RIP- Jacques Barzun

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Jack of All Parades
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RIP- Jacques Barzun

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News this morning of his death at the age of 104 on the front page of the NY Times. He, along with Lionel Trilling, was the reason I chose to attend Columbia back in the 1970s. His intellectual energy and breadth of interests was a constant stimulation to my young mind. He was the epitome of a NY intellectual for me- expansive, wide ranging in his interests and invigorating in his thought. He was a legendary teacher. He, along with Trilling, was responsible for the introduction of the Core Curriculum program, introduced first at Columbia in the thirties, which has become a model of instruction for other Universities. I always took heart from his criticism of the American University system which he characterized in the 1960s as an "undisciplined bazaar of miscellaneous studies." He stimulated my intellectual curiosity then and continued to do so throughout my adult life. He never stopped being a teacher or writer or thinker. He lived a full life that I can only wish to emulate.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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