chimera, Only on Le © 5 -eriehmae and more wide aor andre meee and estan if I may coin a word) can provide humanism wih an adequate cere of event worth epecily ‘Gren the changed bases for humanism that I spoke about in as eta. ora ead of ext to move imumente, bowers. om 2B peril rating io geal oF ee cone Sarements about vat structures of power or into vaguely thee actu of aay edempson Gr hore who bei ht erature makes you a eter pron #9 aan don the abiding as foal unite pate That 2 bozom what I have been cling phological that 2 decile, patient sertiny of anda lifelong atentivenes wor and rhetris by which Inguage wed by barman begs who exstin istory: nce the words Fu it as wll asthe word “wordiness” Both of these w allow usto take account not o eral stable or pera ‘ly informed values, bat athe of the changing bes Ox manic ras reading vcs and horas ie dh 9 ow fly pon usin the new cetary Agi deawing 00 Enerion and Poi, 1 shoud ike w are involves the contemporary humanist in 0 very crac ovo hat lea eepion and eases Resta ‘ubmitng ons knowles 0 nd 8 Py i dn a 2 nally encour moving then i of POG an elucidating che often obacre o isle andthe way in to thei hiorical situations hich they exis to ther nr ag and setae Bet Which certain stractares sorical and socal for ea ny ty recite hac eid ny at SE ae ee as er SO i° we nero root interatvely and symheically Thus a close reading of ie 287 ex noel, poem, ey, oF dram, sy—in ft wll eal locate the texin time spr of whole network oftltionhips whoteottines and inaence play a for ing olen the text. And I think eis important say tht ‘he humanist the act of reading isthe act therefore of Fst tng oneself the poston of the author. for who wi Jing series of decisions and choices expres in wor nee hardly be that no author is completely sovereign above the time, place, and circumstances of his or hee E59 tha thse, oo, must be understood if one is to put onlin {he authors poston sympathercaly Ths to ead an authoe ke Cons, for example fine of lt read his work if ‘with the eye of Conrad himself, which is to try to understand tach word cach metaphor each sentence as something c°- scouly chosen by Conrad in preference to any number of ‘other possibilities. We know of course from Tooking at the (email ‘his works how laborious and how time- ‘Consuming that process of cc sition and choice was for Sims ittheetoreBehoows eras hs war ake seo rable effort by gesing inside his guage soto ope isi spree riety yosane dedested gay meets whose icles been the onde : ‘works of teary and asic ig and teaching of eres a.28 well as toa career of social tha the quality of what how and why one reads in cry individual, whether by convention, pesonal cum Senco and efron edge. able to recognize ae uty an tinction that can bef nt wholly under tot inthe cous of reading or experining This ae cre dion that {know of the insions of ere, Sreample, exit in al of them Tce no pont no ting prove ey eng argument ik ao Ate seh a teary Sat ery profound 2 ‘be distinguished from the quotidian experiences of existence hac we al Rave To read Toy, Mabou or Melis tentoDach, Duke Elingson, o Elin Carte st d ome= thing different from reading the newspaper or listening t0 ‘apd misc you get while the phone company of Your doc teepus you on hold This ott howe a jour ism or policy papers arc eo be read quickly and superficial shoes ane reading in all ce, 28H hall be Sow tice But in he main would ages with Adorno thatthe i Gindamentalireconcbiry between the seit nd the noneshee a we mus sin asa neesary conn ‘of our work as humanists. Artis not simply ae aa ‘imensely in a state of unreconciled opposition (0 eae dons of daly che uaconeolabe MEY 0 Hor, One ean cll is heightened ams fr 2 the oF Pte pe cn ra coed wer cosy of te eet Be ead mae, pti maomee OF at tS oreo under and early ad eae AE So ccapng te leveing reser of ETAT fon whch owe PY ote "Yer his neste eb 20 ES ine ‘rworkdines that, some chore reeataaie oe of art 10 er Nor. much 2s Lam tempted by historical