By chance, I have been teaching Milton’s Paradise Lost in the week of the election and its aftermath. No work could have been more appropriate to this moment, starting with the thematic word “lost,” which tolls forlornly like a bell throughout the text. We have lost the election, and with it we have lost a world. Like Adam and Eve, we are now in exile in the wilderness, and must learn how to cope with that situation. What hope Milton has to offer has nothing to do with being a believing Christian in any conventional sense. Milton wrote
I nowhere talked about "the classroom as activism." I talked about liberal education as the expansion of the mind through the awakening of the imagination and the critical intellect. That in itself is transformative, and may lead to social change. Neither Frye nor I have ever talked of the classroom as an indoctrination center, but we both believe in "liberating" as the root meaning of "liberal." Read the last chapter of The Educated Imagination. Do you think he was not interested in the effect on society of the study of literature? Reread the interview responses where Frye talked about how Fearful Symmetry was spurred by the menace of Nazism and fascism. You have confused some kind of preachy "woke" stuff with liberal education. It is true that Frye would have wanted nothing to do with that--he despised the student demonstrators--and I don't either. And those young people are about to see the results of their vote.
"I have to inform my students that in his first term Obama had to pretend he believed that marriage was between a heterosexual man and woman." John Milton, Blake, and Frye just rolled over. A hack statement like that is what I mean.
Thanks for the "like," Doug, but I don't really understand. Obama really did say that, and it was clearly pretense for political reasons. My students were babies then and don't realize how fast attitudes have changed. If you're implying that it's indoctrination to accept homosexuality, I disagree. Liberal education isn't relativism--it has values, but believes in critiquing them even as it holds them. The values are what Frye called primary concerns, and I think accepting people's sexual identities falls under his primary concern of sex and love. Granted, it can be hard to separate secondary, ideological concerns from primary, but there is a difference. Baldwin Wallace a few years ago severed its ties with the Methodist Church when the latter condemned homosexuality, and I was proud of us. I'm pretty sure Frye would have approved as well. Accepting other people whose different ways aren't doing you any harm is kind of basic. As for Blake and Milton, Milton's angels can choose what gender they want to be, and in sex they interpenetrate from head to foot, a detail that Blake clearly likes.
Thanks for the "like," Doug, but I'm not sure what you mean. Obama did say that and WAS clearly pretending for pragmatic political purposes. My students were babies then, and have no idea how fast attitudes have changed. If you're saying it's indoctrination to imply that acceptance of gay and lesbian people is a good thing, well, I disagree. Baldwin Wallace severed its ties with the Methodist Church a few years ago when the Methodists condemned homosexuality, and I was proud of us. That isn't "woke," that's common decency. Liberal education isn't a relativism detached from all values--it has values, but believes in critiquing them even as it holds them. That's what we teach. As for what Frye would have thought, I think he would have felt that acceptance of people's sexual identity is part of primary concern. Granted it can be hard to separate secondary, ideological concerns from primary concerns, but accepting people as human beings no matter what the hell their sexual identities are is pretty basic.
Thanks for the "like," Doug, but I'm not sure what you mean. Obama did say that and WAS clearly pretending for pragmatic political purposes. My students were babies then, and have no idea how fast attitudes have changed. If you're saying it's indoctrination to imply that acceptance of gay and lesbian people is a good thing, well, I disagree. Baldwin Wallace severed its ties with the Methodist Church a few years ago when the Methodists condemned homosexuality, and I was proud of us. That isn't "woke," that's common decency. Liberal education isn't a relativism detached from all values--it has values, but believes in critiquing them even as it holds them. That's what we teach. As for what Frye would have thought, I think he would have felt that acceptance of people's sexual identity is part of primary concern. Granted it can be hard to separate secondary, ideological concerns from primary concerns, but accepting people as human beings no matter what the hell their sexual identities are is pretty basic.
Exit polls say that 46% of people in Ohio aged 19-29 in Ohio voted for Donald Trump. When you were talking about Milton while welcoming Hitler into the White House did not one student throw their shoe at you in disgust? The classroom as activism is a sickness of our age and one of the reasons the universities need to be defunded and re-inaugurated. Northrop Frye in the two classes I attended—an undergraduate course with the sundering title "The Mythological Framework of Western Culture" taught by Frye and Jay MacPherson and the other a graduate course where everyday a mimeographed poem in English was handed out to focus the lecture— never once engaged in the bastardization of the classroom. He was quite fond of thinking of the classroom as a prophylactic device.
