Candor and Perversion: Literature, Education, and the Arts

"Candor & Perversion" collects nearly forty of Roger Shattuck's previously published essays on a broad range of topics in education, literature and the arts. Nearly all of these essays were published after 1985, predominantly in Salmagundi, The New York Review of Books and The New Republic. It is an outstanding collection of essays by a scholar of wide-ranging, thoughtful and sober intelligence.The collection is divided into two parts. The first part, "Intellectual Craftsmanship," contains a series of polemical essays that deal with topics generally subsumed in recent years under the term "Culture Wars." In this part, Shattuck stakes out his position clearly in a number of essays dealing with the proper role of education and the importance of the canon. Thus, in the essay "Nineteen Theses on Literature," Shattuck states that, "we have brought ourselves to a great deal of perplexity about the basic role of education." This perplexity arises from the question of whether education's proper role should be "[to] socialize the young within an existing culture and offer them the means to succeed within that culture" or, in the alternative, "[to] give to the young the means to challenge and overthrow the existing culture, presumably in order to achieve a better life." Shattuck's response is in favor of the former, choosing a conservative view of education's role. In doing so, he essentially resolves this question consistent with a position he articulates in another of his essays, "Education, Higher and Lower," where he states that, "some of us have come to believe that it is possible, even necessary, to be liberal in political matters and conservationist in cultural matters."These polemical pieces on the role of education are followed by a number of essays that explore such topics as "The Spiritual in Art," "How We Think at the Movies" (where he explores, among other things, whether thinking is possible without language), "Life Before Language: Nathalie Sarraute" (where he examines Sarraute's attempts to capture, in fiction, mental life as it exists before it "gets caught and stifled in the rough net of conventional language"), "Michel Foucault," and "Radical Skepticism and How We Got There." In all of these essays, Shattuck explores, with erudition and balance, a range of topics that have been prone in recent years to irrational polemics.The second part of the collection, "A Critics Job of Work," contains essays that are best described as literary journalism. In a series of essays under the broad title "Tracking the Avant Guard in France," Shattuck explores the biographies and artistic significance of a range of artists and writers, including Marcel Duchamp, Hans Arp, Sarah Bernhardt, Pablo Picasso, and Jean Cocteau. The most telling of his essays in this part of the book is titled "From Aestheticism to Fascism," where Shattuck calmly proffers the lineage that ran from the "antinomian, decadent aestheticism" of the "art for art's sake" movement to the

?Candor & Perversion? collects nearly forty of Roger Shattuck?s previously published essays on a broad range of topics in education, literature and the arts. Nearly all of these essays were published after 1985, predominantly in ?Salmagundi?, ?The New York Review of Books? and ?The New Republic?. It is an outstanding collection of essays by a scholar of wide-ranging, thoughtful and sober intelligence.The collection is divided into two parts. The first part, ?Intellectual Craftsmanship?, contains a series of polemical essays that deal with topics generally subsumed in recent years under the term ?Culture Wars?. In this part, Shattuck stakes out his position clearly in a number of essays dealing with the proper role of education and the importance of the canon. Thus, in the essay ?Nineteen Theses on Literature,? Shattuck states that, ?we have brought ourselves to a great deal of perplexity about the basic role of education.? This perplexity arises from the question of whether education?s proper role should be ?[to] socialize the young within an existing culture and offer them the means to succeed within that culture? or, in the alternative, ?[to] give to the young the means to challenge and overthrow the existing culture, presumably in order to achieve a better life.? Shattuck?s response is in favor of the former, choosing a conservative view of education?s role. In doing so, he essentially resolves this question consistent with a position he articulates in another of his essays, ?Education, Higher and Lower,? where he states that, ?some of us have come to believe that it is possible, even necessary, to be liberal in political matters and conservationist in cultural matters.?These polemical pieces on the role of education are followed by a number of essays that explore such topics as ?The Spiritual in Art?, ?How We Think at the Movies? (where he explores, among other things, whether thinking is possible without language), ?Life Before Language: Nathalie Sarraute? (where he examines Sarraute?s attempts to capture, in fiction, mental life as it exists before it ?gets caught and stifled in the rough net of conventional language?), ?Michel Foucault?, and ?Radical Skepticism and How We Got There.? In all of these essays, Shattuck explores, with erudition and balance, a range of topics that have been prone in recent years to irrational polemics.The second part of the collection, ?A Critics Job of Work,? contains essays that are best described as literary journalism. In a series of essays under the broad title ?Tracking the Avant Guard in France,? Shattuck explores the biographies and artistic significance of a range of artists and writers, including Marcel Duchamp, Hans Arp, Sarah Bernhardt, Pablo Picasso, and Jean Cocteau. The most telling of his essays in this part of the book is titled ?From Aestheticism to Fascism,? where Shattuck calmly proffers the lineage that ran from the ?antinomian, decadent aestheticism? of the ?art for art?s sake

As with his previous works, such as FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE and THE INNOCENT EYE, Roger Shattuck manages to cover many topics in his new book. There is no thematic link between the essays--it is enough that Shattuck writes well about each subject. Shattuck is, along with William Pritchard, Denis Donoghue, and Andrew Delbanco, one of our most perspicacious and eloquent critics, as he is equally adept at analyzing a writer's words (such as in his essay on Mallarme's poetry) or a social phenomenon (such as in his essay "Radical Skepticisim and How We Got Here"). The clarity of his writing prompts one to question the value of the opaque prose produced by many academics in our age.

This is a great book that attempts to see through our modern educational and literary theories in order to reach a more truthful and substantial way of thinking about how we educate the mind through reading, writing and literature.This isn't a perfect book. At times Shattuck relies much too heavily on what I would call "crutch" artists (Marcel Proust and Jean Arp being two of them), and at other times he seems almost guilty of nepotism in his applauding of the work done by close friends. However, the overall success of the book is in opening the reader to entertain less mainstream or popularly-accepted ideas that eventually may bring about a better educational system and more engaging and critical readers of literature in America.I don't feel the book is quite as revolutionary as the author expects, nor as "anti-pc" or "anti-liberal" as many readers might first suggest.Instead, the book works best as a tool through which the reader is more fully exposed to the current debates on education, literature, and what it means for something to be "art" or for a person to be an "artist."