election =her argument, can Igo as far as Eine Searry in making 2 cquialence berween loving the beauty of at and being jst On the contrary. argued in Ciltwe and Imperial, de intereing thing about a great work is that generates MOE, father than les complexity and becomes over time wat Raymond Willams has called 3 whole web of offen conta <éctory cultural notations, Even the sklflly wrought novels of Jane Austen, for instance, ae fllted withthe crcum= Sances of her ime; this i why she makes elaborate reference co uch sordid practices slavery and fights over proper Yet. to repeat, her novels can never be reduced only to soca, polial, historical and economic fores but rather, a= thesalyn an unresolved dialectical lationship with hem Jn a postion that obviously depends on history but not reducible to it For we mst, think, astme that there i slays the supervening reality ofthe aesthetic work without ‘which che kind of humanism 1am aking about here relly 4s no exental meaning, only an instrumental one Cal his parse Kind of fit, o a1 prefer an enabling conviction in he enterprise of making human history for m= ‘tithe pound of manic practice and, said 2 moment ago.the presence ofthe aesthetic demands the exceptional id of close realing and reception whore best formulation Ws seven, | belive, by Leo Spitzer in the form ofa philological description of ery power immediey Tis proces of ‘on imoves what he calls ing oncs way othe unity ofa author, the spirital eymon, by repented readings Spitet explain thatthe scholar humanist reader mast be asked swe fom te aio “na i cnr ait eserving deta about he april 6 tice othe pala wen andthe en cmp pos ar absonly one of the serial tains nok arte _eooping the deals and ekg to mega them sto 8 38 principle wich mey ave ben pret inthe ou f DE Rail dt arc andSnaly making the rear rip all she other groups of observations in onder to find whether the “inward form” ‘one ha tentatively contracted gives an account ofthe whole ‘The scholar wil surely be able wo state, afer three or Four of {hese tro voyages” whether he has found the lie-giving cen ‘er, the sun of the solar system which is, acording co Spitzer, the work’ compostiona principe. (1) ‘This aceually occurs, he sys abit ater, when, in the act of reading, one is “struck by a det, followed by a conviction thar this detail is connected basically with the work of at” 27). There is no guarantee that the making ofthis connec- tion is correct, no scientific proof tha it has worked. There i only the inner fuith ofthe humanist “in the power bestowed. ‘onthe human mind of investigating che human mind as well a6 an abiding sense that what one finds in the work is gen~ tinely worth investigating. For this, of course, there i no uarantee only 2 deep subjective sense for which no substi tute, no guidebook oF authoritative source is posible. One ‘must make the decision oneself and take responsibility fori ‘Let me continue quoting more from Spitzer: How oficn, with all dhe theoretical experience of method accumulated in me over the yeas have I stared blankly ite Simul to one of may begining stuns, at page that would not yield its magic The only way Heading ou of this sate of ‘productivity to read and re-read, patently and confident tn an endeavor to become, 36 were, soaked through and ‘hough withthe amosphere ofthe work, And suddenly on Sor nein, or oe st of wor ni ine ano nd wwe realize that, now, 2 relationship has been et ‘been the pos and us, From ths point. have usally found that whae with other observations adding dhemsclves eo the fist and with previous experiences ofthe ils interning and with sociation given by previous education bung WP ‘before me. far well a | would al thoxe price commenand bis that in effect make us citizens of the society we Ine invinsiders and outsiders both] i does ot seem long unl the ‘haracterstic “cick” occurs, which edhe indication that et and whole hive founda common denominator—which gies the eqmology ofthe writing And looking back on this press