Oh, and the IMF? That’s just part of an international banking conglomerate that engages in predatory lending to developing countries–although you may want to get a second opinion on that, as in addition to being shallow, I’m biased. :-)

Remember the first time you tried to use a dictionary to figure out the spelling of “pharmacology”? It’s impossible unless you read the entire dictionary. In the same way, there’s nothing about a reference work that can help me identify vocabulary to describe my sense that Liam O’Flaherty’s thrust in “The Lamb” operates better when understood on the map of Modernism or Marxism rather than as a Pastoral unless I read an entire encyclopedia of literary theory and matched the different entries with my short story.

I think I’d probably have to read most of several subject encyclopedias to learn enough vocabulary to start searching effectively for information about paper-worthy discussions of the IMF.

Don’t get me wrong. This hunt for vocabulary is one of the two most frequent reasons that my students and I consult reference works. In fact, I’ve been meaning to write about this as it’s own separate post. But at a certain point, even reference works depend on character-matching.

But I will say, there are some pretty awesome lit students that I’ve worked with over the years here, so float in that ether, by all means. And then return to the earth and start training up more of them for me.

Who in the he** are these literature students who are asking about rhizomatics? Tell me, please, so that I may float in an ether of satisfaction! Deleuze at the undergrad level…. just imagine that.

Adriana