Stephen Hayes reviewed The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble
None
3 stars
"One does not expect a run-of-the-mill academic conference to have such a far-reaching effect."
The first part of this book is the memoir of an 18th-century Korean princess, describingn the cloisered but eventful life of the Korean royal family, incorporating a modern and postmodern commentary on it..
The second part describes, in minute detail, how Dr Babs Halliwell travels to and attends a run-or-the-mill academic conference in Seoul, Korea. On her journey she reads the account of the Korean princess, and in breaks in the conference she visits some of the scenes of her life. Until the events that cause the far-reaching effect, however, one might think [a:Margaret Drabble|60750|Margaret Drabble|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1191007782p2/60750.jpg]'s main purpose in writing was to record the early-21st century academic conference experience for posterity, perhaps as raw material for a furtire historian of academic conferences.
I've attended enough academic courses and conferences to find it familiar territory, very familiar …
"One does not expect a run-of-the-mill academic conference to have such a far-reaching effect."
The first part of this book is the memoir of an 18th-century Korean princess, describingn the cloisered but eventful life of the Korean royal family, incorporating a modern and postmodern commentary on it..
The second part describes, in minute detail, how Dr Babs Halliwell travels to and attends a run-or-the-mill academic conference in Seoul, Korea. On her journey she reads the account of the Korean princess, and in breaks in the conference she visits some of the scenes of her life. Until the events that cause the far-reaching effect, however, one might think [a:Margaret Drabble|60750|Margaret Drabble|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1191007782p2/60750.jpg]'s main purpose in writing was to record the early-21st century academic conference experience for posterity, perhaps as raw material for a furtire historian of academic conferences.
I've attended enough academic courses and conferences to find it familiar territory, very familiar territory, even though most of the ones I've attended have not been held in such posh hotels. As I read, I kept having flashbacks to this or that incident at this or that conference.
"One does not expect a run-of-the-mill academic conference to have such a far-reaching effect."
And most of the academic conferences I've attended have had no effect at all.The participants exchange e-mail addresses, and promise to keep in touch, but almost never do. Some of the papers may be published, and may appear on the Internet in one form or another, and probably have more effect there than being read at the conference, as the book notes.