Academy-lit

"It's time to put the point back into the pen of scholarly writing" (6 May) illustrates several excellent points about specialist publications in academic journals and books.

Perhaps the disconnect described by Keith Kahn-Harris between academic writing and other literary forms has to do with the writing traditions associated with the academy: peer review, logical-positivist frameworks, citations and "robust" research. The protectors of the academy have successfully guarded those traditional literary forms.

Even so, new digital formats, including excellent websites such as Times Higher Education's and Insidehighered.com in the US, provide wonderful venues for essays, viewpoints, informative blogs and other narratives. Perhaps the advent of such egalitarian electronic formats bodes well for the future.

I would like to see more traditional literary forms - novels, poetry, short stories and even drama - dedicated to the higher education teaching/learning experience. If the public could participate in and better understand academic culture - even through fiction - perhaps more publishing houses would provide avenues for academic writing.

Jeffrey Ross, English instructor, Central Arizona College