Intellect; or, Daring to Become a Writer

We present here the ninth chapter from the memoirs-in-progress of the renowned scholar and author Ruth R. Wisse. Earlier chapters can be found here. Further installments will appear over the next months.

In the fall of 1972, upon returning to Montreal from our failed attempt to settle in Israel, I resumed my academic duties teaching Yiddish literature at McGill. With three children at home, I was faced with the common need to balance home and profession. The child who slices his thumb with a penknife, grabs hold of a cactus, or breaks her leg jumping from a snow pile—none of these examples is hypothetical—requires placing the exigent claims of motherhood over the otherwise hallowed obligations of teaching. To this day I regret the times I postponed celebration of Billy’s birthday because it coincided with the annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies. But as I taught only three days a week, balance was generally a matter of planning and timing.

As for setting professional priorities, when I began teaching Yiddish literature I was still so frustrated by the college professors who had lectured us out of their ancient notes that I tore up mine at the end of every school year lest I ever be lured into following suit. Though I enjoyed research, I vowed not to write books at the expense of teaching, and never to give the same lecture twice. Fortunately, after a few years I realized that one could replenish used material instead of starting each time from scratch.