I propose replacing them with great American literary figures. My criteria are slim: must be American and must be no longer living. (This second criteria eliminated a lot of excellent candidates, alas!) Below I will list the existing Literary Walk figures and then discuss three suggestions for each replacement. I don’t have the power to change the statues in Central Park for real, but I see a very real need to pay tribute to more than just the old guard of literary white men. In making this list, I was forced to skip over dozens of extremely eligible candidates. It turns out there are a tremendous number of incredible literary figures in American history. There are also some obvious omissions in a broader sense: namely, this list features no non-Black, non-Indigenous authors of color. I don’t doubt for a moment that part of the problem here is the way U.S. publishing has discriminated against Asian Americans and Latin Americans in particular, and people of color broadly, but I know writers of color have always been here; this is a gap in my knowledge. I will note that I had to pass over many eligible authors of color I would have included if I were allowing living authors.
William Shakespeare
I assume the Bard needs no introduction. Of course he is a great playwright, but there are many great American playwrights who could be represented here.
Robert Burns
The great Scottish poet probably also needs no introduction. He does, however, warrant replacing with an American.
Sir Walter Scott
The novelist best known for Ivanhoe wrote great Scottish works of fiction. Let’s consider a novelist who wrote great American work.
Fitz-Green Halleck
Unlike the others, I suspect Halleck does require an introduction. The 19th century writer was known as a poet and essayist in both the romantic and satirical categories. His statue is notable for being the first in the park to portray an American. Now…who do we replace that monster Christopher Columbus with?
