In order to say it better, we have to know how it was said before

Roger Shattuck and the 19 Theses on Literature
from The Daily Goose by Matthew

Here is a link to Bill Harryman’s excellent post introducing people like myself to the thought of Roger Shattuck. His work compels comment, which I hope to do this week or next. In the meantime, read Bill’s post, and Shattuck’s ideas, which grow out of this idea:
“Nineteen Theses” was written as a response to the attempts to dismiss literature as a central field of study and personal reward.
One note I’ll tack on now: regarding the controversy over “canon”, which Shattuck addresses to some extent. If we discard all definitions and criteria about what the “canon” is or should be — save for one, namely “those works that demonstrably inspired the human imagination, and works of fine art, across epochs” — we could easily avoid at least a great deal of disagreement that there is a “canon” at all, or that it has been used to repress anyone, a common yet silly complaint. 9:20 AM 9:00 AM