Like an overlong proxy war, the “canon” skirmishes of the 1980s and ’90s no longer feature in the media, though the conflict persists. As in a battle over this or that town, the ongoing war might manifest as a fight over particular books, but the real disagreement exists between competing visions for humanity and society. … Continue reading “Why the Canon Wars Still Matter”
To the editor: Dear Editor: Stevens far superior to Yeats? Writer of this might know conservatism but among poets, poetry academe, etc. Yeats is second only to Shakespeare, if he is second at all. You have to throw in Gerard Manley Hopkins here as well, who is second to none. And then there’s John Donne. … Continue reading “Conservative poetry”
In early October, Bright Sheng, a professor of music at the University of Michigan, played the 1965 rendition of Shakespeare’s Othello for his undergraduate class. The film starred Laurence Olivier, who was wearing black makeup, as the titular character. Having no concern for context or artistry, the university community revolted, deeming the film (and Sheng … Continue reading “Woke Universities are Rousseau’s Children”
Penguin Classics is partnering with Disrupt Texts to replace Shakespeare and Homer with Ibram X. Kendi. What is Disrupt Texts? For the uninitiated, it is a new radical movement in classrooms which seeks to disrupt the “hegemony of English” and the Western canon by replacing them. According to its own website, Disrupt Texts is a “crowdsourced, grassroots effort by … Continue reading “Did You Know? Disrupt Texts Is the Latest Attack on the Western Canon”
The discipline of English is already in trouble, but there is more to come.