504
is
which
am remembering
endeavoR it
Came after
WoUld
aM
The rest of the book is in the same vein.
PARTISAN REVIEW
These days, anything goes in the name of novelty. And shock that no
longer shocks has become standard fare in the world of the arts. Of course,
those who are critical of postmodern excesses are bound to be labelled con–
servatives, defenders of the status quo. But this response can be recognized
as the rationalization by means of which the new fashions justify themselves.
The truth is that not everything that presents itself as advanced art is either
advanced or art.
*
*
*
Louis Menand makes an interesting point in a review of Roger
Kimball's book,
Tenured Radicals
-
one that is almost never made. In reply
to those who claim that the academy is unusually responsive to some of the
absurd notions generated by deconstructionist theory, feminist literary ex–
tremism, internalized black studies, outdated neo-Marxism, and other "radical"
professorial pursuits, Menand maintains that this is not the whole story. Why
make a fuss, says Menand, about the latest intellectual fashions, when the
academy has always been a breeding ground for its own brand of nonsense.
Indeed, argues Menand, one of the functions of the academy is to institution–
alize the higher mediocrity.
There is something to be said for this rather cynical picture of the uni–
versity. We are familiar with the progress ofliterary studies from the earlier
dreary scholarship to the endless
explication de texte,
both of which were
European imports, and with the arid results of overspecialization and
meaningless research in other areas. On the other hand, I think Menand
underestimates the sway of the latest theories. He dismisses too easily the
power, the pervasiveness, the articulateness, the aggressiveness, the
organization, and the influence of the new theorists. Its purveyors control
institutes and departments: they run a large number ofacademic publications.
Above
all,
they create a certain climate of opinion that envelops students and
silences colleagues.
*
*
*
