Acc. to George Saunders, much of what we need to know about life can be learned from Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Gogol.
Tag Archives: Humanities
Life Lessons from Russian Masters
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged George Saunders, Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, Russian writers Comments closed
Great Lit Is Also Practical Lit
Two new books arguing for more literature instruction fail to make a very good case.
The Declining English Major
An English prof, sensing obsolescence, turns to “In Memoriam” (also Fowles, Wordsworth & Arnold).
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Dover Beach", Alan Bennett, Alfred Lord Tennyson, English major, French Lieutenant's Woman, History Boys, In Memoriam, Intimations of Immortality, John Fowles, Matthew Arnold, William Wordsworth Comments closed
Lit Encourages World Citizenship
Political identity arguments that demographic groups should stay in their own lanes fail to acknowledge the power of literature to “cross group boundaries,” according to philosopher Martha Nussbaum.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged identity politics, Invisible Man, Martha Nussbaum, Ralph Ellison Comments closed
Lit Frees Us from Our Mental Ghettos
In a fine “New Yorker” article, Shakespearean Stephen Greenblatt argues that Shakespeare was incapable to showing anything less than the full humanity of his characters, even the villains. He thereby liberates us from our “mental ghettos.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged anti-Semitism, cultural heritage, Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, T. S. Eliot, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Not a Reader (and Proud of It)
What do a president’s reading habits say about his/her vision of America? Obama’s celebration of a diverse America is the vision of a voracious reader. Trump’s shallow narrative is the vision of one who doesn’t read.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Liberal arts education, Martha Nussbaum Comments closed
Attn: English Majors–Business Needs You
Increasingly businesses are discovering that they need employees who have majored in English and the humanities.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged business hiring practices, David Foster Wallace, English majors Comments closed
Lit Is More than Just an End in Itself
Alan Paskow Yesterday I talked about how Alan Paskow (in philosophy) and I violently disagreed with a series of columns that Stanley Fish wrote on his New York Time blog about the humanities. Fish was going after those who use the humanities “instrumentally”—as good for something else rather than as ends in themselves. Alan, […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Will the Humanities Save Us?", Alan Paskow, College Teaching, Stanley Fish Comments closed
