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A review by trilobiter
Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World by David Denby
2.0
I am enough of a romanticist to buy Denby's central point, that the "great books" of Western Literature are valuable for aesthetic and instructive reasons. Indeed, when describing his response to the classic authors in those terms, the writing is fun and enjoyable.
Unfortunately, there is more to this book. Much of it is devoted to Denby's social/political commentary, which might best be described as the ultimate middle class white man's perspective on the culture wars of the 1990s. Not all of it is face-slappingly offensive, and he goes out of his way to present the views he disagrees with. But it is one thing to tweak a few post-modernist academics (everyone knows they're full of shit). It is another thing to quote (paraphrase?) a black student's passionate outburst about representation in the university, and then patronizingly wonder for the rest of the book why she is so wrong. Denby's most consistent error is to ridicule the notion that representation matters in the media or in academia.
The worst chapter by far is his reaction to Simone de Beauvoir, where he riffs extensively on "Take Back the Night." Denby listens to the stories of the women who have sufferred rape, and wonders why the ones who come back year after year can never "get over it". He tries to put himself in their shoes, and the furthest he can get is to reminisce (for a second time) about that one time he got mugged. He seems to think that sexual violence is some sort of cultural misunderstanding that might be addressed by rereading The Decameron. Even when he admits to feeling like a creepy uncle, you can't escape the sense that he is utterly, deeply clueless.
Stupid politics, a few good anecdotes, and possibly some reading recommendations. That's what Great Books has to offer. It worked for me in high school, but it's not my thing anymore.
Unfortunately, there is more to this book. Much of it is devoted to Denby's social/political commentary, which might best be described as the ultimate middle class white man's perspective on the culture wars of the 1990s. Not all of it is face-slappingly offensive, and he goes out of his way to present the views he disagrees with. But it is one thing to tweak a few post-modernist academics (everyone knows they're full of shit). It is another thing to quote (paraphrase?) a black student's passionate outburst about representation in the university, and then patronizingly wonder for the rest of the book why she is so wrong. Denby's most consistent error is to ridicule the notion that representation matters in the media or in academia.
The worst chapter by far is his reaction to Simone de Beauvoir, where he riffs extensively on "Take Back the Night." Denby listens to the stories of the women who have sufferred rape, and wonders why the ones who come back year after year can never "get over it". He tries to put himself in their shoes, and the furthest he can get is to reminisce (for a second time) about that one time he got mugged. He seems to think that sexual violence is some sort of cultural misunderstanding that might be addressed by rereading The Decameron. Even when he admits to feeling like a creepy uncle, you can't escape the sense that he is utterly, deeply clueless.
Stupid politics, a few good anecdotes, and possibly some reading recommendations. That's what Great Books has to offer. It worked for me in high school, but it's not my thing anymore.