Are you able to stop it? Re: academic accuracy and academic freedom (not a flame)

[john wells]

Peter Giordano wrote:
> 
> Let's try this:
> 
> An author, let's call him John Smith, writes a biography of James Joyce and
> makes two claims
> about the book: 1) it is the first book to use Joyce's letters to his
> daughter as a source, and 2)
> it is the first book to find the relationship between Joyce's daughter and
> Molly Bloom (I am not
> supposing that there is one)
> 
> Now, somebody else comes along and says  "No - Both those statements are
> wrong" and this
> person (call him Tom Jones) presents what he considers to be reasonable
> evidence to illustrate
> his point - Evidence which everybody on the planet (via interlibrary loan)
> has access to
> 
> The first claim is a matter of fact - Either you are first or not - If John
> Smith persists in making
> the claim after being presented with evidence to the contrary then John
> Smith's entire opus is
> in question
> 
> The second claim may or may not be a fact - But one would expect John Smith
> to check the
> evidence presented before denying that the evidence is wrong
> 
> If John Smith were to engage in the normal academic discourse (Albeit hot
> and heavy) then
> it would be possible to eventually come to some conclusions about where the
> correct answer
> might be - However, if John Smith immediately goes into "flame" mode: four
> letter words,
> threats of violence, attempts at censorship, etc.  then it becomes
> reasonable to assume
> that perhaps the questions raised are valid
> 
> Let's tie this to Pynchon scholarship - There is a lot of stuff written
> about TRP but there
> is very little (relatively speaking) written about his personal life except
> that he keeps it
> very private - The few references can be traced to a couple of magazine
> articles and
> perhaps one book - I would submit that it is critical to establish the
> veracity of those
> few sources - For example, how accurate is that NEW YORK MAGAZINE article?
> I would also suggest that those who are attempting to sell their personal
> information
> about any given author (as in "I knew him personally and he has bad table
> manners")
> should be doublely checked out because profit often informs content - Look
> at the various
> memoirs coming out now about the OJ trial - Each author, in order to get
> attention, must
> unveil some juicer and more scandalous sound bite and each sound bite is worth
> a few thousand dollars
> 
> It's been suggested that if I give up my inquiry then I won't  be
> threatened any more - Think
> about that in an academic context - It does not sound very logical - In
> fact, it stinks
> 
> I am trying to keep this out side of the realm of flaming - I have no
> interest in flaming - So
> I request that if you want to send me a message telling me I'm full of BS
> or curse at
> me or ridicule me please send it privately (that is unless I have already
> requested that
> you not send me personal mail) - If you'd like to discuss my thesis in the
> spirit in which
> I intend it I am glad for any reasonable criticism and I'm quite willing to
> admit error if
> I see it - This is not meant to continue a flame war I think it is valuable
> to consider how
> we establish the veracity of those who make claims about authors - I find
> it bizarre that
> my employment can be questioned here - What happened to academic freedom?
> Isn't
> it reasonable for somebody in research to test sources?  If you want to
> discuss my
> job please email me privately and I'll gladly do so
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Peter Giordano
> Williams College
> Williamstown, MA

Can you STOP it? Is it possible for you to simply quit, not say anything
on the subject, at all, EVER again?

Don't even answer me (if you can manage to do that) just quit. stop.
arret. halt. Try it, it won't be the end of the world. It's easy, and
the peace that results will be enlightening...

John