Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
"Too much traffic"
About Me
- Jenny Davidson
- I have published four novels and four books of literary criticism; I'm currently at work on a book called FOR THE LOVE OF BROKEN THINGS: MY FATHER, EDWARD GIBBON AND THE RUINS OF ROME. I teach in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
A few pieces
Books
My other blogs
Blog Archive
-
▼
2009
(553)
-
▼
August
(63)
- The natural history of running
- Life in literature
- Manga eyes
- The pirate brand
- Oed to a Nietingael
- "Wooden hot dogs with plastic buns"
- The wiki reputation system
- Culture wars redux
- Reading/writing
- Pies of the imagination
- !
- Bonsai relationships
- "I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"
- Three genes
- Fortunate falls
- States of emergency
- "Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Shakespeare"
- Civilization and its discontents
- Things long ago
- Vacant residences or animal remains
- "The small, sharp teeth of a kitten"
- College fight songs, Vol. 2
- Baking powder controversy
- "It's a Raymond Chandler evening"
- Kimbo
- School days
- Two by two
- Ginger beer and picnics
- "I'm a detective, a treasure hunter"
- Stopping warlocks
- "Bigamy Novels, Bildungsroman, the Sensation Novel"
- "Overmuch Study"?
- The piper's maggot
- "I hear that a lot of small dogs are gay"
- Jawboning, mental orifices
- "187 Men to Avoid"
- CV
- Feline wilfullness
- Pawprints
- Bling in dessert form
- "Bottles Boxes Baskets bags nets &c &c &c"
- The light fantastic
- Closing tabs
- Light reading catch-up
- "Like Sophia Loren, and equally difficult to catch"
- Unwholesome situations
- Blood-sucking
- Changes rung upon dots
- "Nuclear is the answer"
- Almond Ladybits
- The road of excess
- Wing-whirring
- "She went, to plain-work, and to purling brooks"
- Portrait of the cat by a young artist
- Baggage
- Trick memory
- "Love and bacon"
- When worlds collide
- "Wet documents, moldy paper, insect and vermin res...
- Profiling
- "She said I was skeletal and scary eyed"
- Love bugs
- Transfigurations
-
▼
August
(63)
There was an influential article in the 1980s called "Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar" that made a strong case against teaching grammar.
ReplyDeleteFish of all people should know that grammar goes out of style, Anglo-Saxon permits double negatives, and today's grammar was invented in 1758 in a London coffee house for the express purpose of persecuting the Irish.
Also, grad students who try to write well have been warned against being journalistic hacks since 1967.
Lynne Cheney. Ha.
And the public editor bashes Cintra Wilson? Ha.
Last Fish piece I ever read.
I agree with Professor Fish. As an English Literature major, I have experienced this deplorable situation first hand. The irony is that those same teachers who renege on their responsibility to teach grammar will still hold their students up to the traditional standards while grading their compositions. The most irresponsible of all are the writing teachers. I have taken several college level writing classes, and every one of the teachers began the class with a proclamation that "writing cannot be taught" as if writing involved no technical skills, only creativity!
ReplyDelete