Clifford Robinson

Classicist and public humanist. The views expressed here are only my own, not those of any institution with which I am associated.

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

Maybe we won’t reach mutual comprehension by tweeting at each other.

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

Trying to do some writing to go along with my reading this summer. Here's "Milton's Attempt and the Poetry of Temptation:" https://t.co/xL4MoTPaG7

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@GavinKellyLatin Thank you! I’ve written to you to request the link to the virtual programme.

[Gavin Kelly @GavinKellyLatin]

Do please come to the launch of The Cambridge History of Later Latin Literature in Edinburgh on 20 April. A colloquium runs from 13.30 to 18.00 in Seminar Room 1, Chrystal Macmillan Building (programme on next slide); also online -- just write to one of the editors (1/3)

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@johnbyronkuhner Tremendous! Basically anyone can get a lifetime of edification for the price of a decent cocktail.

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

This path into reading premodern texts is also one of the most cost effective ways to proceed.

[Jaycel Adkins 鍾書 @JaycelAdkins]

If you want to get into ‘Classics/Great Books’ do this:

Go to your local bookstore, browse the shelves and pull down every Penguin Classics book and read the back cover. If it jives with you, enter there.

[Joshua McManaway @jrmcmanaway]

Submit a proposal for this and come hang out at ND with me. The @ND_EthicsCenter puts on one of the best conferences one can attend every single year.

[de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture @ND_EthicsCenter]

Call for papers: our 26th annual Notre Dame Fall Conference, "But Where Can She Be Found? Wisdom From Age to Age" (October 1–3, 2026) will discuss wisdom in all its forms. Learn more and submit a proposal by May 25: https://t.co/Bh7M0F9v0C

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@IanNelsonMills @erin_zoutendam @jrmcmanaway @philipgporter Fwiw, my impression is that Philosophy has a deeper, but more contentious relationship with W than any other field. In those other fields his thought has been too quickly assimilated to other then current trends, so that poststructuralism continues to overshadow his thought.

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@erin_zoutendam @IanNelsonMills @jrmcmanaway @philipgporter About him too*

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@erin_zoutendam @IanNelsonMills @jrmcmanaway @philipgporter Yeah, I was thinking about, as well as the Philosophy Department, where another family resemblance prevails. I still think W’s legacy may be the sleeping giant of 20th c. thought, even in spite of all these tentacular connections.

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@erin_zoutendam @IanNelsonMills @jrmcmanaway @philipgporter Yes, that would be a rather different orientation! I suppose these two areas of Wittgestein interpretation at Duke are connected by Sarah Beckwith, whose Shakespeare book, I think, is in dialogue with Moi’s Ibsen book.

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@AntigoneJournal @ProfEricAdler @nishanciefendi @ProfEricAdler has an excellent article on the topic in CW 108.2!

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@jrmcmanaway @philipgporter Not precisely—but I was a lurker around many of the Literature programs brilliant people and W had a footprint among that group and in the English Department. For me the crucial thing was Toril Moi’s powerful example—which leads beyond post-structuralism in distinctive ways.

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@jrmcmanaway @philipgporter We should talk about this some time!

[DCCommentaries @DCComm]

Neo-Latin Texts Written Outside of Europe: A Resource Guide, from The Library of Congress https://t.co/kOL3AzOBZi

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@Eklundsays That it terminates necessarily at some point.

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@Eklundsays He told me an enjoyable anecdote about Derrida and a presentation on the Van Gogh shoes. The point of the presentation was to run out of time by working through a plentitude of such representations—paintings, pictures from magazines, ads, etc.—to show that discourse always ends.

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@Eklundsays Couldn’t agree more—I just met him at an event for Daniel Heller-Roazen’s new book and he was both insightful and a genial presence.

[Clifford Robinson @PubliclyHuman]

@JanieH @oodja @MerriamWebster There’s a lot of consternation among Classics peeps w/r/t the Roman lead poisoning claims that come up every so often. That said, there’s something here for sure! I’d love to know more about the contexts in which ‘plumb-‘ derivations were used in the intervening centuries!

[Ella Dorn 唐棠 @elladorn_]

Really interesting thing on TikTok where the "dark academia" obsession has led a certain set of influencers into designing and following "personal curricula" - basically reverse-engineering the autodidact Victorian miners. Overwhelmingly positive, I think