Monday, March 14, 2011

experiencing life in all its darkness and all its light

What a strange way for a literature professor to come to understand why we really need literature: "through literature, they were experiencing life in all its darkness and all its light, without suffering any of the consequences. Literature was fulfilling its best purpose, as I see it now." One hopes the message gets out to everyone else who studies, reads, and teachs literature, for this is truly what it's all about.

2 comments:

Prof J said...

I always thought of literature as a sort of penultimate "consumer good." I like the way it was stated in Dead Poet's Society: "And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."

Troy Camplin said...

You might be interested in my blog <a href="http://theliteraryorder.blogspot.com>Austrian Economics and Literature</a> if you're not aware of it.