Reading a shakespeare tragedy in literature course

thomas pynchon

Let's be honest, Titus Andronicus is ASOIAF compressed in a five act play, while Hamlet and Macbeth are Titus Andronicus but actually good.

Wow, Harold Bloom is right.

I don't think you should blame the teacher, blame disinterested students who can only be taught throw popular culture analogies

haha what the hell man, why all these historical charakters be copying game of thrones, haha like for real

No it's the school's problem; the generation wasn't genetically this way. Either the parents or schools need to change, but it's easier to change the schools.

Them that needs to start in earlier education. The colleges have to cope with, and often work to undo, 12 years of fucked up education.
Teaching an intro to creative writing course really drove that shit home, especially the poetry unit. Teaching short fiction and non-fiction (essays and memoir pieces) wasn't bad, but poetry I always felt like we could only get a 1/3 of the work done as in other units. It's because their high school teachers tell them that poetry has to be in some "high poetic language" and none of them know what poetry looks like post-Romanticism. I'd spend two weeks just getting them read on more recent poetry before I ask for a first assignment, and I still get cunts that will write like they're a retarded Shakespeare. Then, they get upset when I give them a low grade for ignoring everything I had been teaching them. Some even say "shouldn't I get more points because I tried?" I gave them the appropriate amount of points for the piss poor effort!
tl;dr college freshmen are idiots already

>tfw this is the ultimate Veeky Forums redpill
>tfw the importance of the canon is starting to dwindle
>tfw there are kids going into university never having read greek classics, the bible, great poets, etc
>tfw more and more universities are slowly becoming a joke due to the politicization of literature

Is there any hope Veeky Forums?

>Be an English exchange student in America
>Attend philosophy class
>Professor enters, takes the podium "Right class, first things first get out your wands and attempt this simple vanishing spell"

Can someone explain to me why Bloom cares so much about the canon? I can't wrap my head around it - he believes that art is useless (and thus opposes its politicisation) but what's the importance in studying certain authors over others if it produces zero tangible service beyond pleasure. I remember him saying something to the effect of "I just want people to spend their spare time well", which refers to reading recreationally and makes sense when confined to that realm, but what relevance does this have to academia?

>he believes that art is useless
I don't think this is really true because he believes that reading great works of literature can help you in a variety of ways (improve your cognitive abilities, discover things about yourself, explore lifestyles you could have never lived yourself, etc).

He believes that there isn't enough time to read things other than the canon, which applies to academia as well, meaning people shouldn't waste their time studying books that aren't worthy of the canon because of the same reason. Tbh, his reasoning isn't always that well fleshed out but I don't see any reason to disagree with him on the importance of the canon.

of course you fucking mong

if bait then ya got me

did he shoot his putrid cock slime?

>"Anyone saw Westworld yesterday?"
>Some raised hands
>"You should watch it. Its a great example of the uncanny valley"

I stopped coming to class after that.

Yes. Stop believing made-up/exagerrated stories on Veeky Forums, posted by pretentious undergrads who think they're smarter than their better educated professors.
>I know Veeky Forums memes
>that's better than a PhD and published papers in their chosen field r-right?
There is a degree of a problem at certain schools (ie Oberlin), but those schools were already cesspits of anti-intellectualism. It is much less of an issue irl.

>I don't think this is really true because he believes that reading great works of literature can help you in a variety of ways (improve your cognitive abilities, discover things about yourself, explore lifestyles you could have never lived yourself, etc).
I might have misinterpreted him. As far as I remember, he quoted the Oscar Wilde line and said he agreed with it. Maybe he was being deliberately provocative. I'm pretty sure he has also said that reading won't make you a better person, but that doesn't contradict what you mentioned in brackets so maybe you;re right.

>He believes that there isn't enough time to read things other than the canon
Hmm I suppose that makes sense.

underrated response

kek

its ME

M8 it's closer to 40-50k for schools that aren't dogshit

Was the class TVTropes 101

What else are we gonna do?
Go work in a "trade" and join the middle age conservadad club?

The 20K price tag aint cheap but it's for access to where all da white women at.

