"Time Travel that Works"

Hello again, Literati: on the eve of our third meeting, finally a chance to stop by these parts again to try to get this blog launched. I had promised, I think, to provide links to some of the editorials and articles from recent weeks that have revisited some of those all-too-familiar questions about our discipline and profession (Why study English? What is the value of a humanities education? etc.). You will, perhaps, get used to feeling like you're part of a beleaguered discipline, or a misunderstood one, or an undervalued one, and maybe you'll even find low-level doubts of your own sneaking into your consciousness at various times. Fortunately, there are all manner of effective antidotes that arrive, often unawares, but continuously, in both private and collective moments, inside and outside of the classroom, and that remind us how wonderful, affirming, and important (and, yes, even sustainable) our endeavors in literary studies (and the humanities generally) can be. Contributing to the conversation in this case are The New Yorker's Adam Gopnik, in "Why Teach English?", Michael Roth (via a book review of Mark Edmundson's latest work), in "How Four Years Can (and Should) Transform You," and Mark Edmundson himself, in "The Ideal English Major." Perhaps you'll find something worthy of comment in one or more of these columns; do, as well, share any similar essays and articles you may chance upon during our time together this semester!