In and Out of Love: Moments in Criticism, Theory and Management

Abstract

ABSTRACT In some contexts of institutional change, an initial condition of ‘love and the word’ may become something more like hate or boredom or indifference to the word. Drawing on three different moments of my professional experience, I explore this question by considering how three genres of writing that I used to love practising – the film review, the academic ‘theory’ essay, and the strategic plan – were resituated in the intolerable zone by organisational changes. My larger questions relate to the problem of passion’s survival in academic life.