Why Study Literature?
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.
This page was last modified on February 10, 2006,
and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey Grimes.
