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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The late great Harold Bloom warned how literary studies was taken over by cultural studies, i.e. not reading the great works at all or "reading" Shakespeare and Dickens through faddish ideological lenses (feminist, Marxist, por-modernist).  Traditional literary scholars are in the minority.

At what colleges these days can one get a serious education in literature these days? [/quote]

I don't think you'll find many literature departments in the major universities that do not read the great works "at all." I won't speak for the SLACs, though I doubt it as well. Any respected literature department will surely cover classics, though of course there will be debate on the idea of a canon in and of itself. I just looked at the English Depts of a couple of Ivies to make sure things haven't changed so much since I received my PhD a couple of decades ago and they haven't.

As far as reading through a framework, that is an entirely different question because... well, I get that you see certain approaches as "faddish ideological lenses," but in our era very few serious scholars believe that anyone can ready any work of literature without some kind of critical lens. Most people accept that there always [i]has been[/i] an ideological lens. Openly acknowledging one's approach became standard many decades ago[i] in response[/i] to a time when critics and scholars, often unaware of their own lenses, read literature in a way that betrayed their own classist views, for example, in a way that just comes across as inadequate now.

I am not insensitive to what you are asking, though. When I was getting my PhD, and especially when I was preparing for my comprehensive exams, I longed for huge survey courses where the professor might just rattle off bullet points of why each author was considered great. I used to joke with my classmates about missing the "How lovely" School of Criticism. And, personally, as someone who specialized in the literature of a century or two ago, I like so-called great works! I also wished that professors would always include an author's major work instead of assuming students would already know it and opt for the lesser known.

I think if what you are looking for is solid introduction to Western thought, Columbia's core will be attractive. I think you might also like St John's College. [/quote]

This is an intelligent and helpful comment, which is lovely to see.[/quote]

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