{"id":8974,"date":"2015-08-17T20:50:43","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T00:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=8974"},"modified":"2015-08-18T09:38:48","modified_gmt":"2015-08-18T13:38:48","slug":"episode-130-the-cult-of-experience-and-the-tyranny-of-relevance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-130-the-cult-of-experience-and-the-tyranny-of-relevance","title":{"rendered":"Episode 130 – The Cult of Experience and the Tyranny of Relevance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show #130:
\nElizabeth Samet –
\nThe Cult of Experience and the Tyranny of Relevance<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Episode_130_-_The_Cult_of_Experience_and_the_Tyranny_of_Relevance.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“How do you learn things? How do you acquire the patience to admit when you don’t know things? I think those are really important things for an Army officer to know.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"41X6zxtIM4L._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_\"<\/a>Elizabeth D. Samet has been a professor of English at West Point since 1997. We talk about the tension between education and training at the military academy, the importance of books to soldiers and officers serving overseas, learning West Point’s unique argot,\u00a0preparing her students to be unprepared, trying (and failing) to convince Robert Fagles that Hector is the moral center of the Iliad<\/em>, why she doesn’t\u00a0teach Henry V<\/em> to plebes, how not to get caught up in the tyranny of relevance, why she balked at learning the fine art of parachuting, and more! Give it a listen!<\/a><\/p>\n

“The question I’m endlessly fascinated with is, what do we call war and what do we call peace and can we draw these nice distinctions? It seems to me right now that we can’t.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

NOTE: The opinions Elizabeth Samet expresses in this interview are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of West Point, the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense.<\/em><\/p>\n

We also talk about teaching students who are both future Army officers and 18-year-old kids, how West Point and the student body changed after 9\/11, her new anthology (Leadership<\/a>\"\") and her first two books (Soldier’s Heart<\/a>\"\" and No Man’s Land<\/a>\"\"), her house-on-fire list of books to save, her quarrel with Plato, and her adoration of Simeon’s Maigret novels. Bonus: I tell a long, awful and emotional story from last weekend (it starts around the 75:00 mark, so feel free to stop long before that).<\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Episode_130_-_The_Cult_of_Experience_and_the_Tyranny_of_Relevance.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“I have this idea about Plato: no one loves Plato who does not already think himself a guardian.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We talk about a lot of of books in this episode. Here’s a list of ’em (Note: if I ever go to a Patreon crowdfunding model for the show, this is the first thing that goes subscriber-only)<\/em>:<\/p>\n