[New-Poetry] modernism/postmodernism

[Robin Hamilton]

Illustrative annecdote ...

When, in 1968, Derrida was about to launch post-modernism in Johns Hopkins, 
I was a wet behind the ears undergraduate in Glasgow who had just discovered 
de Saussure.

Quite independently [not having the least idea what was going on in JohnsH, 
and having just discovered de Saussure], I went rushing around to my 
favourite language lecturer (Jim Farrish) and said, "Hey, I've just come on 
this really cool guy ..."

Jim said <sigh>, "Robin, don't mess with boring nineteenth century Genevan 
linguists."

In the course of time, I've drawn lots of lessons from this -- the first 
being, if you really want to put someone off something, describe it as 
boring, and another obvious one being Glasgow linguistics in the sixties was 
pretty much off-the-wall [we were taught Maoist scale catagory grammar at 
the time The Rest of the World was into Chomsky] ...

Also, to be fair to Jim, at least he had *heard of de Saussure in 68.

Dunno what the motto is, dunno what it means.

Coulda been a contender ...

Robin