Goffman on Goffman: a 1975 Letter
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26485/PS/2022/71.4/1Keywords:
Erving Goffman, oeuvre, letters, intellectual biography, tricksterAbstract
The posthumous publication of Goffman’s ASA Presidential Address [Goffman 1983] assured that his legacy would be known as the sociology of the interaction order. But exactly how the 11 books and numerous articles making up his oeuvre were related to each other remains an enigma. In the absence of an explicit drive towards cumulativeness or any apparent willingness on Goffman’s part to disclose the orderliness of his writings, commentators have made many attempts to reconstruct his oeuvre. Goffman’s silence on this question has been broken by the discovery of a letter by Goffman to Allen Day Grimshaw (1929–2011), who worked as a professor of sociology at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. Relevant portions of the letter are discussed, and Goffman’s construction of his oeuvre is assessed in light of his disclaimers urging scepticism towards what authors tell their readers about their work.
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