[As I’ve done
each of the last
few years, I wanted to spend this
holiday week sharing some wishes for the AmericanStudies Elves. For this
year’s, I’ll be sharing five texts I wish all Americans had the chance to read.
I’d love to hear about your wishlists as well!]
I’ve written
before about Herman Melville’s two-part short story “The
Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids.” But in this time of
ever-increasing economic
and social stratification and inequality, when the holidays and the wishes—like
the worlds and lives—of those at the top and the bottom of our society’s
structure seem to exist in different universes, I can think of few works more
worth our attention than this story of two such contrasting communities,
seemingly as far apart figuratively as they are literally, but perhaps more
linked than we care to imagine.
Next wish
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What would
you wish for?
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