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History Boy

Orlando Figes, a highly-respected academic in Britain, has been caught writing very negative reviews of his colleagues, and very positive reviews of his own works, on Amazon.  When caught, he denied this, and his wife, for a time, took the rap.  As often happens, this all came to a head because - like Wilde - he instigated a legal case against his accuser; unfortunately (and perhaps again like Oscar) he actually was what he looked to be.  It's been in the TLS and is now in the papers and on the BBC.

Figes - who is now on sick leave - is clearly under great stress, and the potential decline and fall of his career - trumpeted in the media - cannot be helping him.  I wish him well.  Meanwhile, this sad case reminds us all of the seductive dangers of the Digital Age - how seeming anonymity, and the instant pleasures and powers of the Internet, offer many opportunities for self-destruction, as well as destruction of rivals.  Intellectuals and poets are not immune.

Indeed, isolated, in their heads often, and emotive, and used to using symbols and words to great effect, they may be more, not less, likely, to strike out, often too quickly, with these new tools, these new weapons.  Cyberia can be a cold and unforgiving place, for bullies, and for liars - but all of us need to be careful in the spaces between reading and writing online.

Comments

It shows more the state of mind of Figes, who must have been getting naughty thrills posting as orlando- on Amazon, trashing his rivals.

If it was any normal person they would have just said, 'yeah, it was me having a laugh. I wanted to wind up the competition and did so. Have they got nowt better to do than moan about me displaying a bit of intelligence. I mean, anyone with half a brain takes no notice of these reviews anyway. Get a life, now please, go away and leave me alone.'

A fifty year old man apologising as if it's kerbcrawling he's been up to and not having a laugh in Letters.

I think it shows the culture of secrecy and fear to be yourself that NuLab foisted on people after the WMD lies. We are too afraid to point out the obvious for fear it might be a capital offence to tell the truth.

Seriously, the register in Figes's apology was depressing and shows how confused people can get when any hint of being seen not to be holy of holy in word and deed, when all around us we close our minds and eyes to the real news in Afghanistan.

Britian is asleep and just waking up. It needs a good dose of common sense, non-spin Truth telling and honest comment, because they way it was going before Clegg injected this honesty, was truly depressing for any right minded liberal humanist intellectual. And that a guy with Figes's intelligence could be so wet in the face of deluded mobs of opinion johnnies in the spin-alley of English Letters, is ample and eloquent evidence there's something seriously awry in the intellectual life of England.
Poetry Pleases! said…
Dear Todd

Apparently his moniker was 'orlando-birkbeck'. You'd expect something slightly more clandestine from a respected professor at one of our great universities. Like poor old Ruth Padel he wasn't very skilled at erasing his sweaty palm-prints.

Best wishes from Simon

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