It's too early for Fish

See, I got up this morning, and I've got a lot of work to do ... and next thing I know Stanley Fish has written another piece for the NYTimes, entitled "Intentional Neglect." Althouse has her read of it here.

I suppose it's my job as an English prof. in the TTLB Academy community to give a reasoned response to Fish's article ... but I can't. I'm too busy at the moment -- I've got to work on an article, a chapter, watch a training video (don't ask), and work on my ugly academic webpage. Wasting time on another Fish article seems akin to wasting time explaining why "Weekend at Bernie's II" was not a great film.

So, here's the short version, though I reserve the right to write up an expanded version if for some reason Fish lights up the blogosphere:

Fish's schtick is very tiresome. He's a sad case, like the former sports demi-god who keeps playing years after his prime. The fans keep applauding out of respect, but it becomes harder and harder to remember the days when he could slam-dunk. Worse, people look back on his old work and realize that he was never such a great player, but was a great self-promoter with a good agent.

I never thought much of Fish, but at one time there were others who did. He needs to stop sullying their memories. I could do a line-by-line critique of his article, which would normally be a sign of academic respect, but in this case I think it would be more disrespectful to do so.

So, polite applause for Fish, please, then let's ignore his article.