we se indeed, hat to have rea is to have read o under stand equivalent to having understood. (27) ‘What is tutologicl sou this fscinsting descripsion of los reading is precisely what needs emphasis chink. Fr the process of reading begins and ends in the reader, and what crabs the reading ian iredacily personal act of commit. rent to reading ad interpreting the gesture of reception that includes opening oneself tothe text and, jest as important. being wiling to make informed semen about is meaning and what cht meaning might atach itself, Only connec, ‘9/5 E.M Forte amanvlous injunction to the chain ofstate- :ments an meanings that prolife out of close reading This is what RP Blackmar calls bringing Itrature to perfor ance And Emerson saying"Every mind must know the whole leson for iself-—must go over the whole ground. What docs not se, hati doesnot ie it wil not kos” Ieisthe avoidance ofthis proces of taking final commode responsibility for one's reading chat explains, | think, 2 xP- pling litation in those varieties of deconsrctive Dervdes ‘eating that end (a they begin) in ancidabiisy and uncet= tum To revel the wavering and vacation inal writing ef up toa poi, jst ant may here and there be wef 0 sow, with Foucault hat knowledge inthe end serves power Bue both akernatves defer for oo longa declaration thatthe actualy of retin i damental an act of perhaps mod ‘thuman emancipation and enlightenment cha changes a! ‘hanes on’ knowledge for purposes other chan redacti== ses, eyiciam, or utes sanding aside. Of course when WE "ead. for example, poem by John Asherry or a noel BY Faobert aention othe texts fir more ints ad focused that would be the case with a newspaper or magazine aricle about foreign or military policy. But in both instances an Son in reading quires alerts and making connections that ate otherwise hidden or obscured by the tex, which i he ‘ase of an article having t do with politcal decisions about ‘whether go to wat for instance demands that izes we enter ino the text with responsibilty and seropulows care. Otherwise, why bother at al? As fr what in che end ae the enlghening and yes, emaneipatory purposes of close reading, {al gec wo them s00n enough [No one is rquite ro inate the inimitable Spitzer or for that mater, ha other admirable phlogst who had wich 3 profound influence on our reading ofthe Western class in this country Erich Auerbach about whose great work Mine- 2 hl speak inthe next chapter ofthis book) uit nee- sary to realize that clove rain has o originate in rites! "sceptivty as well in a conviction tat eventhough great Aesthetic work ultimately resists tal understanding, cher is 2 possibility of a erxcal undersanding chat may never be completed but can cerzanly be provisionally aired, Kis 2 ‘ris thrall readings ate of course subject ater reread- ing but also good to remember tha there can be heroic fire readings that enable many oer fer chem, Who can forges the rush of enrichment on reading Tobtoy of hearing Wagner or Armtrong, and how can one ever forget hese of change in oneself sa eeu? Kecakes a kind of heroism © Undertake great artistic efforts, to experince the sharing isorienttion of “making” an Arma Karina, che Mise ‘ba he Ty Mahal This proper Think, dhe humaiie terpris, the sense of authori hers 33 something © soni amire, aspire to for readers wel for oes. nor dls, damatsts enon ansey hat dries Mele Or insance, to match Shakespeare and Milton, or amen datspurs Robert Lowell to go on fm Eliot, or anxiety tat drives Stevens to outdo the audacity ofthe French symbol- its, or anxiety in a critic such as the late lan Wat 0 g byond Leavis and Richards. There Is compestivenes of course but alo admiration and enthusiasm forthe job tobe done that won be satified until one own oad taken afer 2 ea predecesor has scared out a path, Much he same can and must be sid about humanistic heroism of aowing oneselo experince the work with something oF is primary dive and informing power. We are not sribbers or humble