Coming to Terms with Harris

With the Joseph Harris book we are finally engaging some of the central concerns of academic writing. There are two points that we touched on in class and that I want to emphasize in this post.

First, I hope you noticed Harris’s idea of academic writing. In many ways it overlaps, but is not quite as expansive, as his idea of intellectual writing. Harris describes the job of the intellectual as “to push at and question what has been said before, to rethink and reinterpret the texts he or she is dealing with” (2). This is, ideally, the kind of work I hope to see you do in your writing. Harris defines “intellectual prose” as writing that “strives to be part of public life,” “prose addressed not to academic specialists but to general readers” (10). I am attracted to the same kind of intellectual prose that Harris is, so it is no coincidence that the a significant portion of our readings this semester will be from sources such as The Atlantic, the media, and political and cultural blogs, some of the same sources mentioned by Harris as examples. This connects with the idea of the course to investigate and develop civic literacy and, by extension, the practices of intellectual and academic writing.

Second, Harris advocates an approach to other texts, authors, and ideas that I think is too often lacking in our argument culture. He asks that readers and writers take a position toward the work of others that is “generous and fair” while also “playful, questioning, and assertive” (2). He later adds, “Academic writing rarely involves a simple taking of sides, an attack on or defense of set positions, but rather centers on a weighing of options, a sorting through of possibilities” (25). This is not to say that you should be neutral or refrain from having an opinion, only that generous readers are fair and look for the strengths as well as the limitations in other ideas.

That goes even for the work of Harris as well as the other texts we read in this class. I think Harris’s book is helpful and fits well with the course project, but I don’t mean to put it or any other course text in a privileged position. I tried to choose readings that show different views. You are welcome to take issue with any of these readings so long as you are practicing the kind of generosity that Harris encourages. This is a good habit to get into.

As final reminders, posts are due 24 hours before class and you are expected to comment upon one another’s posts. Harris gives some useful advice, and follows his own advice, on coming to terms and using quotations. Your blog posts are a good place to put some of that advice—especially regarding quotations—into use. They’ve been pretty strong so far. Keep it going.