There is an article we should all read and discuss, as it is about the present. It is part of a symposium on the teaching of literature, where other luminaries presented as well.
Tuve, Rosemond. “More Battle than Books.” Sewanee Review 55:4 (Oct.-Dec. 1947): 571-585.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27537774
This post is for all, but is especially for Dame Eleanor Hull.
Axé.
There is also an article on the discipline of English in the present age, in Profession 2007, that I think is related and that I should reread.
And someone said: Erwin Panofsky, “The History of Art as Humanistic Discipline,” 1955. It’s McCarthy-era, but makes a lot of points that are still very important today. He argues for the cultural value of purely theoretical and academic pursuits and intellectual freedom.
And there is this treasure trove: http://readlists.com/f27404b6/
And this article.