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/lit/ - Literature

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2514904 No.2514904 [Reply] [Original]

Why is studying literature important?

>> No.2514912

>>2514904


Important to whom?

>> No.2514917

>>2514912
Important to you, to society, to human progress, whatever.

>> No.2514926

I enjoy it.

>> No.2514945

What is importance?

>> No.2514963

I was just asking the question because, and I can't be specific, I'm on a track to become an English professor in some years, and I've realized that I have no passion for literature, and I feel like it's, on the whole, vapid and pointless.

I'm not a /sci/ troll, I understand that studying history is important because gaining knowledge about the past is generally a good thing. I understand that philosophy teaches us how to die, and studying it is a worthwhile effort.

I just can't find a reason to continue on this track, studying books that have influenced very few people and discussing them in obfuscated, bullshit terms. It just doesn't seem like a worthwhile effort.

>> No.2514984

>>2514963
If you don't value it, then you don't value it. Nobody can argue you into or out of it. I can't tell you what's worth your while.

>> No.2514985

>>2514963
Then be an engineer.
The world doesn't need another shitty English teacher.

>> No.2515006

>>2514985
I want to know why we need Literature teachers on the post-secondary level at all.

>> No.2515034

>>2514945
What is?

>> No.2515095

>>2515006
Because some people pursue it as an area of study, and need to be taught in some way.
Development of theory, development of arts, rearing of another generation of lits.
The "you can learn it all on your own" argument is perfectly valid, but a teaching environment complete with correction and guidance, etc. pretty much streamlines the whole process and homogenizes the literary community and guarantees at least something like a standard of excellence.
Strictly speaking, they aren't necessary, but they serve a purpose.

>I've realized that I have no passion for literature, and I feel like it's, on the whole, vapid and pointless.
The other side of the coin is that humanities students are always stereotyped as saying that the sciences are dull or pointless. It's true for them if they think that. For society? No. But for them, sure.

OP, why would you pick this to be your Ihateit career path? Pretty much everything else is more likely to happen/pays better/is more respectable.

You might as well be a surly, miserable cardiologist or something. Nothing's funnier than a wisecracking surgeon.