November 20, 2012
By Ana Braga-Henebry (Rural South Dakota)
This review is from: The Politically Incorrect Guide to English And American Literature (Politically Incorrect Guides) (Paperback)
I wasn't familiar with the Politically Incorrect series until I saw that Anthony Esolen, whom I respect, wrote one of the titles. So I looked for one on English Lit since it seems to be invariably the most tainted course in any high school or college... And I am so pleasantly surprised by this volume. Kantor writes in an engaging style, humorous, interesting... And she says all of the things you'd wish your public school or state college students would hear in the classroom! This book talks about themes you would be pressed to hear in any college except for the very few Catholic and Christian liberal arts colleges such as UD, TAC, Hillsdale or Benedictine that still regards the greatness of English Literature. Themes such as chivalry, courage, heroism, love of God, and how these are present all over the place in English Literature. The book is in itself a summing up of all of the major authors and works of English Lit: Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, to Jane Austen, T. S. Eliot, and Flannery O'Connor. It feels truly like a breath of fresh air: these were great authors, who spoke of beauty, and God, and moral values, and were loved for their writing and for their messages. Kantor shows how modern courses on literature aim to cast a negative shadow on any good there is in literature and it is indeed entertaining to see at what absurd stretch these courses can go. This book offers both illuminating and culture-forming reading to anyone who has squirmed in their seat in a Lit class, be in high school or college, when great, moral, God-fearing Christian authors and poets were shoved down their throats as reactionaries or women-haters.
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