h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Some time ago I mentioned somewhere that in an early draft of my Master's thesis I had conjured up an image of the Poem as a patient etherized on a table under the knife of the Critic. My supervisor, while enjoying the image, felt that it would be better left out of future drafts. I, being young, followed the advice of my elder.

When I mentioned that passage somewhere here a while ago, there seemed to be a certain interest in seeing the passage if it ever came to light.


Well, now after more than a quarter century in a box that has been moved unopened through three basements I offer you, the Dissection of the Poem:





'Of course, a certain degree of dissection is necessary to a study of "The Wanderer": the poem is a description of aspects of the world as the poet views it, and as such, it operates to a large extent as a dissection itself. The critic's task must be to take "The Wanderer" as something of a reassembly of aspects of the poet's world-view, to dissect that reassembly, and to show how the resultant elements fit into the poet's living universe. But it is little help to the student, and even less aesthetically pleasing to leave the poem scattered in its constituent parts across a metaphorical table. A critic must replace the vital organs, and show that the patient continues to live after the operation.

'For such a dissection and reassembly to be effective, we must keep before us an understanding of the poet's world-view, and, most importantly, an understanding of the force which unifies that world-view. The unity of the world-view will have a counterpart in the poem. In the case of "The Wanderer", we have a headstart if we have examined the poem's context within the "Exeter Book" . . .'







I also came across in that box a paper I wrote for a 'Philosophy of Mind' class I took in 1990. Perhaps one day I'll find the time to digitize it, if there's any interest.

as a bit of teasing, I got 96% on the assignment.

as a bigger bit of teasing, the title of the paper is:


'Shiva's Face of Glory Locked in Searle's Chinese Room'

That is definitely a tease of a title. I'm interested.

TRiG.

I'm not sure if I'll get time to post it tonight, but I'll try to do something with it in the next few days.


Here's another tease:


The professor's comment on the paper begins with 'An intelligent, articulate, witty paper -- with a point of view that is well and clearly articulated and defended.' and concludes with 'it was a pleasure to read this paper.'

and yet, I found the paper clipped to a letter from the Chair of the Philosophy Department responding to my complaint about the course (I have no memory of making such a complaint and my memories of the course, perhaps coloured by the passage of time, are pretty much positive).

The Chair's comment 'attached is your paper, as requested' seems to indicate that if I hadn't complained, I wouldn't be teasing you with the title, since I have pretty much no memory of the paper and I'm quite certain that I have no other copy (these were pre-PC days).

I am impressed. And as some will tell you, I am not easily impressed. Not sober, anyway- which I am....

If I may take a moment to praise my younger self:

I was bloody impressed as I was going through this box of drafts for my thesis. Initial drafts were hand-written, virtually without corrections, with long quotations from Old English poems and from scholarly articles going back to the 18th century. The most advanced technology I had available was the photocopier (10 cents a sheet) at the library. I typed the whole thing out (100 pages of text 50 pages of notes and bibliography) on my old Smith-Corona that I got as a Christmas present in junior high. Some of the typed drafts I actually cut (with scissors) and pasted (with Scotch Tape) into a final form.

It's inconceivable today. And, frankly, I'm a little sad that it's inconceivable, because I realize I've lost an ability which was really something wonderful. I mean, I found I had trouble with the simple act of scanning the pages for the bit about the poetic vivisection -- I wanted to use a search function.

This digital stuff is a mixed blessing.

I'm about half way through putting the Chinese Room paper in: A60633939

It's taken me a while, but I've finished it, for what it's worth: A60633939

nice one anhaga - I shall have a read of that this weekend - cheers for putting it up!