"Lost in the Meritocracy" by Walter Kirn

[maradydd]

In which postmodernism and the decay of the modern university from the inside out drive a man to the brink of madness and ruin, and the one thing he has evaded for the whole of his academic career is the only thing that can bring him back.

Extended discussion later, maybe. I am tempted to start dissecting this beast right now, if only for the fact that if I go to sleep now I will likely have nightmares about it. This is horror of Lovecraftian magnitude, though it more properly follows in the footsteps of Poe. The young man from Providence wrote terror stories, in which the Unspeakable Elder Things are outside not only the ken of man but also of what man can know. In Kirn's tale, as in Poe, corruption and evil emerge from within -- they are born of man, they take root in the narrator, and they suffuse and pervert one of the greatest institutions of mankind. Yet these monstrosities are classic Yog-Sothothery, for they are demons of unreason, blind gibbering egregores that wreak havoc on the narrator's very grasp of sanity. Nyarlathotep walks the halls and eating-clubs of Princeton.

Oh, and by the way, it's nonfiction.

Pleasant dreams.

Comments

[john-j-enright.livejournal.com]

Wow. But in its way, a tale of redemption.

[ernunnos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, makes me glad I took the scholarship at the state school.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Ah.

He found his tree, hung on it, won his runes, and came down. I approve.

(it's been a theologically fascinating evening)

-- Lorrie

[feonixrift.livejournal.com]

Sounds just like college... I don't know what to say, other than it didn't give me any nightmares - I'd already seen them. Right down to the mirror. Well written though, and a fine reminder.

[ivy]

I was still too bright-eyed and naive to see that through college and grad school. I'm sure now that it would have worked, but then again, you see those people all throughout the business world too. Most of them are in management. I'm perfectly happy to work with them if I can convince them that it's more valuable to listen to me than otherwise. Usually this is the case. I'd rather have someone who had a brain, but better an echo chamber than a backstabbing opportunist.

It is all quite depressing.

[whimsywanderer.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

I saw something similar at Harvard, though from the outside, and I didn't recognize it at the time. It's interesting, and somewhat distressing, though I am no more horrified by the facile imbeciles than their nepotist peers.

The system, or systems, have always been hotbeds of abuse and corruption. We are no more fucked by this than we are by a million other myriad tides of unknown factors, of chaotic flow. Work with what you can see, and always be prepared to revise your plans.