The Australian Letters Blog

The daily newspaper, The Australian.:

From their Letters Blog

PETER Holbrook’s article"Classics out of print" stimulated a few comments from readers that articulate similar concerns regarding the disappearance of the English language literary canon from the curricula of schools and universities in Australia. Holbrook says that this is an urgent reminder to all those interested in literature that now, not tomorrow, is the time to take a stand or "a 'Literary paradise' may soon be lost”.

(Sounds exactly the same as the story in the USA and Canada, and for the same basic reasons.)

COMMENT:

The economics of publishing mean that the bookshop is no longer a place where we can browse through our literary heritage. Our great writers have vanished from the nation’s bookshelves because they don’t sell in the volumes of the latest pot-boiler. When literature confronts the bottom line, there seems to be no question as to which one wins out.

Mark Howie