It has been almost two years since I published The Life of Words: Etymology and Modern Poetry, and even longer since I stopped working on it. A couple of reviews have come out, one just the other day. They’re by Barry Wallenstein (in Choice) and Stephanie Burt (in Modern Philology).
The latter is free to read without any special credentials: follow the link here. What I like and admire about Burt’s review is how it handles so charitably what Burt clearly was left wanting. When I started the project, almost fifteen years ago, I had in mind a book that would set out terms for further work. And as I was coming to the end, I was conscious of large swathes I was leaving unmown beyond the hill (or Hill). I’m grateful Burt saw it that way as well and said so, when she might easily have taken it–or presented it–as ignorant or pernicious. Academics, after all, tend to prioritize their own curiosities, practices, pathways, and tendencies over those of them they read, and attribute all sorts of deficiency to the gap between.
Here are some excerpts: Read More