Author Archives: Scott Abbott

About Scott Abbott

I received my Ph.D. in German Literature from Princeton University in 1979. Then I taught at Vanderbilt University, BYU, and Utah Valley State College. At Utah Valley University, I directed the Program in Integrated Studies for its initial 13 years and was also Chair of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy for three years. My publications include a book on Freemasonry and the German Novel, two co-authored books with Zarko Radakovic (REPETITIONS and VAMPIRES & A REASONABLE DICTIONARY, published in Serbo-Croatian in Belgrade and in English with Punctum Books), a book with Sam Rushforth (WILD RIDES AND WILDFLOWERS, Torrey House Press), a "fraternal meditation" called IMMORTAL FOR QUITE SOME TIME (University of Utah Press), and translations of three books by Austrian author Peter Handke, of an exhibition catalogue called "The German Army and Genocide," and, with Dan Fairbanks, of Gregor Mendel's important paper on hybridity in peas. More famously, my children are in the process of creating good lives for themselves: as a model and dance/yoga studio manager, as a teacher of Chinese language, as an ecologist and science writer, as a jazz musician, as a parole officer, as a contractor, as a seasonal worker (Alaska and Park City, Utah), and as parents. I share my life with UVU historian Lyn Bennett, with whom I have written a cultural history of barbed wire -- THE PERFECT FENCE (Texas A&M University Press). Some publications at http://works.bepress.com/scott_abbott/

Protests in Belgrade: Now and During My Visit in 1998

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This morning the New York Times reports on a protest in Belgrade, Serbia. Protests in Serbia over back-to-back mass shootings last month ballooned on Saturday into the biggest street demonstrations in the capital, Belgrade, since demonstrators toppled Slobodan Milosevic as Serbia’s president … Continue reading

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John Abbott, 3 June … 72nd birthday … gone 32 years

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“And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos”—John Berger These photos are precious to me. Many of them appear in my “fraternal meditations”: Immortal for Quite Some Time. For the thoughts that accompany the photos: here the website for the … Continue reading

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1984 Redux: Corporate Takeover of a University

By Scott Abbott – May 18, 2023                         What is needed is the strategic withdrawal of forms of labor which will only be noticed by management: all of the machineries of self-surveillance that have no effect whatsoever on the delivery of education, but which … Continue reading

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Review of our book On Friendship

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Zarko is a major Serbian writer, with a dozen novels, joint works, and a long list of translations. Laguna Press, Serbia’s premiere literary publisher, has published some of these, including our recent book We: On Friendship. Thoughtful reviews continue to … Continue reading

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FOUR HANDS WITHOUT A STEERING WHEEL

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Review of our We: On Friendship, published this month in Zagreb Radaković is one of the authors who, in addition to the basic flow of his work, also turns to other forms of writing, and his books in four hands … Continue reading

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For Peter Handke: On His 80th Birthday

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Re-reading Peter Handke  Germans. Always preceded by “blond,” “dreamy”—but how efficient their army! Hugo, Victor. Made a sad mistake, really, when he entered politics. Impiety. Thunder against. Voltaire. Famous for his frightful grin or rictus. His learning superficial. Handke, Peter. Genocide … Continue reading

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Unfortunate Tensions: Maynard Dixon and the BYU Museum of Art

The recently opened exhibition of work by Maynard Dixon, I told Sam as we walked in, offers food for the soul. On loan from the Smithsonian, for instance, one painting explores the dimensions of fear. Among the treasures, another painting … Continue reading

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Prose in Two Voices: Žarko Radaković, David Albahari, Scott Abbott, and Peter Handke

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Aleksa Đukanović, PROSE IN TWO VOICES, interview with writer Žarko Radaković, November 5, 2022. Co-writing, is it really possible? “Four-handed writing” is an inadequate term. Because writing is always confinement in a cell and acting alone… It started a long … Continue reading

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Nous sommes embarqués

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The final line of Wim Wenders’ magnificent Der Himmel über Berlin / Wings of Desire serves as the opening line of our announcement: Zarko’s and my book is here. You can buy the book on Amazon’s site and, when Elik … Continue reading

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Award for Zarko Radakovic’s and David Albahari’s “Book about Photography”

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Zarko just emailed this good news. His book with David Albahari, another remarkable Serbian writer and life-long friend, has just been awarded the prize for best non-fiction book of the year in Serbia. From the jury’s explanation [google translate version]: … Continue reading

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