This.

this but unironically

Maybe not necessarily a better person, but he said reading is more or less a solitary activity, effective for self-discovery. He also said the reason we read is because we can't possibly talk to enough people in our lifetimes.

hello beta jimmy numale
you should really consider suicide

My Shakespeare prof said that and turned out to be amazing.

Common cultural lexicon of established aesthetic quality. Relativistic individualism only breeds alienation and stagnation

>attend American intro to philosophy class
>professor starts threatening the class to write "GOD IS DEAD" on their papers

>Introduction to eastern philosophy and religion
>"How many of you watch anime?"

abandoning the Western Canon is like burning historical records every couple generations and effectively starting over without the knowledge of thousands of years of predecessors. Thought tends to degenerate into trite already-trodden banalities because everybody is making it up from scratch. If, however, children are taught Aristotle, Dante, Keats, Blake, etc. in school, there is already a strong bedrock of inherited thought upon which to build unique ideas and inventions of mind instead of circling the widening gyre of hedonism and unoriginality

Imagine the low opinion professors who do this must have of their students. Even sadder that the low opinion is accurate

Not OP but that almost word for word happened in a history class I was attending

>start physiotherapy bachelors
>"before the class starts, do any of you play sport?"

-_____________________________-

>start chemistry degree
>"Before begin, any of y'all ever broke a Bad?"
>guy with bald and goat tee raises hands
>" I believe I can service you"
>theme music starts

Every time -_-

Consider that college has become an extension of high school. Most of the students arent interested in learning and academic pursuits the way the professors are, it's just something they "have to do". The great majority of people arent interested in intellectual stuff.

No, this actually proves Bloom wrong. His stupid argument is that kids who read genre fiction will never move on to the classics--you know, like taking a Shakespeare course or something.

You realize that OP is fake, right?

He never even said that. He just said if you're going to read genre fiction (he was talking about Harry Potter specifically) to read it fast and get it over with. I guess his whole idea is that since we only have ~80 years to read, we need to use this time wisely and only read the most important works.

>Veeky Forums memes
>Even though Bloom has been a professor at Yale for 50 years
kek
Your post itself is a meme, why is your opinion of more worth than Bloom?

I'd say Richard III and parts 2 and 3 of Henry VI are more like Game of Thrones.

The backstabbing, the prince deaths, the royal feel.

>Margarette a more bad-ass Margerey
>Richard a more badass, developed, and intricate Littlefinger
>King Henry sort of like Tommen, but not really
>Anne I guess could be Sansa

>Hamlet is Titus Andronicus
?

>Tbh
how did you do this

Why did the mods delete my post?

Are they rump rustled they wasted 4 years of their lives and tens of thousands of dollars on a useless degree?

Keep doing it for free, fuccbois.

If you put it on pedestal, everyone that's not among the most creative will keep emulating it and even regurgitating parts of it. From a writing standpoint, the best thing is to be aware of the core ideas but not give it too much thought. From a reading standpoint, it depends what you like and what you're already familiar with and you can talk about with other people.

>People on lit actually think this

This shit happens more and more in "higher education" and not even just shitty places like community colleges.

My world lit class for my undergraduate program had Montaigne on it, which the professor told us was "the first ever blogger."

They try to make it fun and relatable to the kiddos but just end up cheapening the curriculum to the point of plastic, fast-food pap.

ya man.

that moment when you realize that academia is just as unfunny, boring, and normie as the rest of reality is deeply depressing but also liberating

Why do you guys care about pop culture references being mentioned?

This whole board is based around silly memes but somehow a professor making a joke is above all of you?

>cheapening the curriculum
Explain what this means and how calling Montaigne the first ever bloggers makes any significant difference to the quality of your learning experience.

you haven't attended college, have you?

literally happens all of the time

my medieval english poetry professor wears a hogwarts shirt and an eragon necklace regularly

it's not a fucking meme

There's literally nothing wrong with anime and vidya

One of my professor literally uses memes in her presentations. Not even kidding.

memes are mainstream now. they get posted on Facebook and grandma reads them.

This