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Entry: Defund the Humanities Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/defund_the_humanities#28095 Post contents: Perhaps we shouldn't abandon all hope of the study of literature in universities. I may just be lucky, but I am an English major at a none-too-prestigious public university, and as of my freshman year I have yet to encounter the absurdities described here. My first semester English class was delightful. The professor was an older semi-retired gentleman who was sympathetic to Ron Paul and apparently had no intention of imposing the "unholy trinity" of race/class/gender issues on the works we read and wrote about. We read 'Othello', a work which it would seem would be likely fodder for postmodernist nonsense. The focus of the class seemed to always be on either what made the works effective and appealing or on how they dealt with important questions of the human experience. My second semester English course was not quite so stellar, but was a solid overview of British literature before 1800. The professor did often bring up the issue of gender relations, but it seemed he merely wanted to provide a legitimate perspective rather than cram some radical feminist notion down our throats. Mostly though, he focused on such themes as heroism, romantic love, divine justice, and free will, while providing a broad background in literary forms and styles such as the heroic epic, medieval romance, fabliau, elegy, parody, satire, and more. With works like King Lear and Paradise Lost in the mix, the potential for claptrap would seem high, but once again it didn't materialize. Hopefully this trend will continue. Sent at: 2009 01 09