The Place of the Novel in the Liberal Arts Curriculum

A discussion of the place of the novel in liberal arts education, a question sparked by the recent publication of Joseph Epstein’s The Novel, Who Needs It? Novels are important, says Epstein, because they provide knowledge that can’t always be enumerated or subjected to strict testing as with other kinds of study. But the genre is suffering today because “large segments of the culture are no longer open to honest discussion.”