Why I Study Literature
What is literature for us? It is a colossal experience acquired by generations; priceless knowledge carried through the ages; unique emotions imprinted in words; human destinies infinitely recurring in the pages of books. Literature – a great art. It’s a life.
What is literature personally for me? First of all, it is a flight from reality. While reading, you are simultaneously in several worlds, you can be anyone and anything: any hero, an outsider or an author. You may not exist at all – dissolve in the text and get away from all living world. Literature – is freedom. It is impossible to feel bound in any frame, if you travel through Middle-Earth with Galdalf, go mad with GregorSamsa, struggle with the system together with Guy Montag or lose the joy of life with Antoine Roquentin. Literature is the absence of morality, fear, death, punishment,gladness, life, pain, prejudices.And at the same time – is the compound and the concentration of all this. Only by reading, we can join the eternal, the sacral, can cognize the world and ourselves.
Is it needed to give an answer yet, why I chose literature as the subject of study? I think everything is obvious, but still want to clarify some points.Literature can seem like an object that does not need to be intensively studied for a long time, because any person can read books, combining this activity with other, more useful or profitable ones.I believe that this is absolutely wrong. Any sphere requires in-depth study, and philological education provides just such a chance.We are given the opportunity to discover the world of literature from the right sides.It is not necessary to read all literary works in a row.First of all, it is impossible to read everything. And secondly, I believe that not all works deserve attention, some are not only useless, but even harmful.At the university we are provided with thoroughly verified lists of literary works, having read even a part of which, it is possible to develop a sui generis "literary taste".Of course, not all worthy works are included in these lists, but having become acquainted with these basics, we get the opportunity to develop further, selecting for ourselves works of world literature that will be useful and interesting to us.Philological education opens the way into literature and allows us to develop comprehensively, because in order to understand a separate work or some literary genre or movement it is necessary to be erudite: for example, to know history and understand politics.
As I have already said, philological education develops a literary taste. Over time, you acquire your favorite literary works, get to know the authors who inspire. My list of elect authors is quite extensive, but I want to tell you about four of them, albeit briefly. The first, of course, is Edgar Allan Poe, whom I discovered for myself in my early youth. The incredible and gloomy atmosphere of his works fascinates and scares at the same time. Mysticism, doom and abnormality of his short stories cannot but delight.The second one I want to call is Erich Maria Remarque, whose works literally make the heart bleed, but this makes them even more inviting. I like the manner of his writing and the themes of his works. Attaching to the Lost Generation, mutilated by war and sufferings, helps me to feel like a person.The third author, who I appreciate no less ardently, is Howard Phillips Lovecraft. I'm crazy about his original style, in which he combined the genres of horror, mysticism, fantasy and science fiction. But most of all I respect him for creating the whole Universe – the Cthulhu Mythos – unique and intimidating one.There is only one Universe that marvels me more than Lovecraft's world – this is the Legendarium of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the last author I want to name and the most esteemed of all.He inspires me; throughout the whole period of studying at the university, I research in depth exactly his literary heritage.The father of modern "high fantasy", a brilliant linguist and philologist, the creator of the whole World with his unique mythology, history and languages – Tolkien cannot but enrapture.