J. K. Gayle takes on John Hobbins’ question. Not precisely answers it. He takes it on.
I have this post on my list of posts I want to respond to, but I haven’t yet had time. Let me simply state that there are few forms of writing to which I react more negatively than universally required reading lists–and I have even written a few myself. There are lists of things you have to read to be a good American, to be literate, and so forth. Considering the amount of good reading available, I find such lists pretty arrogant (yes, including any ones I’ve ever written).
I think I will write more on this, but I wanted to call attention to the two approaches here. In this case, I think I’ll come out sounding more like J. K. Gayle when I do write.