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Paul Fussell
From Doing Battle
(Little, Brown, 1996)
From Chapter Six
For those of us returning to colleges after strenuous
or boring or horrible combat years, English studies leading to careers as
professors of English seemed much more attractive than at other times. Former
soldiers like John Ciardi, Louis Simpson, James Dickey, Karl Shapiro, and
Richard Wilbur filled the graduate schools, aiming at the teaching of English
literature to a generation unbrutalized by war. We all hoped, secretly if not
openly, that our efforts would help restore subtlety, civility and decency
after their wartime disappearance. This seemed almost a religious act,
demanding from its devotees their complete emotional and spiritual commitment.
The world was now to be saved from its folly, brutality, and coarseness of
conscience by the techniques of close reading and disciplined explication. And
if some wisdom could be gathered on the way, that would be useful too.
Hear Paul Fussell read this passage (in RealAudio):
"Back to School" (1:29):
RA 28.8,
RA 14.4
(For help,
see a note about the audio.)
Return to The Other Side of War: An Interview With Paul Fussell
Copyright © 1996 by Paul Fussell. All rights
reserved.
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