Monocles.

[Dr Doran]

I have been thinking about wearing a monocle. As I often shave my head completely bald and wear a suit and black tie, I am thinking it would look stylish. No one wears them at all anymore. Or am I wrong? I have seen a few on e-bay ... any advice?

 

[GOK]

Mr Eardley is the man to speak to. In fact, if you check out the thread in the Steamer Trunk about the London get together, you may well see a photo of him wearing his. And very distinguished he looks too, if I may say so.

BTW - welcome to the Lounge, Doran!

 

[Dr Doran]

Thank you, GOK! It is a pleasure to converse here with sophisticates possessing such fine taste and gentle manners. (Rather than the screaming "artiste" postmodernists and hairy radicals with whom I am accustomed to converse at my university, Berkeley.) I will look up Mr Eardley.

 

[GOK]

Oh I don't know - Postmodernism isn't too bad...in its place! Enjoy your time here, Doran and good luck with the occular accoutrements!.

Oh, and welcome to the world to Domenika! Lovely name.

 

[Dr Doran]

Thank you. It's actually Dominika with an i. It's the Polish spelling. My wife is Polish and she and her sister chose the name; I liked it right away. Nika for short.
As for postmodernism ... check out Keith Windschuttle's book "the killing of history." Cranky, windbaggy .... and brilliant. He tears Foucault into flopping bloody ragged bits. It's artful.

 

[Harp]

Thank you, GOK! It is a pleasure to converse here with sophisticates possessing such fine taste and gentle manners. (Rather than the screaming "artiste" postmodernists and hairy radicals with whom I am accustomed to converse at my university, Berkeley.) I will look up Mr Eardley.

Postmodernism is epidemic, my friend. And most campus radicals haven't
had an original thought since puberty, which may account their intellectual
immaturity and decided lack of manners.

 

[Dr Doran]

Postmodernism is epidemic, my friend. And most campus radicals haven't
had an original thought since puberty, which may account their intellectual
immaturity and decided lack of manners.

My agreement with you is profound, my good Harp. However, I am always aware of the need to moderate my expression of said agreement in mixed company, for I am a PhD student at Berkeley (in "Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology") and many of my colleagues in the Classics department are most enthusiastically postmodern themselves. And certain criticisms of them lead them to call their critics very vile names that can stick to you like a bright orange tacky refrigerator magnet and make it difficult to get a job at a university as a professor later.

 

[Cracker]

Postmodernism...Foucault...snake pit academic department...shudder

Bad memories. I'm so glad I didn't finish that Ph.D. Good luck with yours, though. Mediterranean archaeology sounds very interesting.

 

[Harp]

Postmodernism...Foucault...snake pit academic department...shudder

Bad memories. I'm so glad I didn't finish that Ph.D. Good luck with yours, though. Mediterranean archaeology sounds very interesting.

Foucault's focus on self-constitution rather than democratic rule does
seem evident in campi snake pits....

 

[Harp]

...I forgot to add congratulations on becoming a father!!!!

 

[pigeon toe]

Wait -- back to monocles! How does one actually wear them? Excuse my ignorance, but do you really have to scrunch up your eye to keep it in?

 

[reetpleat]

That is kind of the problem. You don't really wear a monocle. You kind of wear it on a string or chain hanging down, and place it in your eye for reading something.

I honestly don't think it would be easy to pull off a monocle. If you are an older guy that dresses pretty formally and traditionally.

Of course the main way to pull something off is to be into it and not self conscious about it. So if you want to, hey, go for it.

Unfortunately, there is one thing that comes to mind when I think of monocles.

Hoooooogggaaaaaaaaaan!

 

[Sefton]

If you do wear a monocle you'll be in good company:

The great director/actor Erich von Stroheim wore his with a shaved head (WWI uniform and neck brace optional...)
No chain needed if you have eyelid disipline!

 

[Harp]

My agreement with you is profound, my good Harp. However, I am always aware of the need to moderate my expression of said agreement in mixed company, for I am a PhD student at Berkeley (in "Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology") and many of my colleagues in the Classics department are most enthusiastically postmodern themselves. And certain criticisms of them lead them to call their critics very vile names that can stick to you like a bright orange tacky refrigerator magnet and make it difficult to get a job at a university as a professor later.

