Are Classic Works Of Literature Being Cast Aside In Favor Of Inferior Writers???

[Rakhmetov]

I mean in the universities not in the "civilian world." A lot of academic departments in the humanities have been shaken to the core by "multi-culturalism" (whatever that means) and literary scholars are aghast at how the classics are being shunned in favor of what they call "inferior Chicano writers" and other ethnicities. Harold Bloom is one of these critics.

What do you guys make of this trend? Thoughts?? For my own part whenever I listen to Bloom I feel like going out and reading the complete works of William Shakespeare.


http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/7132

[Widerstand]

These "classics" are only considered "classic" because they were written by Europeans and fall into the general European heritage which greatly influences academic discourse.

And what are these "inferior Chicano writers", and how are they inferior?

[scarletghoul]

:laugh:

Its about time people stopped acting like victorian european novels are the only good pieces of writing.

I do not known a lot about Bloom as I've never botherd to finish any of his works, but he is imho a nob.

[Rakhmetov]

These "classics" are only considered "classic" because they were written by Europeans and fall into the general European heritage which greatly influences academic discourse.

And what are these "inferior Chicano writers", and how are they inferior?


They claim Sandra Cisneros House On Mango Street sucks. :crying:

[x359594]

The controversy centers around expansion of the canon of accepted enduring masterpieces of literature. Bloom has tentatively accepted this reconfiguration of the canon by including Toni Morrison's The Song of Solomon and Ismael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo, as well as including works by Caribbean, African, Indian and other writers from the post-colonial world.

What other academics think is another matter, but the established canon extends beyond 19th century bourgeois literature, back to works of Greek, Hebrew and Roman civilizations. One of the best discussions of the whole issue is Culture and Imperialism by the late Edward Said, a sort of companion volume to his earlier book Orientalism. (And by the way, I miss his commentary on developments in the Middle East; he'd no doubt have lots of insight into the struggle in Egypt.)

While I don't agree with Bloom in all things, I think he's right about the worthlessness of Tom Clancy novels and all the other junk fiction that's recently been elevated to the status of significant literature worthy of study by the academy.

[Sixiang]

I'm fine with reading the classics and would even consider a lot of them essential reads. That being said, I don't mean only European classics, I am all for studying Asian classics and any other classical literature for that matter. If I'm not mistaken, The Three Kingdoms is either the oldest or one of the oldest novels of all time. I think that a lot of Chinese and Japanese literature (at least, that I've read) is superior to many European literature.

[x359594]

...If I'm not mistaken, The Three Kingdoms is either the oldest or one of the oldest novels of all time...


The award for oldest novel goes to Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji) by Murasaki Shkibu (a woman) from the early 11th century.

[Sixiang]

The award for oldest novel goes to Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji) by Murasaki Shkibu (a woman) from the early 11th century.

And look, not European.