Willa Cather and the MLA

Here's an interesting argument: Are English professors totally out of touch or not? A Washington Times columnist beats up on the frivolity on display at the annual Modern Language Association (MLA) conference. Then a libertarian blogger beats up on said columnist.
Here's a choice excerpt from the blogger's take-down:

So Fields [the columnist] bitches and moans about the "queering" of, among others, good old-fashioned American authors such as Willa Cather. Here's a news flash: During her college days at Univ. of Nebraska, Cather dressed as a man for a while and even took to calling herself "William"; she also had several long-time intimate relationships with women. That sort of long-suppressed biography makes Cather a particularly strong candidate for reappraisal from a queer studies perspective. As important, Cather's treatment by queer studies critics represents the best hope that she will continue to be read.

Read the columnist here; the blogger here. Thanks to Ryan F. for the links!
By the way, I I dearly loved Cather's My Antonia, and I aspire to read Death Comes for the Archbishop.