Literature

I really dread the new semester. What in the world was I thinking when I withdrew my file for graduation?? I had to get into Antwerp, that was the idea. Now that I didn't make it in, I'm really at a loss!

As it is, I'm already quite disgusted with the academic world. It is a pretentious place that tries to instill abstract philosophical ideas into your head - and it is completely futile! This I realized as I sat on the train, passed the hills of green and the skies of blue, overwhelmed with faith and reverence for this thing we call life, and that we call experience. Words are inadequate.

I wonder if what we do in the literature department is right; this process of analyzing, deconstructing, piling on layers of lofty assumptions, on a perfectly good text - do we end up defacing the text instead? If literature is life, can we not simply read it in appreciation, at first impression, as though life could be felt through the pages, without finding the need to run scientific experiments and perhaps ruin the pleasure of reading?