Western Canon

Some opinions from experts put the importance of Western culture into perspective. They are especially relevant at the dawn of the 21st century when democracy deniers and denouncers, looney liberals, radical socialists and anti-American literature and history intellectuals are afoot running a marathon around the globe. Rubbish I say.

"Openness, freedom, knowledge, generosity, beauty and humor," are the contributions of the West to the free world, says George Weigel.

"The story of literature never ends; the same is true for the wonders of the West," say I, a bibliophile.

The canon of Western literature includes writings for the ages, not "period pieces." according to Harold Bloom. They are "authoritative in our culture. For entrance into the Western canon, strangeness is the prime requirement (strangeness meaning a unique contribution).
The literature, philosophy and thought of Shakespeare are paramount. "His mind is the horizon beyond which we do not see," said Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The centerpiece of the Western canon is English writer William Shakespeare, asserts Harold Bloom.

"The nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God," said Laurence Olivier of Shakespeare.

Who do we believe? The perverse thinking of immature radical activists, incapable of impartial analysis of literature and history or.. the rational experts and me? "What is to be done?" asked Lenin whose answer was the second wave of the transformation from democracy to socialism to the Utopia of communism or ... the lonely action of a great read?