The Runner’s Anxiety

by Arthur Saltzman

Originally published on June 2, 2006

Like the fellow who makes a living selling women’s lingerie, an English
professor must make a conscious effort to ensure that the pleasures that
inspired him to choose his career do not decline into mere duties. Woe to
the teacher who discovers that the novels and poems that once aroused his
passions now wait for him like so much laundry to be folded. For the
chief feature of recreation is that it is not required — a mandatory
vacation from work is a lay-off by that or any other name.