21–30 of 64 posts
A similar category that has inspired my reading and language learning for about a decade now is Alexander Arguelles "Great Books" list [0]. Arguelles is a hyperpolyglot, he can read, speak and write dozens of languages. He advocates for polyliteracy, the concurrent study of languages and their associated literary canons. [0] http://foreignlanguageexpertise.com/great_books.html
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't imagine anyone being anywhere close to an expert (meaning, highly familiar with the relevant scholarship) on more than a tiny fraction of this list - and do note that whole areas of world lit (East Asia, etc.) are entirely missing from the list, because they're so hard to even characterize in a useful way. Perhaps this is what illustrates the very real failure of this whole "canon" concept more than anything…
Well it is called “The Western Canon” and this is right at the top of the page: “I have included some Sanskrit works, scriptures and fundamental literary texts, because of their influence on the Western canon. The immense wealth of ancient Chinese literature is mostly a sphere apart from Western literary tradition and is rarely conveyed adequately in the translations available to us." If you’re looking for an Eastern…
That's quite debatable though, it seems clear to me that the West did pay quite a bit of attention to Chinese culture, starting in the 18th c. or so. The inadequacy of relying on translations may be closer to the mark, but then again that's just another way that this literature turns out to be especially challenging.
I can't imagine anyone having read everything in this list. It would take more than a lifetime for me at my reading speed.
If I'm overly simplistic, this seems to be 1/3 of an English degree. The remaining 2/3s being linguistics and history with cultural studies of the times. I'm still undecided how much I'd recommend someone else studying English (full time, as their only major). I enjoyed the studies though!
In most of the English speaking world a degree in English would include no linguistics[1] and courses in historical literature would not be offered in the History department nor would the History department accept them for credit. Look at the Oxford curriculum. All literature. https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate-admiss... [1] Unless you think studying only English grammar, morphology, syntax etc. qu…
http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/...
Basically a professional snob.
If I'm overly simplistic, this seems to be 1/3 of an English degree. The remaining 2/3s being linguistics and history with cultural studies of the times. I'm still undecided how much I'd recommend someone else studying English (full time, as their only major). I enjoyed the studies though!
In most of the English speaking world a degree in English would include no linguistics[1] and courses in historical literature would not be offered in the History department nor would the History department accept them for credit. Look at the Oxford curriculum. All literature. https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate-admiss... [1] Unless you think studying only English grammar, morphology, syntax etc. qu…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The original post links to the list, the one he is disavowing. That's the context, that specific list.
Your comment is misleading because it doesn’t mention that Bloom spent virtually his entire career defending the value of classic literature. The fact that he had minor criticisms of his list and didn’t want to talk about it doesn’t mean that he disavowed it and that isn’t what the word disavowed means. Disavowed suggests that he is dismissive of the contents of the list entirely, which again, could not be further fr…
If I'm overly simplistic, this seems to be 1/3 of an English degree. The remaining 2/3s being linguistics and history with cultural studies of the times. I'm still undecided how much I'd recommend someone else studying English (full time, as their only major). I enjoyed the studies though!
In most of the English speaking world a degree in English would include no linguistics[1] and courses in historical literature would not be offered in the History department nor would the History department accept them for credit. Look at the Oxford curriculum. All literature. https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate-admiss... [1] Unless you think studying only English grammar, morphology, syntax etc. qu…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Disavowed” is a misleading word to use. He had criticisms of his list, but what the quote doesn’t mention is that Bloom was involved in a decades-long battle on the value of the idea of a canon. I think he was just tired of talking about it with people that hadn’t read the book in the first place.
Seems like a clear disavowal of the list itself, although not of the concept of a canon altogether.