Adam Gopnik has some interesting thoughts on the subject. Here is his conclusion:
Why should English majors exist? Well, there really are no whys to such things, anymore than there are to why we wear clothes or paint good pictures…
No sane person proposes…an entirely utilitarian, production-oriented view of human purpose. We cannot merely produce goods and services, sell them to each other, and die. Some idea of symbolic purpose, of pleasure-seeking rather than rent seeking, of Doing Something Else, is essential to human existence…
No civilization we think worth studying existed without what amounts to an English department—texts that mattered, people who argued about them…It’s what we call civilization…
We need the humanities not because they will produce shrewder entrepreneurs or kinder C.E.O.s but because…they help us enjoy life more and endure it better. The reason we need the humanities is because we’re human. That’s enough.
Why English Departments?
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31 Day Blog Challenge, #10
BEST PHYSICAL FEATURE
This sounds awfully self-serving, but if I have to pick one… then my eyes.
I inherited something a little special from my grandfather – a strange grey ring around my irises, it makes my eyes look rather rich and strange. And if I make sure to wear the proper shade of mascara and eyeliner, which I sometimes actually go to the effort of doing – and, strangely enough, after I’ve been crying – they turn green. GREEN.
I have chameleon eyes.
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Why us? Not Amazon? Josie Leavitt, indie bookstore staffer asks a customer.
“Other than price, Amazon doesn’t do anything for me,” the customer said. “We’ve gotten amazing authors to visit the school because of you. And you give to our school in so many ways, it just didn’t seem right.” .
What can Indies do for you?
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Kobo lets you can buy ebooks from your Indie Bookstore
Since Kobo unveiled its Kobo Arc tablet collection and new partnerships this week, we wanted to remind readers that they can buy digital books through their local bookstore using Kobo’s eBookstore.
How to buy eBooks in a real bookstore
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Fox Sneaks Into Man’s Bed
Apparently it just wanted to cuddle.
I would cuddle with a fox, sir!
The snuggling fox
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15 Writers and Their Bedrooms
Most of the Emily Dickinson’s writing was done at a small writing table in her bedroom.
Writers’ bedrooms
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