My Stuff

https://umass-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/rwolff_umass_edu/EkxJV79tnlBDol82i7bXs7gBAUHadkylrmLgWbXv2nYq_A?e=UcbbW0

Coming Soon:

The following books by Robert Paul Wolff are available on Amazon.com as e-books: KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, THE AUTONOMY OF REASON, UNDERSTANDING MARX, UNDERSTANDING RAWLS, THE POVERTY OF LIBERALISM, A LIFE IN THE ACADEMY, MONEYBAGS MUST BE SO LUCKY, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.
Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for "Robert Paul Wolff Kant." There they will be.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON THE THOUGHT OF KARL MARX. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for Robert Paul Wolff Marx."





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Saturday, March 26, 2016

DOWN MEMORY LANE

Forty-seven years ago, when my first wife and I were both in analysis and I was scrambling to pay the bills, a publisher asked me to edit a little paperback, to be called "Ten Great Works of Philosophy," anthologizing a selection of texts all in the public domain [no permission fees].  I gave my standard answer:  "What is the advance?"  "A thousand on signing and a thousand on submission," they replied.  So of course I agreed.  As I recall, I did the job so fast that before they could cut me the check for signing I handed in the finished manuscript.

Today, a royalty check arrived, for $118.50  -- not exactly fat city, but large enough to deposit on Monday without embarrassment.  

When I entered the data in my royalty spreadsheet, I saw that the book has now sold 196,215 copies.  The royalties have always been peanuts.  I think in fifty-seven years the book has earned me about $22,000, or 11 cents a copy.

There is something oddly comforting about knowing that deep down, I am just a hack.

2 comments:

Michael Llenos said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael Llenos said...

Dr. Wolff,
Sorry for putting my spiel against Kant on your website. I just have a strong inclination about Kant being wrong. And no I do not think I am as brave or smart as Julius Caesar. I got the Anti-Cato title idea from Anthony Everitt's biography on Cicero (2001).