David Bromwich Replies

I do not take the main issue to be “the canon.” The word itself is misleading as well as solemn, and I used article was something different: the relation of individual thought to the reading of good books. I still find a useful test of that relation in the opinions of qualified judges both living and dead. If it is argued that some of the judges were bigoted, I ask whether we can get the benefit of their judgments without falling prey to their bigotry. The answer often given is a very hasty, ill-informed, and self-satisfied “No.” This rigid proscription against judgment, or taste, has its corollary in the wish for a whole-length remodeling of our image of authors and readers. We are urged to praise books in keepin...