This is an academic blog.
As yet I have no grand designs for it, only a vague sense of what I may try to accomplish. Certainly I want to follow other blogs. I’m an eighteenth-century studies person by trade, a Samuel Johnson specialist as the quotation above my suggest, but my interests range quite a bit further afield than that. Generally I hope to create a more flexible and interactive online presence than a faculty webpage and an email address allow, a more serious one than Facebook permits. And my sentences are too periodic for Twitter. Ergo, a blog.
As for that recondite quotation above, from which the title of this blog is taken: I needed a title. I decided not to think for more than an afternoon; I’m simply not that creative. So I leafed through favorite books, and I’ve returned to that passage and to Rambler 14 many times since I first read it as an undergraduate. It’s always seemed to cut a number of ways.
I haven’t written any books, but I’m sure that if my students drop by, they’ll be tickled to confirm that I bring as much perplexity as illumination to the classroom. And like all academics, I spend a lot of my life being impressed by distant prospects that, on closer inspection, in unexpected ways, turn out to be perplexed, narrow, and sometimes even a bit disgraceful.
I’m not sure whether it’s more apt to say that I’m frequently embarrassed by my own obstructions or obstructed by my own embarrassments, but I can say, with great certainty, that I do not smoke.
7 comments
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December 2, 2008 at 11:47 am
williamhwandless
Welcome to the blogosphere, Dr. Vilmar–what we lack in clouds of smoke we make up for in rarefied air. I look forward to seeing what this blog will become, and I hope you’re moseying toward a mellow holiday season.
December 2, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Christopher Vilmar
Thank ye, Dr. Wandless. I may not rarefy the air in the blogosphere, but I’m sure I’ll warm it up a bit. (Viz., this post, which is the air-hotness.)
I am moseying. I’d be galloping if it wasn’t for all the daggle-frazzit grading I’m doing.
December 2, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Dave Mazella
Welcome aboard, Chris. It’s always nice to have more 18c bloggers. And visit us at the Long 18th, if you ever get done with that pesky grading.
Best,
DM
December 2, 2008 at 3:22 pm
margaret soltan
I’ll add my welcome to that of Dr. Wandless. If I’m not mistaken, you’ve occasionally commented on University Diaries (a recent subject, I believe, was breasts)…
Best,
Margaret S.
December 2, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Christopher Vilmar
UD, some might argue that civilization depends on holding a firm opinion (or two) on breasts.
December 2, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Christopher Vilmar
Thanks, DM!
December 2, 2008 at 9:04 pm
JBJ
Hi, Chris! & welcome . . .