ENG364Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Almond, New York, Allan Bloom, Stanley Fish
20th Century Am lit Lecture 8
JAN 12 2017
Stoner
-what is the point of university?
-allan bloom
-del blano
-higher education has not changed in 2400 years
-university is a hedge against ulitarian values
-slakes the human craving for connects with works of art that somehow register one’s
longings and yet exceed what one has been able to articulate by and for oneself
-a micture of the Stoner and Robin Williams teaching approaches
-the university should stop trying to pretend to be for anything that is outside of itself
-the study of literature is an end to itself
-the point of stoner
-classes should be a refuge from utilitarian value
-everything these days has to be for something
-e.g. fitbit—even the most basic human qualities are quantified for achieving a goal,
even if that goal is health
-universal human longing to find in art a better expression of your own longing
-stanley fish: what use are the humanities? absolutely none. the humanities are their
own good
-as long as we keep trying to defend the humanities by applying practical value to them,
you are demeaning and cheapening the humanities
-stoner tries to enact this theme by representing it
-why write this novel about a character falling in love with literature?
-john williams wants the reader to look at william stoner and say i’ll have what he’s
having
-stoner is not a defence of the humanities, it is a demonstration of them
-why read?—->why have an orgasm
-if you have to ask, you’ll never know
-it could be that our society is prepared to ask this question in a way Williams’ society
was not
-the value of uselessness has taken on an almost rebellious caste
-steve almond, New York
-maybe this is why I’ve been watching so much John Oliver
-capitalist energies hellbent on distracting us from the necessary anguish of our inner
lives
-life as it is on the outside vs what it is experienced as on the inside
-education has not changed in hundreds of years bc the fundamental questions have not
changed
-the questions we face under the shadow of death are not new and no new technology
will help us answer them
-stoner realizes that his life, as all real life, was something in between failure and
success
-he had known friendship, love purpose, but he had not known them enough—he
wanted more
-who is william stoner? the novel answers: he was himself
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Document Summary
(cid:1688)higher education has not changed in 2400 years(cid:1689) (cid:1688)slakes the human craving for connects with works of art that somehow register one"s longings and yet exceed what one has been able to articulate by and for oneself(cid:1689) A micture of the stoner and robin williams teaching approaches. The university should stop trying to pretend to be for anything that is outside of itself. The study of literature is an end to itself. Classes should be a refuge from utilitarian value. Everything these days has to be (cid:1688)for something(cid:1689) E. g. fitbit even the most basic human qualities are quantified for achieving a goal, even if that goal is health. Universal human longing to find in art a better expression of your own longing. Stanley fish: what use are the humanities? absolutely none. the humanities are their own good. As long as we keep trying to defend the humanities by applying practical value to them, you are demeaning and cheapening the humanities.
