More than Being Noticed—More than Praise—Being Understood

 

 

We academics receive feedback and, on occasion, praise for our publications. E.g., citations, responses, awards/prizes, reviews in newspapers and other non-academic forums, etc. Even negative feedback and negative reviews have beneficial aspects. As I grow older, my biggest concern is being understood—even by those who disagree.

From time to time, I have received a contact leaving me with no doubt: the reader understood my message. In 2013, I published Purim and My Bangladeshi Friend in an online literary journal. A former undergraduate student of mine, after completing a LLM in the UK, read my short story. He wrote me as follows:

I’ve read this twice over now. The moment where M. finally says out loud something he’d always known but never let himself think really landed for me. My family is Kashmiri, and we have our own silences about what conflict did to women, things nobody in the family will say directly, ever. The image of Esther read to the tune of Lamentations will stay with me for a while. I’m really glad you wrote this.

It happens rarely, but this sort of communication is what makes academia worthwhile.

Seth

Seth Barrett Tillman, ‘More than Being Noticed—More than Praise—Being Understood,’ New Reform Club (Sept. 15, 2026, 7:16 AM), <https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2026/09/more-than-being-noticedmore-than.html>;

See also Seth Barrett Tillman, ‘Teaching Others and Learning from Others: A Response to Professor Evan Bernick,’ New Reform Club (Sept. 11, 2026, 8:04 AM), <https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2026/09/teaching-others-and-learning-from.html>; 

Seth Barrett Tillman, Fiction, ‘Purim & My Bangladeshi Friend,’ Gadfly Online: Culture that Matters (Feb. 11, 2013) (online) (United States), <http://www.gadflyonline.com/home/index.php/purim-my-bangladeshi-friend/>, <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2127592>; Seth Barrett Tillman, Fiction, ‘Purim & My Bangladeshi Friend,’ The Galway Review (Sept. 30, 2025) (online) (Ireland), 14 The Galway Review 9–17, 98 (Galway Academic Press 2026) (in print) (reprinting from Gadfly Online: Culture that Matters (2013)), <https://thegalwayreview.com/2025/09/30/seth-barrett-tillman-purim-my-bangladeshi-friend/>, <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2127592>.