This e-mail from Alan Liu marked the start of an intense NASSR-L
dicussion.
Some messages are reposted here. For the full discussion, see the NASSR-
L archive.
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997
From: "Alan Liu"
To: North American Society for the Study of Romanticism
Subject: The Survey/a response
Susan mentioned my anticipatory worries about the the survey results that
have just been released. These were the reasons (as I expressed them to
Susan) why I am concerned about the survey--both in its interpretation
and
its use. I had wanted to write a longer, more carefully argued letter on
the matter (and actually started a draft); but in the interest of
timeliness I am here simply reposting my earlier language without benefit
of the adjustments I would now ideally want to make:
(a) a questionnaire of this sort that depends on volunteers, and
e-mail-savvy ones at that, is not dependable when the issue has to do
with
change. The person who reads NASSR-L is more, rather than less,
sensitive
to change. (b) The hypothesis about the long 18th and 19th century vs.
Romanticism was previewed in advance of the questionnaire; this may
pre-shape the response. (c) Such a survey would be more interpretable if
measured against an equivalent
survey in other period-fields. (Romanticism is certainly not the only
period feeling the threat of extinction. Given the recent debates in our
department regarding searches in the 20th century versus searches in any
previous period, it may well be that all the historical fields will
before
long be rolled up in a single field on the model of the "classics." In
this light, the "long"-century syndrome is a step in that direction.)
The
reason I care about this is that I very much fear that any finding to the
effect that Romanticism is dying as a professional field will be a
self-fulfilling prophecy. This conclusion will be disseminated among
colleagues and administrators who are looking for a reason to downsize
wherever they can. I am not convinced that a survey of NASSR-L members
that depends on voluntary responses can be objective or authoritative
enough to warrant volunteering ourselves as the first period to put its
neck on the chopping block.
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