April 29, 2019:
He meant well, he probably still means well, but his arrogance has produced no products. There's nothing to show for his decades of opened-mouth narcissism, not even the ordinary run of academic papers expected in his position.
Were we close? I don't know. Not really. I was compassionate toward his pain, but I never shared myself. In a context without resources he was what there was, the nearest to a source of knowledge in that desert of expertise.
I have a newspaper clipping of him with the great Foucault. His elbows are on the table, his mouth his open, his posture and his smug smile express overweening self-satisfaction, the narcissism which ultimately has constrained his life to mediocrity. Everything about his expression broadcasts the inescapable message: "The question I'm asking is sooooooo fucking smart..." Foucault, listening, is bald, patient, clearly exasperated.