6th April 1792
“It says here you have been cancelled,” said the professor, putting down the London newspaper.
“Have I been cancelled?’
“Yes – it says so.”
“What does that mean?”
The professor explained exactly what it meant, with great confidence.
“Thank you for explaining to me that I am cancelled, as I would never have realised otherwise.”
He nodded, and his mind now turned to other, more important matters.
“Please forgive my curiosity professor, but can you tell me how that news report ends? I would very much like to know the rest.”
The professor, irked by this interruption, picked the newspaper back up.
“The report ends by saying that you have not actually been cancelled, as such, just that a literature course has rotated to a new annual author.”
“I am not cancelled?”
“Not as such, not cancelled, no not formally, but we can agree the principle is exactly the same.”
“Can you tell me how the principle is exactly the same?”
The professor explained exactly how the principle was exactly the same, again with great confidence.
“Thank you for explaining to me how the principle was exactly the same, for I would never have understood.”
The professor nodded, with satisfaction.
“You see, there are those who want to prevent others from discovering the beauty of your work and appreciating your deft use of irony.”
The professor now returned to the silent contemplation of more important matters, and he was not to be disturbed again.
***
No: Stirling University is not ‘dropping’ Jane Austen.
As The Telegraph concedes at the end of their article, Stirling’s Special Authors module changes focus every year. This year it is Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison
Course description contains nothing about decolonisation https://t.co/XeBLJaRCih pic.twitter.com/FPSoq5w8oK
— Generic English Teacher (@TabitaSurge) April 5, 2022
***
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