Life often seems to be little more than a droning continuum irregularly interrupted by moments of intense feeling, excitement, and insight. In Cut Up on Copacabana, three interlocking sets of texts by professional boxer and professor of French literature David Scott (“Travel Notes,” “Boxing Rings,” and “Schoolboy Rites of Passage”) explore such singular moments. Whether he is examining Mt. Fuji in the footsteps of Hokusai, reflecting on the “firsts” of childhood, or meditating on the meaning of the violence and rigorous discipline of boxing, Scott writes with extraordinary verve and candor.