Hurrah for Dead White Males!

Lurking behind the question "What should I read?" is usually a second, tacit one: "And why, while we're on the subject, should I read it?" Coming up with answers has long been the practice and business of literary criticism. But such queries have, in recent years, taken on a snappish edge, not only from attention-span-challenged students of the MTV generation but from a number of grownups whose putative profession is the teaching of literature.

The rebellion against Dead White European Male authors has by now turned itself into a campus cliche, but that doesn't mean it has gone away. D.W.E.M.s are...