Pride or Prejudice: You be the judge [by David Lehman]

In the current issue of New England Review, a highly respected journal, the editor prefaces the issue with a note in which she admits to being captivated by Les Miserables by Victor Hugo [left]. But to get into the book she says she had to overcome obstacles. The musical, for one thing. "Also it's from old white Europe -- what news could there be?"

This sentence stopped me in my tracks. And I wanted to ask you, dear reader, how you would sum up your reaction:

(1) Forget it. She was trying to be clever.
(2) The three least appealing words in the language used to be "dead," "poets," and "society." Now they are "old," "white," and "Europe."
(3) Forget it. Who, even among readers of lit journals, reads the editor's note?
(4) Forget it. She is trying to prove that she's virtuous.
(5) Forget it. It's the end of Western Civilization as we know it. (So what else is new?)

Comments

[mitch sisskind]

I agree with all of the options except,
in my opinion, (3), as I would always read
the editor's note and possibly only the
editor's note. Other than that, (4) would
be my strongest reaction. It's very important
to signal this fashionable virtue today by
referencing white people, as in some places
you would make the sign of the cross or wear
something on your head.

[Marissa Despain]

This kind of thing really rankles. As a member of a so-called marginalized group, I hate to see any group painted with a broad brush. Isn't this exactly the kind of generalizations we fight against? Should we be learning to see people as individuals? It's become, as they say, "normalized" to vilify anyone who is dead, white, and instead of Europe I would say "male."

[Angela Ball]

Exactly, Mitch! It's a religion.