I nowhere talked about "the classroom as activism." I talked about liberal education as the expansion of the mind through the awakening of the imagination and the critical intellect. That in itself is transformative, and may lead to social change. Neither Frye nor I have ever talked of the classroom as an indoctrination center, but we both believe in "liberating" as the root meaning of "liberal." Read the last chapter of The Educated Imagination. Do you think he was not interested in the effect on society of the study of literature? Reread the interview responses where Frye talked about how Fearful Symmetry was spurred by the menace of Nazism and fascism. You have confused some kind of preachy "woke" stuff with liberal education. It is true that Frye would have wanted nothing to do with that--he despised the student demonstrators--and I don't either. And those young people are about to see the results of their vote.
"I have to inform my students that in his first term Obama had to pretend he believed that marriage was between a heterosexual man and woman." John Milton, Blake, and Frye just rolled over. A hack statement like that is what I mean.
Thanks for the "like," Doug, but I don't really understand. Obama really did say that, and it was clearly pretense for political reasons. My students were babies then and don't realize how fast attitudes have changed. If you're implying that it's indoctrination to accept homosexuality, I disagree. Liberal education isn't relativism--it has values, but believes in critiquing them even as it holds them. The values are what Frye called primary concerns, and I think accepting people's sexual identities falls under his primary concern of sex and love. Granted, it can be hard to separate secondary, ideological concerns from primary, but there is a difference. Baldwin Wallace a few years ago severed its ties with the Methodist Church when the latter condemned homosexuality, and I was proud of us. I'm pretty sure Frye would have approved as well. Accepting other people whose different ways aren't doing you any harm is kind of basic. As for Blake and Milton, Milton's angels can choose what gender they want to be, and in sex they interpenetrate from head to foot, a detail that Blake clearly likes.
Thanks for the "like," Doug, but I'm not sure what you mean. Obama did say that and WAS clearly pretending for pragmatic political purposes. My students were babies then, and have no idea how fast attitudes have changed. If you're saying it's indoctrination to imply that acceptance of gay and lesbian people is a good thing, well, I disagree. Baldwin Wallace severed its ties with the Methodist Church a few years ago when the Methodists condemned homosexuality, and I was proud of us. That isn't "woke," that's common decency. Liberal education isn't a relativism detached from all values--it has values, but believes in critiquing them even as it holds them. That's what we teach. As for what Frye would have thought, I think he would have felt that acceptance of people's sexual identity is part of primary concern. Granted it can be hard to separate secondary, ideological concerns from primary concerns, but accepting people as human beings no matter what the hell their sexual identities are is pretty basic.
Thanks for the "like," Doug, but I'm not sure what you mean. Obama did say that and WAS clearly pretending for pragmatic political purposes. My students were babies then, and have no idea how fast attitudes have changed. If you're saying it's indoctrination to imply that acceptance of gay and lesbian people is a good thing, well, I disagree. Baldwin Wallace severed its ties with the Methodist Church a few years ago when the Methodists condemned homosexuality, and I was proud of us. That isn't "woke," that's common decency. Liberal education isn't a relativism detached from all values--it has values, but believes in critiquing them even as it holds them. That's what we teach. As for what Frye would have thought, I think he would have felt that acceptance of people's sexual identity is part of primary concern. Granted it can be hard to separate secondary, ideological concerns from primary concerns, but accepting people as human beings no matter what the hell their sexual identities are is pretty basic.
Exit polls say that 46% of people in Ohio aged 19-29 in Ohio voted for Donald Trump. When you were talking about Milton while welcoming Hitler into the White House did not one student throw their shoe at you in disgust? The classroom as activism is a sickness of our age and one of the reasons the universities need to be defunded and re-inaugurated. Northrop Frye in the two classes I attended—an undergraduate course with the sundering title "The Mythological Framework of Western Culture" taught by Frye and Jay MacPherson and the other a graduate course where everyday a mimeographed poem in English was handed out to focus the lecture— never once engaged in the bastardization of the classroom. He was quite fond of thinking of the classroom as a prophylactic device.