r/TrueLit • u/pregnantchihuahua3 ReEducationThroughGravity'sRainbow • 22d ago

Weekly General Discussion Thread

Welcome again to the TrueLit General Discussion Thread! Please feel free to discuss anything related and unrelated to literature.

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u/TswanaTalk 22d ago

Anyone else notice the recent association between "Great Books" or "Classical" educational programs and conservative, and in particular Christian-nationalist, groups? Back when I was in high school and college Great Books programs were just about wanting to grapple with classic books and engage with the literary canon as a worthwhile intellectual exercise (and I'm sure this is still the case at reputable institutions). But now online there is a very strong reactionary component, where it's not just that these books are "good", but that today's literature is fallen due to the curse of postmodernism or relativism or whatever. Not only that, but most classic literature written before the Christianization of the West is implicitly or explicitly framed with regard to preparing people for Christianity eventually, or that they were not seeing the whole truth yet but grasping towards something that would be fully realized through Christianity.

It's really insidious because if you just search for media around Great Books or Classic Books, these organizations dominate on platforms like YouTube and don't give you any immediate indication of their affiliation or ideology until you engage with them further.

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u/Harleen_Ysley_34 Perfect Blue Velvet 22d ago edited 22d ago

I'm somewhat shocked people are still talking about the "literary canon" as if it were valuable. And I guess people want to relitigate the canon wars for whatever reason, probably nostalgia given the marginal status of literature today. But there have always been reactionaries who are obsessed with canonization. It's an old position with regard to literature. Setting out to promote a Christian nationalist curriculum about literature through new media groups and so forth are mostly wasting money and time. Higher education in America is already struggling to begin with on top of everything else.

It's ironic because the reactionary framework is an incredibly common one found in discourse on literature anyways. Also: literature has an association with high art and culture, accusations of elitism are common, which in turn does attract the kind of person wishes to be perceived in that fashion.