A few years ago I had to staff the Economics table at the Majors Fair. Next to me (in alphabetical order) was the English Department, which had not only Gina but also Sam Pickering and Wally Lamb signing their books. I felt like the Maytag repair man.

I regret to inform you that you and I now read not one, but two of the same blogs. As a student of yours I find this unacceptable (see the reasoning above). I was sufficiently creeped out to see you recommend me The Monkey Cage one year into my daily habit of reading it. Whenever you are incarnated from the ether, please make sure that it happens on other blogs.

In addition, please note that the comic strip once known as “Bloom County” will be better recognized as its current incarnation, “Opus,” though I fear the references will remain as obscure as ever.

Grad courses, at least the ones that are topic-oriented seminars, should definitely provide an introduction to (and analysis of) the body of literature on that topic. And the course should cover all the relevant classics. I guess most seminar courses do to some degree.

Most courses I’ve taken in grad school (regardless of country and university) have however not been like that. In some courses, even seminar-style courses, the professor(s) have even told students that the literature is different every time the course is offered. Then the syllabus necessarily cannot be a comprehensive bibliography.

Not to speak of the core courses, in most of which it is definitely not the case. Unless the numbers, Greek letters, and derivatives are thought to be “comprehensive” in some way…