scribes but minds whose ations become a par ofthe colle ‘ive human history being sade al around us dell what keeps dhe humanist ones is this sese of common enterprise shared with others an undertaking ith sown builtin constrain and disciplines. ve always Found an excellent paradigm for this in the Ilmictaion 5 i= tle known amongst Eurocentric scholars all t00 bay extolling some supposedly exclusive humanic Weserd ied ince in a he Koran the Word of Got he imposible ever filly o grap, though it most repeated be read. Bot the fice chae iim language already makes i ancurmbent on readers feof allo try to understand i it ral meaning, witha profound awareness that others belo them have atempted the same daunting tak So the presence of othe is gen asa community of witness whose aa ability tothe contemporary reer i retained in the form of 2 chain, each wimes depending co some degree onan eat e-This stem of ntedepenent rags ile “ise common goals to ry to approach the ground of the £2: is principe or wl, ahough there must always Be 2 component of pesional commitment and extaondinatY SEE cle “thal in Abc. Wihoue a Knowledge of Arabi, dificu o know dat ja” derives Soe FOO the now notorious wont jihad, which docs et nly mean holy war ba athe primary pial ex Tom one of the wah) ent upg that Sethe mewn cer there a ee abs ge 25 0" Sow wheter hed spel cow pe, nd thin wha tntsThe dogma ve of eos Mami tng est -Tyya 9-138 4) wb tnt only wal sah pos reams) soul be ‘Stoned hu clog ne doo rt wero idan preaon Batt hr sas ben caleged pec Sheth eigen century a he proponens of iad tov by no mean een ote. Is wih er merce gos cons gest de toon as cred al oe es an a= stl meng peas ange Simp or oweook Inno the angument Bu am ih in song hat Be Tm of wt sperma nay perl ef owe ‘Sens hee and seman era he ee Inet jurpronce ay psn ps he COME Sow nd mean pening mone raf a 66-2 fons hain pbc governs hs een tre cond ate even hen edo of =P son decry sible Resonant 2 thing one plese and in whee oy one ay 57 ‘Ths seme of pmb an cepa m8 ch que peste wht Sper so aot lo Cand oro se the i for what ern Potro al he evan ave gen om the A olga hemeneus, on pagan ena so Ui ac rm characte someting He come tons, seman famewors, and social ete pita or i me ‘on what would oth~ eenzy. whic is what ‘munis operating as partial constants exwise be an out-of-control subjective Swit parodies mereilesily in A Tle of Ti ae Between the abiding enactment of 2 rigorous‘ment to reading for meaning—and not simply for dscusve structures and textual practices, which is not ro say those ae ‘not important—and the requirements of formulaing tht ‘meaning 2s it contributes actively to enlightenment and ‘manciption ther ia considerable space forthe exer of humanstic energy. A recent study by David Harlan cored laments in ts contents and ide—The Degradation of Ameiat History—the slow dissipation of gravity and commitment in the wring of American history and dhcory. donot age wih his somewhat sentinel exceponai concsons ‘howe what Ameria shoul be learning fom i. itor Seth Saeossof the cory depreed sat of wade ting isan accurate one. He contends that the influence of 2nfoundaonasm,disoune analysis, automatized and ok- Shire rvs, and profesional, among oer onho- Satie bas denatured and definged the historian’ mision Shas fe ame apps eee, in humanistic ierary re sna eran spate sme ey PO a 1m the public sphere but from other profesional who don't use the same jargon. Te alternatives sccm now tobe quite impoerihing ether become 4 ech Darn decoction on ane naw sr ore a ape i ecrsion ome Pa ta fn ciel wh vse coke Sma Wht mang sgn se ns Practice that might ronene nah Component to humanistic bry: Recepion based on ad close main Remene Seinen and tne oping de gee! nes throne own eal nguge wih fall ecogntion a the work of art in question remains at a necesary final Teno umeconced din satin woes at tne stride compeeend or mpos But be rose dot totsop thre by any means Fora 1 bbw thee BOW tng plc in dorsceey an auton thought Bel 