The Sage’s Progress

SAMUEL PICKERING JR.

There is a class of ailments which, like the indiscretions of youth, are considered too commonplace to be delved into in the medical journals. Yet these ailments—the occupational hazards, such as tennis elbow and housemaid’s knee—are often far from trivial, and, as a survey of academics from Maine to California would reveal, one of them strikes at the very heart of our intellectual life. In the paneled halls of ivy there lurks—pomposity.

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SAMUEL PICKERING JR.

There is a class of ailments which, like the indiscretions of youth, are considered too commonplace to be delved into in the medical journals. Yet these ailments—the occupational hazards, such as tennis elbow and housemaid’s knee—are often far from trivial, and, as a survey of academics from Maine to California would reveal, one of them strikes at the very heart of our intellectual life. In the paneled halls of ivy there lurks—pomposity.