Political Correctness and the Attack on Great Literature (Essay‪)‬

One of the abominations of our day, and there are many, is the beast of political correctness that has been turned loose on the world. Born of genuine humanitarian impulses, it now threatens to devour much of what is greatest in our literature and forever separate the children of our culture from what is essential to their humanity. Rather than fight the beast in its full fury--for it has grown large and powerful indeed--I shall snipe at it from the bushes and hope to wound it seriously, leaving the coup-de-grace for another time and, perhaps, another writer. Thus I shall focus on Chinua Achebe's libel against Joseph Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness, as set forth in an article entitled "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness" which first appeared in 1977.' Though weak and inconclusive, if not somewhat hysterical, Achebe's essay is widely anthologized and generally embraced by the initiated as Holy Writ. Hence it is important and a worthy place to target the beast of political correctness even after so many years have passed since the essay first appeared.