This article (Lid dip to Instapundit ) , " Who Ruined the Humanities ?", which is the Saturday Essay in the Wall Street Journal of 12 July 2013, struck a real chord with me. The sub-heading reads: Of course it's important to read the great poets and novelists. But not in a university classroom, where literature has been turned into a bland, soulless competition for grades and status. What is it about contemporary college curricula all around the Western world that makes it look past the most powerful and insightful understanding brought to us by the cannon of our civilization's great literature to the mere process? If Shakespeare is taught as a deconstructed, ante-feminist, pre-colonial, racist expression of the dominant white male monarchical social order, is there any wonder that nearly everyone so taught will miss the point and not perceive the majesty, subtlety and astonishing insight into the human condition? Yes, it is hard to teach the substance of
Stirring grist, grizzle and gore to flavour the stew.