The style of the place once favored a theatrical sort of weltschmerz - or just call it world-class kvetching. Being merely cheerful and gracefully on top of things was frowned on and considered ivy-league or Big-Tennish. Being weighed down by the eternal tears of the human condition was the chic thing at the U of C. Accounts of the hardships of the place which characterize it as mere misery may be missing the point. Those who were attracted by these rigors saw them as “soul-making” rather than “soul-crushing” and, yes, got satisfaction out of that.
Serious study is hard. That’s a perennial truth. There’s also a perennial desire by American intellectuals in the making to escape middle-brow consumerist U.S. life. Of course there were always those among us who were not drinking that particular U of C brand of Kool-Aid. These dissidents seem to have grown in number over time and to have reached a critical mass some time in the eighties or nineties. However, as the exchange above between two alumni of that era seems to show, the debate was still going strong then - and no doubt still continues among the kids on today’s campus. Old tropes never completely die.