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| Stanford University professor Robert Pogue Harrison. |
The Merriam Webster Dictionary contains the following entry on 鈥渁ge (noun)鈥�: 鈥淭he time of life at which some particular qualification, power, or capacity arises or rests鈥� a period of time dominated by a central figure or prominent feature鈥� a period in history or human progress.鈥�
It goes on (dictionaries do) but that summation indicates that Robert Pogue Harrison has a lot of ground to cover in his talk on 鈥淭he Phenomenon of Age.鈥� Surely he can鈥檛 intend to deal with teenagers, midlife crises and the Jurassic Era all at once? The English department鈥檚 website is cryptic on the matter 鈥� 鈥淧rofessor Harrison's talk will deal with "age" in several senses of the term - geological, biological, historical and personal.鈥� And Dr. Harrison鈥檚 background doesn鈥檛 give anything away 鈥� though he鈥檚 being hosted by the English department, he鈥檚 originally a scholar of Italian, initially inspired by Dante (his first book was called The Body of Beatrice) before branching out.
Interrogating professors didn鈥檛 provide any clues about The Phenomenon of Age. 鈥淚 have no idea what it鈥檚 about,鈥� says Professor Alice Brittan, who along with Christina Luckyj invited Dr. Harrison to speak on Thursday 鈥� it will be his first visit, not only to AV俱乐部, but to Nova Scotia. Dr. Brittan, an English professor, is a long-time fan of Dr. Harrison and praises him effusively. 鈥淚鈥檝e read most of his work and I really love his work.鈥� Her interest is partly professional. 鈥淚t is an academic interest, although his work is not necessarily applicable to mine鈥� I talk about Harrison鈥檚 work often when I鈥檓 teaching.鈥� But Dr. Brittan is also a personal fan, raving about Harrison鈥檚 radio show (鈥淓ntitled Opinions鈥�, which airs Tuesdays on Stanford University鈥檚 KZSU 90.1 station.) 鈥淭here鈥檚 a show on Jimi Hendrix alongside shows on Karl Marx鈥� I鈥檝e listened to five or six shows now and this is an amazing radio show.鈥�
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Which is a great job description, but I still had no idea what this 鈥淧henomenon of Age鈥� was.聽 Deciding to go right to the source, I emailed Robert Pogue Harrison himself, demanding he reveal his secrets. Though perhaps not sufficiently frightened of earning the ire of a student reporter, Dr. Harrison was congenially forthcoming about The Phenomenon of Age: 鈥淢y talk is related to my general concern about an increasingly alarming loss of cultural, political, and moral maturity in western societies鈥� The subject is related both to my work as an Italianist as well as to the new book I am working on, which deals with the topic of age from the perspective of cultural history.鈥�
He does add a disclaimer: 鈥淧eople who are interested in advice on how to age well, or what they should do to keep themselves psychologically and physically young, will not get much to take home with them from my talk.鈥� But if Dr. Brittan鈥檚 rave reviews are any indication, people with more esoteric leanings 鈥� philosophy to classics, Ovid to Heidigger 鈥� may glean a few nuggets of wisdom.
Dr. Robert Pogue Harrison will speak on the Phenomenon of Age on Thursday, September 30, 7 p.m., in the McCain building鈥檚 Scotiabank Auditorium.
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