Introductory Lecture for Fact, Figure, Fetish

A student who recorded the introductory lecture to my graduate seminar "Fact, Figure, Fetish" has made it available here, for anybody who is curious how my teacherly persona meshes, or not, with my bloggity persona. Opening lectures tend to be a free for all since stage fright always pre-empts any preparation for facing a new group, so I warn you that I'm rambling without any notes or parachute in this recording. Listening to it myself, out of a kind of perverse fascination, I notice that I smudged some dates and fudged some tropes into schemes in moments when I spaced out and went on autopilot but I suppose it wasn't so bad overall... Also, I clearly queerly have the faggiest voice on the whole planet, which my answering machine message long lead me to suspect but this lecture shows beyond doubt. I warned you all what an effete elite aesthete I am -- now you have the proof.