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Just Writing

Just Writing

著者： Julian Stern
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Academic writing is just writing. It shouldn't be a mystery. But it should also be just writing, a way of promoting justice. This is the Just Writing podcast from Julian Stern and Sheine Peart.

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Julian Stern
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  • The Smell of Revelations?

    The Smell of Revelations?
    2026/08/03
    In this episode, we start with Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, which was first published 300 years ago. The story is very well known by children and adults, but the original novel is not so often read. It seems like a children’s adventure story, but it is also a political and religious satire. And towards the end of the book, the author, Swift, seem to reveal quite a lot of his true feelings about himself, even a self-disgust. We talk about how academic writing, like Swift’s book, can reveal more than we expect about ourselves. This can be a good thing, but whether good or bad it is worth thinking about what we say – and what we should say – about ourselves in academic texts. There is often (at least) a ghost of ourselves, an imprint, in what we write. Shy or outgoing, something is revealed by our articles and books. There is a smell.

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    23 分
  • Writing in Exile

    Writing in Exile
    2026/07/26
    In today’s episode, we talk about what it’s like to be writing in exile, kicked off by Ovid, who was a famous writer 2000 years ago who eventually got on the wrong side of the Roman Emperor, and was exiled to what is now Romania. Ovid wrote letters home, telling of his exile, and these are wonderful accounts of how exile can affect a person. Julian’s father was an academic exiled from Germany, and that’s influenced Julian too. There is pressure and suffering, and the feeling of being an ‘alien’ (‘alienation’, I guess), which is close to the sense of ‘imposter syndrome’ common amongst academic writers. But being an exile can have a positive effect. It can help a writer see things from a different perspective, and can help them reach new audiences. Our ‘small’ exiles – the time we spend in hospital, perhaps, or even on holiday, the experience of arriving in a new city or a new institution – can involve both the bad and the good effects of larger-scale exiles. As academic writers, it’s as well to make use of every experience, to enhance our writing.

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    26 分
  • What We Like: Quantities of Qualities

    What We Like: Quantities of Qualities
    2026/06/13

    We want to talk about what we enjoy most in academic writing. Not about the content or influence, the substance of the writing, but the writing, the quality of the actual writing. This is as close as we have got to a ‘top ten’, the sort of lists popular with podcasts. There are five ‘qualities’ that we discuss, and we tried to give some examples of academic writers who exemplify each of these qualities.

    The first quality is ‘literary’ writing, the elegant writing that might be expected of a novelist. Its aesthetic qualities impress the reader, and it is a pleasure reading the text. Examples include the writing of Anne Pirrie, and Gillian Simpson, both of whom we have worked with. Apparently effortless, lyrical, writing – like (good) dancing, hiding its skill and effort.

    The second quality is clarity. Overall, the writing fits together, and makes for a consistent argument and a straightforward structure. Each sentence can be clear and lucid too, without unnecessary flannel or confusing ambiguity. Aristotle’s writing has this quality, with Plato better at the ‘literary’ qualities.

    Third, enthusiasm that comes over in the writing. This can be a simple enthusiasm about the topic, or a ‘bigger’ enthusiasm, a visible activism that shows how much the writer wants to change the world. Two writers are mentioned, bell hooks and Gloria Ladson-Billings, both of whom are enthusiasts who manage to avoid ‘preachiness’. They are authentic and more invitational than preachy.

    Forth comes writing that is full of knowledge. Ninian Smart’s book of a thousand years of philosophy, or Nel Noddings guide to the philosophy of education, are given as examples of single authors managing to write what you would think would be the work of a whole team. There are many more such writings.

    And the fifth category is the sort of writing that ‘rescues’ you. You are stuck, in your own research and writing, and one book can help ‘unstick’ you. The writing that can get you over a barrier. Even better if it can keep getting you over a variety of barriers. Another mention of bell hooks, and John Macmurray can do this too. For us, at least.

    These are overlapping categories, but it’s always worth looking out for the qualities in academic writing that you find helpful. And the writers who achieve these qualities. What works for you?

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    39 分
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