ABSTRACT
THERE IS A LOT OF difference between an academic talk and an academic essay, as we all know. Think what it would be like if there were not, if we had to listen to essays or read talks. We wouldn't be able to absorb the high density of an essay if it were spoken at us. Lucky for us that never happens. Reading a talk would be worse. The graceful ease and casual art that all academic paper-readers have mastered would drive us to frenzy if it came at us in print. I'd rather bite down hard on the soft tissue just inside my cheek, or have a finger mashed under a truck, or spend an entire afternoon with my dean.