0577 nothnof democracy equligand he eon ‘ehumanng fret of gaalzaon,aetben! ae ‘ono ged upheniay ealed he Be mate) clas pera sion the human mus ieee nom enced or unsaid he channel Communion cnet by tiny suber of OT" Vi ae bombarded by eso a Son ce no tht up coco #5 EC Serer cg ats oe overning and ting ofthese alienating objects shat as C-Weighe SEES PE eae ne matical mani wok ooh toned sll very foranaely de case HOWE Ct OS a soe el ictices: no other institution eee Aer mec Pe the longest and better part of ein wich 10 3 are im an exception Py as aad profesional of ther work st Snelngs 2 ri ei experts chat heir AEST ecuch, Socratic teaching, and oe \ ‘at—allows one freedom some mene of ET oan morte 20 from the dealing ie pressures 10 proce on 2 emer cynic | | |dled age. Not the fot the least valuable thing about the re and thooghe that takes place in une tha oe hs and hove place in a university i tha one bs ‘One sue that comes oN that comer pacts she mate of wha a [uo we in the work of resitance, what idiom, whi anne of adesing one’ dens, colegio Zens Ther ha Ben consider debate inthe clei Popular mea about so-called good and bad wring. MY eee oer he bem ily ae peta ony aerate potently wide eonstituen Te SLED Mero gud the prepackaged se of wa ‘otidoe scene poe rk concn the el Prewpposons iste onthe has cel Adorno ial cram mde of econ a pret eating the smooth papering-ovr of ince ‘citing athens ricci ee sislectcal genius are in very sh fe oe et Spy ce ame es his syle; Sart said in another "acy ‘as a petit bourgeois, but not every Pest bourgeois aay isan Adorna, CNet very coiner of rebarbativelngsage ‘The rss of and outeide te ee ck2e Jargon forthe humanities, inside oe prepara eA obvious hey amply subsite that the ole of the bes, net Why not asume instead dlemyrticaions and queen Postion is to make the “al wring em poe! Why exept nya le es importa ‘many aeilble around us whose be oe whole ange ffom dick or of imteigible Language all and effciency goes the simple, berween ee the language of, say, Henry James and that of W.E. B. DuBois. Trew sw oeed to employ preponerousy ose ad ee Terns way town independence a oil if Huan ou bea for of csr, 0 fF creo lumanaion. Experiencing device ba toner ot of cone peal nome nezdenic forms of Crpeinto the exten tt ey Dave Boome adenoe ta an cee anima At dhe eat of hat 1 ee een eaing the movement of estan in Humanism fie part ofthis being reception and reading— critique, and Crue a ey sel-cring owe oe dom enlighten: more age. and eal tt opp ‘None of this can be done exsily. In the first place, the prcucaged ination th dominate out aera ough te media aersing claro ni logical politcal argument designed to persuade or 52 wt tn sion, ato somal BOOB intellect) tends to fit into short, telegraphic | forms. CI Se New Times prominin ie tench seen followed by igh ones Pris of Ce ee ee ne oa ot ce ang of the ey of te I! cei ghee ne ada ie ere taco od Ot Jonger forms, longer esst¥% OORT periods of re ens nt (always referred to debe #1 ee ae im somebosy can emerge i all 8 08 coenaie pasern lof direct US. support 6 ned 1 be be OE eect” with mek ‘ciumphandy fom wat ‘Rrnrica in de dark abo 18 ——E 4 ' | | : | i | | i f <ons, as well as our extensive dealings with it over the ‘decades. None of this can be done in the form of short burss ‘of information concerning the “axis of evil” or stating that “Irag possesses weapons of mass destruction and is a direct threat to the United States and our way of lif,” phrases that ‘need laborious dismantling, unpacking, documentation, and ‘refutation or confirmation, These are matters of the gravest ‘importance for American humanists, who are citizens of the ‘world’ only superpower and whose acquiescence (or silence) ‘ate required for decisions of the greatest importance (0 us 35 infor izes There humana election mt ally break the hold on us of the short, headline, sound-bite format and try to induce instead a longer, more deliberate Process of reflection, research, and inquiring argument