APSA puzzles
By A Philly restaurant recommendation: Kingdom of Vegetarians. Cheap, delicious vegan-kosher Chinese food. The $10 a head dim sum lunch was the most expensive thing on the menu but it’s worth it. Whatever you do, don’t leave without trying the turnip cakes.
(based on my two visits, the linked website’s claim about reservations being required couldn’t be more false)
Two APSA puzzles:
1) While trying to score some last day of the conference deals in the book display room, a representative from a book publisher I’ve never heard of saw me glance at a large sign that said DO YOU HAVE A MANUSCRIPT? TALK TO US or something like that. She was on me right quick, inquiring about any manuscripts or ideas I might have. When she found out the topic and university of my dissertation, she went into hard sell mode, essentially promising no revisions whatsoever would be necessary, and “if I wanted to publish a revised version with another publisher later, that would be fine with them.” When I suggested that I’d just like to take the literature and continue shopping, she called over her colleague, who was straight out of Glengarry Glen Ross. Before I knew it he had something that looked like a contract (but, on closer inspection, wasn’t) in front of me was was literally trying to put the pen in my hand. (I managed to escape without signing, although I’m fully aware I may regret this in a few years…) Has this sort of thing happened to other people? What’s going on here?
2) What’s the deal with the Eric Voegelin societies huge presence at APSA? These people get tons of panels, have their own reception, etc. at APSA every year. As far as I can tell, Voegelin is a fairly minor figure, at least in contemporary political theory; I’ve never seen him on an exam reading list or syllabus and I rarely, if ever, come across published work on him in the journals and presses political theorists tend to publish with and read. He certainly had a distinguished career, but as far as I can tell his impact on the larger intellectual scene has been negligible. And yet he has more panels devoted to his work at APSA than any other single intellectual figure. Aren’t panels awarded and removed on the basis of the previous year’s panel attendence? If so, does that mean that people actually attend these panels? I seriously considered crashing the Eric Voegelin society reception, but I chickened out. Is this a Straussian thing?