A Pedant's Progress

[Latimer]

I'm sure--having read his notorious Harper's piece from September 1970 and later interviews--that many of us find Joseph Epstein pretty despicable. That said, I'm also sure many of you will find much to admire and identify with in the following wry and entertaining essay:

A Pedant’s Progress

A pedant, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is “a person who is too concerned with small details or rules especially when learning or teaching.” For Webster’s Dictionary, he is “someone

www.commentary.org

 

[Thad1527]

I find Jeffrey Epstein despicable. I am researching Joseph Epstein since I'm not immediately aware of him. 1970 was a long time ago. But the article is a little bit "grammar police," like me.

 

[Thad1527]

I just learned a LOT. Joseph Epstein has certainly written problematic stuff, far more serious than any grammar policing. And some of it is recent...disrespecting Dr. Jill Biden? Sounds cranky-old-misogynist to me. But that seems to be on-brand for him.

 

[rareboy]

I'm sure--having read his notorious Harper's piece from September 1970 and later interviews--that many of us find Joseph Epstein pretty despicable. That said, I'm also sure many of you will find much to admire and identify with in the following wry and entertaining essay:

A Pedant’s Progress

A pedant, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is “a person who is too concerned with small details or rules especially when learning or teaching.” For Webster’s Dictionary, he is “someone

www.commentary.org

There is nothing about Epstein that I admire or identify with.

But you do you.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Pedantry has come into its own in the digital age.

Much of what Epstein writes is shared by many who champion accurate language and good grammar.

As far as trying to make him a pariah, that is always a decision we choose to make or not. Many cannot fairly judge George Bush's paintings due to their prejudice about his terms as president. Others won't forgive Jane Fonda so cannot accept anything she does as an actress. Some of Whoopi Goldberg's early work included lots of profanity intended to subvert patriotism, to be offensive, so the result is she offended many.

I liked the article on pedantry, and think it stands on its own. I don't known what other writings he has made that make him so reviled.

 

[unloadonme]

I need to get new glasses. I read the first post and wondered what on earth Jacob Epstein had done to upset the homo community. A dodgy bust of some gay hero maybe? Then I realised the thread is about Joseph Epstein, who I've never heard of before now. No doubt, if there's a statue of Joseph by Jacob it will be torn down. And rightly so.

 

[Latimer]

Jacob's monumentally ugly statue "Adam" was made the centerpiece of the Entrance Hall of Harewood House in Yorkshire in the late twentieth century by the art patron first cousin of the queen, Lord Harewood. Forgetting for the moment the statue's fat, misshapen penis, the work dominates and diminishes the noble architecture of the room that Robert Adam designed. While I'm not in favor of "tearing down" the Epstein, a more civilized age would see the Epstein shipped off to Tate Modern where it belongs (perhaps sharing a space with Tracy Emin's "My Bed") and the Entrance Hall restored to the sublime and beautiful space as originally conceived by Adam.

 

[Latimer]

Astrid Zytower's "Orpheus" outside the south front of Harewood is more like it. Better penis, too.