“There are various legitimate reasons for teaching a diversity of works in college classrooms, but at the heart of our curriculum should be the ‘canon’—a list of classic works that embody in a universally significant manner the common experience of men and women and enable us, by studying them, to grow into the full humanity that we share with others. . . . We teach such works because they help us to discern the order and purpose in human existence. . . . An acquaintance with great literature is certainly no substitute for character, but it enhances the moral imagination and is a good thing in
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