I got to see Camille Paglia tonight.

[nemo137]

At Borders up in Madision. She talks like crazy. She talked about why we need art, what the critic's job is ("To say 'read this! This will reward you!' "), the problems with liberalism (no spiritual dimension), post-structuralism (it's shit), memoir (it's self-indulgent shit), and feminist poetry ("After 'Daddy,' what's left to say?"). Brilliant. Our English teacher offered us extra credit to go, so a bunch of juniors and seniors from my school showed up. I have never seen my teacher that happy, let me tell you. I got lighsabred (that's how the store clerks decided to control the line) for asking her too many questions in the signing line. My friend Jay asked her what she thought about the old Star Wars movies vs. the new ones. It was, in a word, dorktastic.

Very good evening.

[hfojvt]

1. I remember reading one of her books

and deciding that I did not like her very much. I cannot remember why, but I remember that.

[nemo137]

2. Until a few days ago, I'd only raed her when someone used her work

in a paper I was proofreading. It all seemed to work, but I'd never gotten out to buy any of her books. I've started her first book Sexual Personae , and I'm loving it so far.

[norml]

4. Here's what The Plaid Adder had to say.

You Gotta Get A Gimmick
(to the tune of Stephen Sondheim's song of the same name from the hit musical Gypsy.)



LOUISE: Oh, I don't actually do theory.
CAMILLE PAGLIA: Something wrong with doing theory?
LOUISE: N-no, nothing, it's only I just can't write very well and my ideas aren't really very original or clearly expressed, and...
JACQUES LACAN: You think theirs are? Trust me, to be a theorist all you need is no talent.
JACQUES DERRIDA: Au contraire, Jacques, I believe that to write badly is not enough. You also need an idea that makes your work special.




You can do your close reading
Till your hands are bleeding,
Write through the night till you're dead,
But until you get a gimmick, you're never going to get ahead.
Talk about aesthetics
Till you're apoplectic--
Explicate texts till you drop,
But until you get a gimmick, you're never going to get a job.

You can write
Real obscure,
Convoluted prose--
Tu n'auras pas la chance.
Me, I write
Real obscure
Convoluted prose--
But it's with a differance!

Any kinda structure
Will eventually rupture,
So why worry about what you me-ean?
Get yourself a gimmick, and play the deconstruction scene!

LACAN: You can write
Real obscure
Convluted prose--
That still won't do the trick.
Me, I write
Real obscure
Convoluted prose--
But it's all about my prick!

I celebrate the phallus,
Not out of spite and malice,
But just to win me fortune and fa-ame...
Get yourself a gimmick, the world will not forget your name!

PAGLIA: You can write
Really bad
And abusive prose--
Ain't gonna make you rich.
Me I write
Really bad
And abusive prose,
But I'm a colossal bitch!

Your career'll take off flying
Without your even trying
If you tell the boys what they wanna he-ear...
Get yourself a gimmick, the Man will further your career!

CHORUS (sung as a round): Do something different, anything that's different, and you'll be a big fat star!

LACAN:
You wanna play the palace?
Celebrate the phallus.
PAGLIA:
To be a big contender,
Just betray your gender.
DERRIDA:
If you wanna use 'em,
Boggle and confuse 'em!

CHORUS:
You're more than just a mimic
When you've got a gimmick!
Take a look how different we are...
Get yourself a gimmick and you, too,
Can be a star!

http://www.plaidder.com/english.htm

[TaleWgnDg]

5. Yup. I agree . . . in short, she's a . . .

.
Yup. I agree . . . in short, she's a . . . pontificating *ss, Paglia, that is.

[norml]

3. Here's my thread on her.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=3028324

[Tom Kitten]

6. I have a certain little tolerance for her...

She can do her best to enamour me but I think she is intrinsically a nut job...sorry, but that's the way I feel...

[Marnieworld]

7. I had Paglia as a teacher for a year at Uarts

Ask me anything!

