Readers’ Corner: The English Major
Many will disagree with Mark Edmundson’s popular essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education: “The Ideal English Major.” Edmundson, a professor of English at the University of Virginia, argues that college students should choose the English major over the pecuniary rewards of degrees in econ or business.
In a weak job market, where the crushing burden of student debt makes attending college an increasingly fraught choice, it’s welcome to see somebody beating the drum for the English degree as path towards becoming an educated person.
There may, however, only be so much one can take of Edmundson’s soaring, hard-to-choke-down conclusion:
To me an English major is someone who has decided, against all kinds of pious, prudent advice and all kinds of fears and resistances, to major, quite simply, in becoming a person. Once you’ve passed that particular course of study—or at least made some significant progress on your way—then…
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Copyright, Corporate Greed, and Books You Can’t Get
This very interesting study illustrates quite clearly how copyright and corporate greed have resulted in the unavailability of books over the past few generations. There are more books from 1910 in print today than there are from 1990. Astonishing when you think about it, because far more books were published in 1990 than in 1910, but the books published more recently are not in the public domain, won’t be for decades, and because of how the corporate publishing world operates, most of those books will never be in print in our lifetime.
Self-publishing will change this, to some extent, as more and more authors take ownership of their own copyrights and keep their books in print in perpetuity, but authors of the past few generations are shit out of luck for the most part. Their books, if they were lucky enough to get them published in the first place, remain…
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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson to be a graphic novel!
This is an important YA book. I hope the graphic interpretation does it justice.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is to be a graphic novel! What do you think? Will it be good? Is it still appropriate to teach to students?
The call for more dynamic and interesting female characters in literature
In Kelsey McKinney’s article for The Atlantic, she questions Western literature canon and even modern books that are being published inasmuch as they not only lack females as the main character, but even when they are the main character, they’re seeking love from men or are otherwise guided by men. Admittedly, I am not as well-versed in Western literature cannon or the literature of today as I should be, so I defer to her appraisal of the situation.
That said, just taking a gander at my own books on my shelves, I’d be hard-pressed to find many books that featured a female character as the lead. There’s Twilight and the Hunger Games, but both Bella and Katniss, respectively, seek love; although, I would contend Katniss is a bit more nuanced about it. In fact, I believe Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee is the only contender…
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David Foster Wallace: Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. (VIDEO)
Here’s a good video from David Foster Wallace. It caught my eye because I’m currently reading Both Flesh and Not (essays).
Neuromancer: More Resources
Following-up on my last post, this would be a great one to re-read. Must check out the extra resources listed here as well.
Amber Nicole Brooks 