"The Wandering Scholar": The First Issue of Richard Mitchell's Underground Grammarian

By N.S.

Richard Mitchell (1929-2002) taught English literature and classsics at Glassboro state university in Glassboro, New Jersey, during the previous century.

I am quite sure that I read his book, The Graves of Academe thirty-odd years ago, and still own it somewhere here, but can't remember a thing about it, except that I greatly enjoyed it. During the mid-1990s, I called him up, as I was writing an article on the philosophy of religion (and possibly political philosophy, regarding the relationship of the church to university to state, "Trinmity") for the journal known as The Religious Observer/DEOLOG, and briefly discussed The Graves of Academe. Someone was reprinting the book for him, and he spoke of his fans as a small group of "fanatics." I don't think I would speak of my readers in the manner. Then again, I suppose he was engaging in self-deprecating humor.

In any event, Mark Andre Alexander has apparently re-posted Mitchell's samizdat, The Underground Grammarian online. Alexander announced that he had published an essay in appreciation of Mitchell at Quillette. However, when I sought to read said essay, Quillette declared that it was not blocking my access with a paywall, and yet, that is exactly what it was doing.

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