Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The canon wars

Fascinating stuff. I think I own the Harold Bloom book the article discusses, but I haven't read it; maybe I should. My take:

-You should be able to read. What on earth is 12 years of education for, if it doesn't accomplish that? Socialization? Ptth!

-You should be able to read the literature in your field. (The good doctor, incidentally, agrees with me wholeheartedly. His mission in life--well, at the university where he teaches--is to train dental students to make sense of the dental literature and be able to evaluate it.)

-You should read the stuff worth reading. The canon, in my understanding, mostly means "the stuff worth reading."

Thanks, Amy, for the link. :-)

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