Writing in Disguise — (1998)

Academic Life in Subordination

By Terry Caesar

“More frankly and more rigorously than any other book I know of, Writing in Disguise confronts the cruel facts of life in our profession.”

James D. Bloom — author of The Literary Bent

“…the book is an intriguing read, even if the reader does not concur with the author’s conclusions. Like most titles in which academia talks about itself, this volume will generate interest. The greatest interest will be for academics in the humanities, although the book does have a broader appeal. Advanced graduate students may also be intrigued.”

R. Peck — Simmons College

“This harsh, biting, and fascinating view of teaching and writing in the academy is as good as a funny academy novel; recommended for all academic libraries.”

Gene Shaw — NYPL, in Library Journal

Writing in Disguise is a series of increasingly personal essays that both discuss and dramatize through firsthand experience the significance of subordination in academic life, in terms of issues and structures but above all in terms of texts. Some are written: memos, rejection letters, even resignation letters. Some are not: anecdotes, protests, jokes, parodies.

All of these texts have in common the imperative of disguise, represented as the most crucial consequence of dominant discourse, within which subordination might speak only by knowing its place, and write only by producing hidden transcripts.

Caustic, pointed, satiric, Writing in Disguise is an engaging critique of aspects of academia involving the misuse, misappropriation, and misappreciation of verbal communication in its many guises.