why i study literature

I cannot count how many times someone has asked me what my major is and what I want to do with it, especially when people find out I've dedicated four years of my life and more than a reasonable amount of money to studying language, storytelling, and narrative theory. Sometimes I wonder myself, but below I've composed more than a self-justification--literature is my raison d'etre. And I'm not joking.

My parents raised me on books--my mom frequently read aloud to my brothers and me, I spent more than a normal time holed up in my room digesting stories, and my homeschool education was largely centered on literature. I'm very grateful that I had the privilege to cultivate my passion for learning early, but I never truly figured out why it is that I enjoy literature until I began attending Messiah.

During my senior year of high school, I entered Messiah as a dual-enrolled student and signed up for a Post-Colonial Literature course. I remember picking it, not because it sounded interesting, but because I literally did not have any other option (freshman think they have it bad with registration, but try enrolling for fall courses in July). I didn't even know what colonialism was or what post-colonial literature entailed.

At this point in my life, I had decided to rebel against reason and the established course for my life; i.e., I was not planning on majoring in English. I entered the classroom looking to fulfill my literature gen ed and nothing else. However, after a week or so of studying the history of the novel, I was hooked. I knew that literature attracted me for reasons I could not articulate. I couldn't not major in English.

My entire freshman year, I struggled to find a concrete reason that explained why I was so attracted to literature. I even remember that my friend asked me this question in so many words, and all I could say was, "I don't know. I just love it." And I do. But that's not a good enough reason, especially in this day and age in which the study of art for art's sake is considered a luxury and not a necessity. Anyone looking to make an argument for a liberal arts education must go further.

So here's mine.

In the English Major, we talk a lot about storytelling and its significance beyond the classroom. What does the Odyssey have to do with our everyday lives? Why should someone devote their time to reading books with controversial themes, such as The Color Purple or Lolita? How is an entire course on creative writing practical in any way? These are valid questions, but they come from the assumption that the purpose of college is to prepare someone for a career.

I'd like to challenge that. A good 75% of the population does not have a bachelor's degree, but 75% of the population is not unemployed. That's because you don't need to college to get a job. The purpose of college is to get an education. Furthermore, the belief that everything learned in college must be "practical" in the traditional sense of the word is naive, because it assumes that the arts are not relevant to life. Actually, the exact opposite is true. Art is what makes meaning of our lives.

Imagine a world with no film, no theatre, no music, no fiction, no dance. If you don't feel the need to imagine this yourself, I'd suggest you pick up 1984. Orwell does a good job of scaring his readers into appreciating the creative forces of the world we live in. After I read it, I clung to my books a bit more tightly. That's because a world without art is a world without meaning.

Stories matter. They portray the world around us in new ways, allowing us to reflect upon the state of affairs and make necessary changes or to simply be thankful for what we have. They allow us to empathize with others with whom we normally would not, so that we become kinder and more compassionate human beings. They help us to imagine possibilities that don't yet exist, which in turn can spur us into action to make those possibilities a reality. They define cultures, change lives, start revolutions (think: the Bible, Things Fall Apart, or even The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up).

What does literature have to do with real life? Everything.

xx Liz

Why do you love to read?