Dept. of Redundancy Department

In two days, the Department of English and American Literature and Language may cease to exist.

Not, however, because the University has decided that the teaching of English literature is no longer necessary. Instead, the department is threatened because the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will vote on April 8 to decide whether to change its name from the cumbersome “Department of English and American Literature and Language” to the more concise “Department of English.”

University Professor Helen Vendler seemed uninspired by and indifferent toward the proposed alteration, calling it a “routine change.” However, small as it may seem, the new name does a far better job of encapsulating the department and what it stands for.

The Department of English and American Literature and Language is not actually in the business of teaching English and American literature and language. Rather, it teaches about the structure and works of the English language. While the department’s current name implies that only works from the Anglo-American tradition would fall within its purview, in fact authors from backgrounds ranging from South African to Polish are routinely taught in its courses. What unites these authors is English—not the nationality, which is implied by its placement alongside “American” in the current department name, but the language.

This may appear insignificant, but there are larger principles at stake here.

Without precision, language loses its meaning. In his famous essay, Politics and the English Language, George Orwell commented that a lack of carefully chosen diction and imagery marked the fundamental problem with modern writing. By finding a name that more accurately represents its function, Harvard’s English department places itself at the forefront of the battle against careless usage.

In addition, as E.B. White noted in The Elements of Style, “Vigorous writing is concise.” Orwell agrees, telling us “If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.” It is unclear what the value added by the current long and awkward name is; every word after “English” is superfluous.

For a department concerned with promoting good writing, precision and concision are essential.

So hopefully, in a matter of days, The Harvard Department of English will practice what it preaches by possessing a name that says what it needs to say and nothing else.