Self-Culture and the Private Value of the Humanities

• Published in: College literature Vol. 45; no. 4; pp. 587 - 595
• Main Author: Warren, Kathryn Hamilton
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: West Chester Johns Hopkins University Press 01.09.2018
• Subjects: 19th century; American literature; Biographies; Conferences; Essays; Humanities; Journals (Academic); Lecture Method; Literary criticism; Males; Public speaking; Self study; Thoreau, Henry David (1817-1862); Transcendentalism; Websites; Writing
• ISSN: 0093-3139; 1542-4286; 1542-4286
• DOI: 10.1353/lit.2018.0033

Thoreau insisted on the embrace—for his own part and for others. [...]I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives" (3). Shifting from scholarly to public writing can be difficult for those trained in academese, nor is public writing given much, if any, institutional support. Because one can't earn tenure, at most institutions, by writing for a general audience alone, tenure-track faculty must put their time and effort toward publishing in peer-reviewed journals and with scholarly presses. Non-tenure-track faculty, in contrast, have more freedom (albeit less money and, in some cases, less time) to address listeners beyond the ivory tower. [...]if we believe that justice depends on valuing each and every human life, scale is beside the point: cultivating even a single self matters deeply.