Infinite MonkeysThe great essayist and scholar Jacques Barzun celebrated his 100th birthday yestarday. (Truth be told, I began writing this on Friday, but I was distracted by... well, life. So it goes.)
Barzun's books, which include The House of Intellect, Berlioz and the Romantic Century, The Culture We Deserve, and, more recently, From Dawn to Decadence, have had a profound influence on my education. I never had a professor quite like Barzun, whose exploits in the lecture hall are legendary. But I had some great teachers, and great friends, without whom I would never have discovered Barzun. So I consider him an adjunct professor.
In my professional life I still refer to Barzun's writing guide, Simple and Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers, a far more lively and instructive volume than Strunk and White ever pretended to be. I'm not sure whether good writing is teachable, nor whether this is a good sentence. But I'm certain Barzun could provide a definitive answer.
Jeffrey Hart, a legend in is own right, pays tribute to Barzun in the November number of The New Criterion. "Barzun," Hart writes, "made his students feel that what they wanted to achieve was possible, and was an enabler.... Barzun was an educator in the literal sense of the word: educere, 'to lead out.' For that generations of students are indebted to him.
So indeed. Here are a few of my favorite aphorisms from the great man:
Happy (belated) birthday, professor.
Posted by Ben at December 1, 2007 09:01 PM | TrackBack