Davidson community members packed into Summit Coffee Outpost (Nummit) last Wednesday as professors and students held a panel discussion on “What Makes Good Literature?”
The panel consisted of three English department professors as well as the co-editors in chief of Libertas and Hobart Park literary magazines. They offered an array of perspectives on representation, the public service of art and much more.
Following the ancient Greek understanding of good, the participants promised a holistic determination of quality that considers not just the aesthetic beauty of a work but also its morality and ethics.
The bulk of the talk consisted of smaller individual statements from each of the professors and literary magazines.
The first to speak was Professor of English Ann Fox. A disabilities studies specialist, she spoke about representation in media and the importance of accuracy in doing so.
Fox also encouraged the audience to engage in all kinds of literature, even from people they do not consider ‘good.’ If people only consumed art from ‘good people,’ they would consume far too little. Once art is released, she argued, its meaning is out of the author’s hands. To truly experience all literature has to offer, one must “engage in the mess.”
Next were Hobart Park Co-Editors in Chief Abi Brissett ’26 and Sofia Cimballa ’26 who, like Fox, rejected a rigid determination of quality. Instead, they explained their aim to blend the inherent imperfections of a student-run literary magazine with constructive criticism from editors that could still improve the works.
Hobart Park also provides a public good in the form of record keeping. Started in December 1978, the extensive archives of past issues capture student expression—and often even the campus mood—over the years.
Assistant Professor of English Hudson Vincent took a different approach to the conversation, even admitting that he was somewhat dodging the question. He chose to emulate an argument from German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s “Critique of Judgement,” distinguishing aesthetic taste and moral judgement as “profoundly different yet indelibly connected.”
Kant asserts that moral sensibility is a necessary precondition for good aesthetic judgement. How then does one obtain moral sensibility? The answer, Kant says, is a liberal arts education. Morality comes from exposure to goodness in the arts, and a liberal arts education exposes its students to good art frequently.
For Kant, good art does not just teach good character, but good citizenship as well. And by informing people on how to be a good citizen, good art gives people freedom.
Like their peers in Hobart Park, Libertas Co-Editors in Chief Caroline Ewing ’26 and Cate Goodin ’26 embrace imperfection in literature. They view the publication as a means for improvement, and avoid cutting submissions in favor of encouraging the contributors to revise their work.
The final speaker for the night was Visiting Assistant Professor in English Anika Jensen. As an affect theorist, she focuses on the emotional impact of works and believes good art must affect her in some way beyond being enjoyable.
That is not to say she only enjoys positive literature. In fact, she often finds that more ugly, “gnarled” works prompt a stronger reaction from her. She cited Katherine Mansfield’s “The Fly” and Edith Wharton’s “The House of Mirth” as texts that frequently spark negative reactions in her classes but force students to think critically about the world.
However, Jensen was also sure to emphasize that by the end of class, she and her students exit with a better outlook for the future. Despite the dreary content, such literature and their discussions of it encourage them to go out and fix the issues discussed.
The talk had been in the works since last semester, when students on the panel first started floating the idea. “We weren’t quite sure what form it was gonna take, but we signed up because we thought it would be good to have all the magazines together,” Goodin said.
The panel also signals a big shift in relations between Libertas and Hobart Park. “In the past there’s been animosity between the magazines […] so I think this was a really good way for us to just come together,” Ewing said.
Ultimately, both recognized the importance of this type of conversation. “A panel in this time is really important, because a lot of literature and art is being censored right now or not being given the value and weight maybe it deserves,” Brissett said. “It’s important for Davidson to discuss this.”