Students rather new to an active reading of literature often complain, "I don't get it. I just like to curl up with a good book, relax, and get lost for a while.  It's no big deal. Why is it that when you get to college, you have to pick it all apart, to go for the 'deep meaning' and all that stuff?"

Or, "The study of literature is all well and good for somebody else, I suppose, but I'm a very busy person, juggling a lot of different responsibilities every day. Why should I make time to read any imaginative literature with everything else I have going on right now? And I don't see it getting any different!"

No professor sitting supinely on the "other side of the desk" would probably argue with you--he or she was probably drawn initially to the study of literature from something of the same experience--the love of a good book or the works of a favorite writer. And like you, professors are also very busy people, juggling many commitments and serving many different responsibilities.

Perhaps a quick answer for the busy executive, professional, or staffer might be framed like this: "Active reading serves your own self-interest."

It has been some time ago (1971) that the Modern Language Association--a professional organization of English instructors--released the results of a national survey of major businesses, law schools, schools of education in major universities, and medical schools. Essentially, researchers asked the same question repeatedly, "Is there a place for English majors in your professions and disciplines." The results were a resounding affirmative: "Yes, give us more English majors!"

But why?

The answer is clear and straight forward:

The active (rather than passive) experience of literature sharpens critical thinking and builds sophisticated communications skills essential to the success of all professional and most social activity.

The active study of literature (outlined in "How to Read a Short Story Critically") promotes holistic (sometimes referred to as "right-brain" thinking skills). Holistic thinking visualizes the "big picture" and all the intricate relationships between the elements that comprise it.  Writing about literature (see "How to Write an Analytical Essay about Short Fiction") sharpens your abilities to think precisely and to express yourself concisely in the explanation of relationships (analysis), the meaning of a work (interpretation), and your judgment of a work (evaluation).

Those people who can suspend consciously the "big picture" or emerging impression of an entire work while applying to that impression more and more details and their relationships are those who, in the "real worlds" in which we must live and work can perform the complicated analyses and make recommendations with confidence and literally change their worlds.

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