A Soulless Place.

To the Editor:

Jonathan A. Cook's (Summer 1999) account of his up-till-now failed struggle to obtain a tenure-track position has the power to evoke a resonant response to his frustration and despair. After all, he covered every base and used intelligent strategies and tactics to reach his goal. His accomplishments were meritorious. He was nothing if not persevering. Little fault can be found in his efforts to obtain a desirable post. One finds oneself agreeing that his unfulfilled expectations were legitimate. He has been cheated.

Another theme becomes apparent upon reflection. Cook describes a soulless and heartless world. He blames the "stultifying commercial culture" for his dilemma, but the academics and artists in his narrative emerge as shallow and uncaring. He writes about, among others, academics "devoid of passion about their profession," a "peevish-tempered" poet, and an unsympathetic dean.

Cook reminds me of the suicidal prep school student in The Dead Poet's Society. As Fr. Benedict Groeschel has pointed out in Healing the Original Wound, this boy was, "crushed between two paganisms: the old classical paganism of beauty and the modern paganism of power and wealth." ...