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4.5
Those of us who teach composition often ask our students the “So what?” question about their writing. After reading a draft of expository discourse, we will look our students in the eye—or, if we’re working in the solitude of our offices, we’ll simply scribble it in the margin—and ask “So what?” We believe we’re challenging the student to think more deeply about his/her analysis—why does this matter? What you’re saying here, why is it important? Who cares? Why is your writing relevant? And if it *is* relevant, to what and to whom is it relevant? What we’re really asking the student to do, however, is to justify the time anyone would spend reading what he/she has written.Miller, in an admirable act of scholarly chutzpah, turns this question around and asks the very same thing of academics, especially those of us who teach writing and are convinced that it truly matters. So what, he asks? In the face of global terror—he discusses events ranging from the Columbine massacre to 9-11 to the Unabomber and the Charles Van Doren quiz show scandal—what difference does writing make? Or all of the humanities, for that matter?A bracing inquiry, to say the least. Fortunately, Miller himself is one of us—the learned product of a liberal education and an academic who questions himself and his own practices as much as he questions anything else. He carefully parses the schisms between personal writing and academic discourse, as he does the alleged division between reader response theory and New Criticism.Engagingly written—stylistically, Miller has a refreshing edge, almost an attitude—and thought-provoking in ways that should make us all reconsider our practice, Miller’s book should be required reading for anyone working in a college or university English department.
