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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   24348 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 22, 2026

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Why is Pride and Prejudice, essentially Victorian era chick lit, required reading? Answer: who knows?

Ask my Irish school curriculum circa 1978 (and then 1980 for Persuasion*) about that one, friend. It wasn't chick-lit in those days, the term was yet to be invented. Instead it was considered a classic novel in English. If Manly Men could be Janeites, I don't see why the non-gender-binary-normative young human animals (as distinct from non-human animals, don't be speciesist!) of our day can't be introduced to her writing! Granted, the highly intelligent youth of our time probably would struggle to read English that is not contemporary but let's be hopeful and make the experiment, yes?

It has been said that the early twentieth century, Janeitism was "principally a male enthusiasm shared among publishers, professors, and literati". Rudyard Kipling even published a short story entitled "The Janeites" about a group of World War I soldiers who were secretly fans of Austen's novels.

*One of the girls in the class had the surname Durand and it was always deemed hilarious when we had to read (yes, we read it aloud in class, everyone taking their turn as the teacher went through it):

"The little Durands were there, I conclude," said she, "with their mouths open to catch the music; like unfledged sparrows ready to be fed. They never miss a concert."

the non-gender-binary-normative young human animals

This is Texas. The teachers may not be particularly based, but the elected officials setting curriculum standards do not believe in 'non-binary', and might think this is some kind of new computer technology, and if I had to guess a majority of the state board of ed would vote in favor of sodomy laws if they thought they could get away with it.

Let us be correct and pure in our thinking and expression, even if the Texans are woefully recalcitrant.

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