At a recorded event with the American philosopher Stanley Cavell at Duke University in 2009, a member of the audience opens the discussion with the following: “So I’ve been reading your work for thirty years and always found it enlightening and inspiring, although I think at times—” “That’s very nice to hear,” Cavell responds, before the questioner adds: “…harmful to my prose style.” The camera is stationary, focused on Cavell throughout, so we never see his interlocutor, only hear him insouciantly carrying on with his preamble, apparently insensible to the visible effect on Cavell of his barbed, partially withdrawn compliment: though chuckling, Cavell winces and doubles over.
