Whatever happened to English Departments?
Posted by Joseph Knippenberg
No summary or one-liner could do justice to this unself-conscious revelation of the decline of a discipline through the embrace of political activism.
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Yes, its clear that this woman hasnt got a clue about whats ailing English. Instead of advocating the return to literature and the discovery of latent universal truths, she wants to accept the toxins that have ruined her discipline and remake "English" into some kind of polyglot PC hell (not that they arent already 90% down the road on that score).
My solution -- fire the lot of them and start over. The problem isnt English as a field, but the fools who have tarnished it.
If English professors teach social studies, who is teaching English? Is it true that the art of communication is not as important as the messadge? If we named English "Marxish" would it be a different problem?
G.M.
When I first went to graduate school (MA British literature, concentration on Romantic poetry, dual minor in medieval literature and the humanities), I fully intended to continue with a PhD program, but I was soon disabused of that notion. Im old school. To me, its about the literature, the art. And nothing else. But in English departments today, especially in the graduate programs, its about the politics. And I dont do politics.