"like Elizabethan miniatures"

Young Man Among Roses (1585-95)

Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619)

Possibly Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex (1566-1601)

Miniature Painting

Museum No. P.163-1910

(Image from Victoria and Albert Museum)

I don't get much scholarly attention, perhaps deservedly, but occasionally somebody says something nice. Recently, a fellow Milton scholar privately informed me that my published articles (or, at least, some of them):

"are like Elizabethan miniatures: short, very finely crafted, exhibiting superb taste."

Of course, that was in the context of explaining that such a style is about 400 years out of date. But he added some words of comforting advice:

"And I would also think hard about the present academic environment, in which state systems are being cut at a rate that exceeds the speed with which our retirement funds have shrunk. While at the same time, you have the rise of "assessment" and other noxious, related discourses. It occurs to me that the present situation is enough to make one yearn for the days of the culture wars. At least then, what we taught seemed to matter."

Actually, now that I think about it . . . that's not especially comforting (other than as a misplaced shadenfreude on my part). But it does help by describing the context to my stalled career.

Did I say 'stalled'? I meant retrograde. I'm actually moving backward, like one of those 'erring' planets on a Ptolemaic epicycle. For that matter, I'm also a bit eccentric.

One should ever strive for accuracy of expression.