{"id":2394,"date":"2012-05-10T14:16:46","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T18:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=2394"},"modified":"2013-11-03T21:18:44","modified_gmt":"2013-11-04T01:18:44","slug":"hall-to-mcnair-may-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/hall-to-mcnair-may-1983\/","title":{"rendered":"Hall to McNair: May 4, 1983"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"Letter<\/a>\"Letter<\/a><\/p>\n

[Click image to view]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

4 May 1983<\/p>\n

Wes McNair
\nBox 43
\nNorth Sutton, NH 03260<\/p>\n

Dear Wes,<\/p>\n

It will be lovely to see you on Saturday, 7 o\u2019clock
\nor whenever.<\/p>\n

I love the Portuguese Dictionary. Peter Davison sees
\neverything.<\/p>\n

Very good news about Jerry. What did he say<\/span> about
\npublication of the book? Is he talking dates?<\/p>\n

I am writing however about something else, which we
\nmay not be able to talk about Saturday. I am not sure
\nabout the politics of it. (A couple of other C-S sorts will
\nbe here.)<\/p>\n

You write \u201cI do not wish to be at Colby more than two
\nyears longer.\u201d Now it may well fold and you will have to get
\nanother job. But please<\/span> do not think that because you have a
\nbook you will be able to get a job. It is terribly, terribly
\nhard to get a job these days. I have watched Richard Tillinghast
\nstruggle for three years, with three books from the Wesleyan
\nUniversity Press. Last year I was down seeing David Bottoms \u2013
\nwinner of the Walt Whitman Award, his book published by
\nRandom House or somebody with an introduction by Robert Penn
\nWarren…and he had been looking for work for three years with
\nabsolute unsuccess.<\/p>\n

It is terribly hard out there. Some of the best teachers
\nI know, some of them with books, have had to give up college
\nteaching entirely and go into other kinds of work. Others have
\ngone into prep school teaching. People with MFAs, many many
\npeople with Ph.D.s, and with books, cannot find jobs.<\/p>\n

I would keep a close eye on New Hampshire College, for
\nthat matter\u2026 Some people of course put a living together
\nby teaching one course there and one course there\u2026totally exhausting.
\nMuch worse than your present job at Colby-Sawyer. But it is
\nbetter than the alternative.<\/p>\n

A book will not help much. I get the impression that you
\nthink it will. Of course it is better than not having one!
\nBut a book does not get you a job. It once did. It no longer
\ndoes. There are fewer jobs and more books.<\/p>\n

Please understand that I am speaking nothing<\/span> about quality,
\nand when I speak nothing about quality, I am realistic. The people
\nwho do the hiring \u2013 and I mean not just the Deans but the Professors<\/p>\n

2\/<\/p>\n

of English and the chairman of departments \u2013 they know nothing
\nabout quality. It is all \u201csubjective,\u201d you see. They look into
\nother things \u2013 and what they look into is the Prestige Index.
\nA book will help. The Atlantic and Poetry will help\u2026but
\nyou may well be up against people who have published a book
\n(far inferior to yours!) which won the Walt Whitman Award
\nand was published by a big New York publisher and had an
\nintroduction by Robert Penn Warren! Who can\u2019t get the job.<\/p>\n

My point is: Start looking now. Stick to the job at
\nColby-Sawyer as long as there is a job at Colby-Sawyer. Look
\naround for other parttime jobs besides New Hampshire College
\nin case worse comes to worse. Investigate every opportunity
\neverywhere. And of course, listen to my advice, who speak
\nas the ultimate oracle!<\/p>\n

Love to you,<\/p>\n

Don<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click image to view] 4 May 1983 Wes McNair Box 43 North Sutton, NH 03260 Dear Wes, It will be lovely to see you on Saturday, 7 o\u2019clock or whenever. I love the Portuguese Dictionary. Peter Davison sees everything. Very good news about Jerry. What did he say about publication of the book? Is he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35322,596,42965,35504,42982],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2394"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10270,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394\/revisions\/10270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}