that really looks a the ease() in point, Agreat deal more might be said about the question of lan- ‘guage, but I want to pres on to other concerns. There is nO ddoub, firs ofall that whatever reading one does is situated 4 particular time and place, juss the writing one encoun {26 in the course of humanistic study is located in a series of ‘frameworks derived ffom tradition, the transmission and Vari ‘eat Of ets and accumulated readings and interpretations. st as important are the social contests chat, generally, = ‘iscribe a8 those between the aesthetic and historical ee a ‘of simplifying, it can be said that ew sit- ‘Btls are in play: that of the humanistic reader in the pres~ Fa ana ttt of he text ints framework. Each requires ca Fama Sth inhabits both a local and a wider historical Remework, and each must solicie relentless questioning by he hhumanis. The terry text derives, true enough, from the Teas PERCY and solitude of che individual writer, but the tion of the wane at PrWileged location and the social oo trian ke en TSE Prent, whether the writer ia bis leary Adams,a relatively isolated poet like Emily Dickinson, or a renowned man of leters ike Henry James ‘There is no way at all of focusing on either the original pri ‘acy or the public plice of the writer without examining, hovr cach of them comes tous, whether by curicular canon, imtlleceua or critical frameworks provided by a presiding authority (sch as that exercised by Perry Miller atone time), ‘ora massive range of debate 38 to whose tation thi is, for hat purpose, and so 08. Immediately then, the constitution of tradition and the useable past comes up and sha in torn leads us inevitably to identity and the national tate, A num ber of wef analyses both here and in England by Sear Hall and Raymond Willams have dscused this maver: the enveloping national story with its caeflly devised begin~ rings, midales, ends, is periods, moments of glory: cefeat. r= ‘umph, and son. What Iam trying to describe then i the created national Sorizo,n which hamish al 8 ant move mens, disputed readings, contentious as well as cercbral aio- Cimon occurs Nw Twat oe aga gg 2 the private shad, or close reading. the wide horizon #0 quickly, too abrupdly and wnreflecively. Bur cere can be 89 doube that for me humanism as a worldly pracce can move ‘beyond and inhabic more chan jst the orginal privacy ofthe ‘writer or the relatively private pace ofthe classtoom oF inner scrum, oth of whish ae ineiay neve 1 WO ‘want to do as humanists, Education involves widening cicles ‘of awarenes cach of which s distinct analyialy while being ‘connected to the others by virtue of work ralny. A cadet ja work place, or in 2 Sin plas na choo univer work ps of Src a See mon ee he seh how ch ea ee eee eroability co diferente between whats directly given and what snay be withheld whether because one’ own circumstances 2 fhumanisic specialist may confine one 10 a limited space ‘beyond which one can't venture or because one indo nated to recognize only what one hasbeen educated 0 Se ot ‘because only policy expert ae presumed to be enited © speak about the economy. health services, oF foreign and mil itary policies, sues of urgent concern to the humanists ait iten. Docs one accept the prevailing horizons and confine mentor does one try as humanist to challenge ther? ‘This T believe, is where the relevance of humanist (0 «contemporary America and the world of which ieisa paths to be addresed and understood if isto. make any see beyond teaching our students and fellow citizens how to red well This is an estimable tak in elf, of course, bu one that by its own inventive energies abo necesarly takes one fur ther and farther ftom even the mos highly cherished inward "scepton-Ys, we need to keep coming back tothe words and smucturs in the books we read, but, just as these words We themselves taken by the poet from the work! and evoked fom oot of lence in the frcefel ways without which no Creation is posible, readers must abo extend