From dlupher@ups.edu Sat Dec 2 15:23:32 2000 Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.05/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id PAA133060 for ; Sat, 2 Dec 2000 15:23:31 -0800 Received: from mail.ups.edu (main.ups.edu [192.124.98.219]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.02/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id PAA17428 for ; Sat, 2 Dec 2000 15:23:30 -0800 Received: from [207.207.116.71] (wyatt1dhcp71.ups.edu [207.207.116.71]) by mail.ups.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id PAA30029 for ; Sat, 2 Dec 2000 15:23:24 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: In-Reply-To: <021200337.38339@63.214.94.74> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 15:20:27 -0800 To: classics@u.washington.edu From: David Lupher Subject: Re: Professor Lupher's barb Michael Wells Glueck objects to my characterization of his recent ad on the Classics List for "Living Among the Swiss" as "louche." I agree, and I apologize. After sending that message, it occurred to me that that "louche" was a bit harsh. I meant "gauche." Mr. Glueck appears to compare my "barb" at him with what he terms another of my "fortuitous" (perhaps he meant "gratuitous"?) "slings and arrows: "the one directed at an esteemed colleague who, I believe he suggested, should solve the Jesus quest because that would give him 'something interesting to do.'" Having skimmed over my contributions to the Jesus Quest extravaganza of last month, I have failed to locate the "barb" in question. I'm tempted to say that the barbs I slung at Mr. Laupot were "barbier" than that! But Mr. Glueck is on the right track in suspecting that there is some similarity in my responses to Mr. Laupot and to himself. It is my belief--- and hope---that when my posting tone verges on the sarcastic it is in response to a poster's excessive or over-confident self-promotion. Mr. Laupot, you will recall, announced to the list that he had published a five- or six-page article that "solves the problem of the historical Jesus." Mr. Glueck is a tireless (dare I say "shameless"?) promoter of his own non-classical book---indeed, after my "barb" was slung, *three* identical copies of his ad appeared on this list. That is self-promotion with a vengeance (perhaps literally). Should I ever face the prospect of venturing into darkest Switzerland and daring to live among its exotic natives, perhaps I should do well to secure a copy of Mr. Glueck's book. But one circumstance inspires me to doubt his prowess at understanding and adjusting to odd cultures. He appears to be experiencing some difficulty in assessing and adapting to the folkways of that peculiar society known as the Classics List. While I would be the last to pretend that the tone of messages to this list is uniformly modest and self-effacing, naked self-promotion---indeed, self-marketing---of the sort Mr. Glueck favors has generally been absent from this list---especially when the classical content of the product being hawked becomes evident only when the wounded author plaintively declares that it is "rich in classical allusion and reference." Why, even in his irritated response to my posting, Mr. Glueck could not resist sneaking in an ad, supplying the ISBN of his book and noting that it is "published by Minerva Press in London and listed on all major online booksellers' websites." Speaking of websites, that of Minerva Press suggests one reason why Mr. Glueck is so assiduous in bringing his book to our attention: "Minerva Press offers a service designed to enable new authors to see their work in print. The author pays for the publication of the book..." I quite understand that Mr. Glueck is anxious to see that "Living Among the Swiss" achieves an even wider readership than many of the other volumes which appear alongside it on Minerva Press's "biography and memoir" list: e.g. "Dibby the Dog," "Dentists at War," "A Cat's Tale," and the intriguing autobiography "When Your Barber's Name is Chopp" by A. Chopp. But I do not believe that the Classics List is the most appropriate place for such advertising to appear. David Lupher Classics Dept. Univ. of Puget Sound .