I received a pretentious advertisement from The Yale Review today. It asked such questions as: "Are you thrilled to come across a first edition of a Eudora Welty novel in a used bookstore?" Not particularly


"Sales letters such as this one are almost never mailed out of our office. Frankly, we just don't have the budget - or the stomach - for much marketing." Yet, here we are.


"If I have guessed correctly that you have an extremely meticulous and elegant intellect that stands out in this dumbed-down culture, then perhaps you will think of this letter as a favor rather than a commercial pitch." Yeah, stroke my ego!


"If you loved college because it allowed you to join in the feast of great ideas, don't let your grown-up and harried life get in the way of that pleasure." College was like being a waiter for the feast of ideas or a dog being fed table scraps.


"Our editors have free access to the Yale faculty, the library and its archives, and visiting lecturers." So you have a library card, whoop-dee-doo


"Each issue will reward you with epiphanies not unlike those you experienced in your favorite professor's classroom." My professor only gave us off topic anecdotes.

posted by Robert Robbins @ 9:39 PM