Can you pick as an example one work of literature for high school students that “deprovincializes”?
Barzun: Let me see. A good American novel…. Well, I don’t believe there is any one particular work that should be taught to all high school students everywhere. There are many choices possible. But, as one example, take a book like Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street. It covers a good deal of ground depicting the American town, its behavior, and how the city has eliminated the small town ways of life. This alert mind sees at the same time similarity in difference, the familiar amid the strange, while it develops sympathy to balance criticism. This double vision is what cures the bias, prejudice, and bigotry I have called provincialism. Those comparisons, those impressions that evoke sympathy or distaste, are deprovincializing, as you put it. Editor: You say you’re not for having a list of books, an official canon. How do you believe teachers should select literature for their students? What kinds of authors or themes do you think teachers should aim to include? Barzun: They should, in the fi
