Hal's admissions interview — "Then there is before us the…"
‘Then there is before us the matter of not the required two but nine separate application essays, some of which of nearly monograph-length, each without exception being—’ different sheet—‘the adjective various evaluators used was quote “stellar”—’ Dir. of Comp.: ‘I made in my assessment deliberate use of lapidary and effete.’ ‘—but in areas and with titles, I’m sure you recall quite well, Hal: “Neoclassical Assumptions in Contemporary Prescriptive Grammar,” “The Implications of Post-Fourier Transformations for a Holographically Mimetic Cinema,” “The Emergence of Heroic Stasis in Broadcast Entertainment”—’ ‘ “Montague Grammar and the Semantics of Physical Modality”?’
Context
The Deans read out Hal's nine application essays as evidence against him. Two of the nine titles are grammar-theory monographs — prescriptive grammar and Montague semantics, both sides of Avril's academic world (her Montague textbook turns up on her desk at p. 760, below) — announced by a Director of Composition who preens over his own word choices while doubting the boy wrote them. The prodigy's c.v., used as the case against his being real.