their readings oUt into the various worlds each one of us resides it 1 ‘=Pecally appropriate forthe comtemporary humanist 0 CU Ste that seme of mukiple words and complex nterci {ralsom, that inevble combination I've mentioned of renin and detachment, reception and resistance The tk tants not justo occupy a postion or place, 0° Simly to belong somewhere, but rater to be both insider sa er the eligi and wales that 2 thee eng rameone koe thereof tere omni el took 4 thrice) lac Deuacher® insaficenty known SIMS The Now fish Jew, for an account of how = 1p Jewihthinkers—Spinors, chief among them, 5 wel as Freud Fleine, and Deucher himslf—were i, and 2 the same time renounced hee aon, preserving the iil Ge by submitting i 0 the conrosive questioning tha took them wel beyond it sometimes banishing them fom com= smi in the process Not many of ws an or would want apie to such 2 dilectically fraught, so sensitively located a hs finials bu ts illaminaing se in such 3 tn he crysaized role of the American humanist he nom humanist humanist were te other words, 1 were forced to choose fo myself 5 humanse the role cither of patriotic “afirming” our couny a Richard Rory hat rcenly enunciated i is word is“achieving” not firming, bu it amounts in the end tothe sme thing) or nonpariocaly queoning i! would andoabedly choose the role of qetones, Humans, 2 ‘Blckmur said of modernism in another connection, # 2 Aechngue of rouble and ie mas sty that way now a2 Se ‘then the mational and interatonal horizon i undergoing smasive trsformations and reconfiguaions. The tak i fim and castaways in Exc Hobsbawn’s short "centary of “atten which has jus ended, have colored our view ofthe Eat 20 deisel 50 poicaly and exitentaly: Of petit wrists or paces—be e+ problem abu © Rett or Chechnya Koon, rag, or Aifiea—ate pais. fed on emotional experiences stimulated by more of tess uncontrolled words and images, such as chore conveyed tn the tabloids and by poled pene i break with eerie mem boca lea hw of rd mntetmcr ata from text to actualized site of either appropriation oF resist Torben and utterance, and vate to publi, from silence to explication eal ‘own silence and mortality — ance, to transmision,to read history and hopes andthe earch fr Rnoseledge and justice. and then perhaps also for liberation. ee aes ean wk a a im Re eh of th Sil Sein Conte ee a Tes ae Ayers a er a ed UP 1968 ay °°Emerson, Ralp Waldo, Eas: Ft and Sed Sees. New York Vintage Books, 1990. Footer, EM. Howa's End. New York: Penguin Class, 1988 Harlin, David Craig. The Degdton of American History Chica University of Chicago Pres. 197. Hobsbswmn, Ene J The Ag of Extomer, 114-91 London: Michie! ‘Joseph 996 Poirier Richatd. The Renal of Ltrature: Emeroion Refleti. [New York: Random House, 1989 Rony, Richard. Achieving Our Country: Leftist Though in Teeth Contry Americ Cazsridge, Mat: Harvard Universey Pes 1998, Scary Elaine. Oy Beauty end Being ast, Princeton, NJ: Princeton ‘Unversity Pres. 1999, Spier Leo."Linguitics and Literary History" In Lint md airy His: Ese in Sens, by Leo Spice, Priston, NJ: Princeton Univesity Pre 1948 INTRODUCTION TO ERICH Ai MIMESIS Preface AS THIS CHAPTER IS A PART OF THIS ‘on humanism, Ti lke co explain why it s about UERBACH’S “series OF REFLECTIONS only one work and only one author, who doesnt happen to have Been American in the literal sense. Rather than coneinaing = remarks on humanism, I thought it would be best if eo onretey rate my rumen by 1 So ing mprene team Soe h ‘appeared fity years ago, one t best in husmanistic work that I know. Auerbach! ‘writen in German in Ieanbul, durin appeared in English in the United came to America after the war and fessor ar Yale until his death in 1957. by adoption, a ie were. There an drama tothe author and book =m hope ean communicate to the king at 2 work tat zd fact that 1s Mies was 1g Workd War Il bats ‘States in 1953- Auerbach remained here 3 3 PO on American humanist extraordinarily PPM going co discuss which F der ofthis eof Ieetres