public static string XmlEscape(string unescaped)
{
    XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
    var node = doc.CreateElement("root");
    node.InnerText = unescaped;
    return node.InnerXml;
}

public static string XmlUnescape(string escaped)
{
    XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
    var node = doc.CreateElement("root");
    node.InnerXml = escaped;
    return node.InnerText;
}

using System;
using System.Xml.Linq;

class Test
{
    static void Main()
    {
        XElement element = new XElement("tag",
                                        "Brackets & stuff <>");

        Console.WriteLine(element);
    }
}

using System;
using System.Xml;

class Test
{
    static void Main()
    {
        XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
        XmlElement element = doc.CreateElement("tag");
        element.InnerText = "Brackets & stuff <>";
        Console.WriteLine(element.OuterXml);
    }
}

<tag>Brackets & stuff <></tag>