Deep in the mind of Texas

Roger Louis, Kerr Professor of English History and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin, former president of the American Historical Association, honorary CBE, editor-in-chief of the Oxford History of the British Empire, is one of those infuriating Americans who know more about our history than we do ourselves. In his fastness deep in the heart of Texas he runs a British Studies seminar. Since the university is also home to one of the finest collections of British 20th-century manuscripts to be found either side of the Atlantic, scholars from all over the world flock to work there. Professor Louis then strikes ruthlessly, bullying or cajoling the visitors into lecturing to his seminar. Over 30 years of its existence an extraordinary galaxy of all that is brightest and best in English letters has been subjected to such treatment. This is the fourth volume to be published of the resultant lectures.

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In his introduction Louis points out that a lecture differs from a scholarly essay in that it ‘allows greater freedom in the expression of personal or subjective views. It permits and invites greater candour.’ There is another factor too. When one pays for an expensive meal by credit card in Tasmania or Baffin Island one secretly believes that the bill will never come home to roost and be debited to one’s account. In the same way, lecturers in darkest Texas never believe that the pundits will one day catch up with what they have said. They know that their audience will be intelligent and well informed but also that it is unlikely to contain experts in their own particular field. The temptation is great, not to be irresponsible, but to use broader brush- strokes than they usually allow themselves, to fly an occasional kite so as to see what reactions it provokes.