What Do English Professors Do?

Well, according to the title of a recent write-up (courtesy of the College of Charleston’s newswire) touting the 7 books that members of the Department have released this academic year alone: “English Professors Publish Books.”

Amongst other things, of course. But the no-nonsense title offers a useful reminder to our students–a ready excuse, of sorts, for those times that we take half a day to respond to an e-mail, or a few extra days to grade those response papers. Rest assured: what might seem to be a professor’s Hamlet-like delay (for word-puzzle fans out there, two key anagrams for “English Department” include “Endearment’s Plight” and, yes, “Pretending Hamlets”) is most likely some form of intense literary industry.