Does 'no worse than' really mean 'no worse than' here?

[Tedwonny]

"If one were asked to provide a single explanation for the growth of English in the later 19th century, one could do no worse than reply, "the failure of religion"".

It seems you couldn't say it in a worse way - the failure of religion, but this doesn't quite make sense.

Many thanks if you can help clarify this.

 

[JMurray]

not a teacher

This is a passage from Terence Eagleton's "Literary Theory, An Introduction".

According to this link, the original text is: If one were asked to provide a single explanation for the growth of English studies in the later nineteenth century, one could do worse than reply: "the failure of religion."

http://www.brentmblackwell.com/courses/engl210_TheRiseOfEnglish.pdf

It seems that the version of this text you are referring to is incorrect.

 

[lotus888]

[FONT=&quot]Interesting article – it propounds that English, or literature, replaced religious ideology by placating the masses, instilling morality, changing social perception, and equalizing the social classes -- via the middle-class[/FONT].



--lotus