...Consentire. I thought Alan Bloom was unfairly chastised by
George Anastaplo and others at the U of Chicago for his Closing.
D'Sousa is similarly treated today.

 

[Dr Doran]

...Consentire. I thought Alan Bloom was unfairly chastised by
George Anastaplo and others at the U of Chicago for his Closing.
D'Sousa is similarly treated today.

As to monocles: I do not wish to wear a chain or thread or cord, as these are too disfiguring in photographs. The person noting that it is best to wear such things unselfconsciously is of course correct, although when trying a new thing I think selfconsciousness is inevitable at first. The scrunching of the eye promises to be a bit difficult, but many monocles seem to have extra protrusions that are worn on the interior -- that is, between the eye itself (or its socket, rather) and the ring which holds the lens. These should help with the necessity of scrunching. I am a bit surprised that more people on this forum do not wear monocles besides the good Mr Eardsley; it seems a natural for aficionados of this sort of style. PERHAPS THE RETURN OF THE NOBLE MONOCLE IS NIGH.

As to Alan Bloom, I heartily agree with you, good Harp, about the criticism for "Closing" in general, although I have not read the critic you reference. D'Souza's first two long works were very good, in my opinion; if you liked his second, I would recommend -- if you have not read it -- Thomas Sowell's 2006 masterpiece. John McWhorter also has much of value to say on certain of these subjects.

And in closing, I appreciate the sweet good wishes on my daughter's birth of all of you who have kindly given them. I am greatly impressed by the bonhomie and lovely manners I have encountered in this fine forum.

 

[Dr Doran]

Postmodernism...Foucault...snake pit academic department...shudder

Bad memories. I'm so glad I didn't finish that Ph.D. Good luck with yours, though. Mediterranean archaeology sounds very interesting.

What subject was the PhD going to be in? Where were you doing it? When? I have been tempted many times to leave graduate school, because I hate many of my colleagues and find the exams a pain (in my case French, German, Ancient Greek, Latin, Ancient Greek History 594 - 338 BC, Roman History 133 BC - 69 AD, Phoenician History until 146 BC), but the subject matter is so interesting that it trumps the annoying bits. Plus I know that if I quit and opened a vintage store, I'd miss reading Thucydides. Yes, Berkeley has some snakes in its pit. BUT IF I WEAR A MONOCLE THEY'LL LEAVE ME BE. They'll be intimidated. Scared. Yeah, that's it.

 

[Harp]

What subject was the PhD going to be in? Where were you doing it? When? I have been tempted many times to leave graduate school, because I hate many of my colleagues and find the exams a pain (in my case French, German, Ancient Greek, Latin, Ancient Greek History 594 - 338 BC, Roman History 133 BC - 69 AD, Phoenician History until 146 BC), but the subject matter is so interesting that it trumps the annoying bits. Plus I know that if I quit and opened a vintage store, I'd miss reading Thucydides. Yes, Berkeley has some snakes in its pit. BUT IF I WEAR A MONOCLE THEY'LL LEAVE ME BE. They'll be intimidated. Scared. Yeah, that's it.

Impia tortorum longos hic turba furores
Sanguinis innocui, non satiata, aluit.

Und viel gluck mit ein monocle!

 

[Dr Doran]

If you do wear a monocle you'll be in good company:

The great director/actor Erich von Stroheim wore his with a shaved head (WWI uniform and neck brace optional...)
No chain needed if you have eyelid disipline!

It was Stroheim who made me think of the monokel in the first place. He looks so dashing when young, in the book Hollywood Babylon, and the monocle he wore later always looked stylish. I also like the fencing scars many men of his generation sported, like Rudolf Diels. They are all dead now. (But I don't think I'll wear a WW1 costume.)

 

[HadleyH]

If you do wear a monocle you'll be in good company:

The great director/actor Erich von Stroheim wore his with a shaved head (WWI uniform and neck brace optional...)
No chain needed if you have eyelid disipline!

Wow Doran! ... is that really the look you are going for? Pretty striking I'd say... lol

 

[Dr Doran]

No, I'm thinking more a 30s suit, tie, and monocle. One must have a little fun in life, mustn't one? Besides, in my field it's sort of expected that I cultivate some eccentricities.