[Plaid Adder]

8. Can she actually teach?

I read one of her articles from before she was famous for a project I was doing and I was floored by how BAD it was. Can she actually lead a class on literature in a way that people get something out of it? Or does she just grandstand?

The Plaid Adder

[Marnieworld]

10. Yes she can actually teach

I had her for a humanities class Art and Western Civilization I think it was called in 1989-90. I loved her as a teacher. It was just right before she published that big fat manifesto that made her famous. What was it called? Anyway she made a point of telling us all that it took 15 years to write and that it was being published.

Anyway, she's a kook. She talks a million miles a minute, total stream of consciousness, but it's an interesting and really informed stream. She always referred to herself and her perspective as a aging intellectual product of the 60s when discussing anything. She was not "out" then with her students but perhaps she is now. She either was too hot or too cold and opened and closed windows constantly. All of this was quite entertaining and kept my attention. People either loved her or hated her. I was very interested in the subject so I studied a lot and did very well. Others just coasted through the required course and wished they could be concentrating on their art instead. So you get what you put into it as any class I guess.

One thing that we'll always stay with me about her. She was one of two teachers in my life that saw through my writing. I could always write well but I was lazy. I would write my term papers off the top of my head since I was about 9, filling in the blanks with a quote or two and often what I imagined the facts to be. With the exception of just one other professor, Paglia was the only one who figured it out. She pushed me in my writing and I really even now appreciate it. So that's good teaching. I still have retained a lot of the material as well.

My favorite Paglia memory has nothing to do with her teaching though. I have always had allergies and a bad sense of smell because of it. I mistakenly spilled a bit of perfume on my typing paper and handed in a paper to her right before Christmas break. When we returned I received my paper in a plastic bag. She said that she had to isolate all of the papers on her porch until she could determine which was the offending paper and it took her a few weeks to pinpoint me as the culprit. In addition to the comments about the writing she told me not to use so much perfume and compared me to Belle Watling of Gone With the Wind. Some students in another class that didn't like her, organized themselves to all wearing that perfume(Calvin Klein's Eternity) one cold day and it drove her absolutely insane. Not a far trip of course! ;-)

[Bridget Burke]

9. I thought "Sexual Personae" was interesting.

I enjoyed her take on myth & literature. Not that I agreed with all of it.

But she soon succumbed to the lure of being the anti-feminist-feminist talking head. Much easier to write snappy essays on current events than keep on writing about ancient and/or obscure stuff.

[Marnieworld]

11. That's the title

Sexual Personae I couldn't remember it.

[Bridget Burke]

14. But--you mentioned it took her 15 years to write!

I can see why she ditched continuing such a long project--as she had planned.

Much easier to write snarky reviews & provide the occasional contrarian sound-byte. I used to read her articles but she kept repeating herself.

[Marnieworld]

18. Yah I liked her stuff on Salon

I don't always agree with her, but I love her non-conformity. She's a unique voice but sometimes she is a parody of herself. Her recent appearance on Bill Maher was disappointing.

[RandomKoolzip]

12. Didn't she write some bullshit about women enjoying rape?

I stopped paying attention to her when I heard about that. From what I remember about her time in the limelight in the early 90's, she seemed like a charlatan.

And she's aligned herself with parts of the conservative movement.

I'll stick with bell hooks and Valerie Solanis, thank you very much.

[Maddy McCall]

15. Yes. Or more appropriately, that women ask for it.

She is one of the 1990s anti-feminist "feminists." The "I got mine, and fuck all of you" kind of feminist. She's in the same group with Christina Hoff Summers and Elizabeth Fox Genovese. She's an utter and complete turd.

A side note: She's a lesbian, too. I find that ironic, because she hates women.

[RandomKoolzip]

16. Ick...Hoff Summers....YUCK.

I read most of her book on how "boys are oppressed" and wanted to overdose on NyQuil.

Yeah, those poor boys! They only beat up those smaller than themselves because their power makes them so sad.

[Maddy McCall]

13. Camille Paglia is a piece of shit.

[imenja]

17. a reactionary piece of shit