On Pedantry

”[Visser’s] book is a useful warning for those inclined to advertise their own cleverness… .Another way of putting it is that no one likes a smart-arse.”—Mark Mason, Daily Mail“Arnoud SQ Visser’s engaging study looks at the long history of this irritating individual, in the course of which he charts the broader history of anti-intellectualism, a story of mistrust and demonisation of expertise that is highly relevant today.”—Richard Ovenden, The Observer“On Pedantry is an immensely stimulating…read.The author is at his luminous best when discussing the politicization of pedantry by humanist and Enlightenment scholars… . It’s one of the marks of a good book to leave the reader desperate to learn more about its subject, and I find it hard to imagine any professional academic reading Arnoud S. Q. Visser with disinterest. Or wait – should that be uninterest?”—Peter Thonemann, Times Literary Supplement ​​​​​​​“A fine contribution to the scholarship on scholarship.”—Michael Ledger-Lomas, History Today”[A] thoughtful and gently entertaining cultural history of the phenomenon of pedantry… . There is much … to enjoy – and much to ponder in an age of rampant hostility to the idea of expertise.”—Mathew Lyons, Spectator World

Arnoud S. Q. Visser is professor of textual culture in the Renaissance at Utrecht University and director of the Huizinga Institute, the Dutch national research school for cultural history. His books include A Cultural History of Fame in the Renaissance, Reading Augustine in the Reformation, and Joannes Sambucus and the Learned Image.