Thank you for your timely reminder about the crises of English literature and the humanities in our universities, including my own (Editorial, 5 December). The closure of the English literature degree at Canterbury Christ Church – the city of Chaucer and Marlowe – is a symptom of a deep malaise across universities and our whole culture.
We should look beyond the actions of particular institutions to an unsustainable financial model and the death cult of economic utility shaping what is studied. We are in a deepening mess – think the state of universities, the climate crisis, the despoliation of nature, fragile representative democracy, war and the slaughter of innocents, and the rise, yet again, of the strong, fascistic leader to bring supposed order into chaos.
