The Dancer and the Dance

Abstract

Reality is communication. Culture is a complex form of communication. Language is the most important medium in this abstruse level of communication. Literature is the richest and most effective use of language. The membership of the MLA, as symbolic of the institutionalized, academic interest in language and literature in the United States, is no longer representative of the concerns of the population as a whole. Its interest pre-ponderately in English and European literature and languages does not accord with the increasing national interest in the literature and languages of this hemisphere, in the varieties of English used in this country, in pedagogy, and in the modified expectations of literacy today. As teachers of language and literature, MLA members live and move in the world of symbols. They cannot expect to be absolved from the practical effects of these symbols. In their responsibility or irresponsibility, they and their Association are these symbols.