{"id":284,"date":"2016-01-13T09:00:50","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T17:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/english\/?p=284"},"modified":"2016-01-17T22:19:37","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T06:19:37","slug":"whats-literature-got-to-do-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/english\/2016\/01\/13\/whats-literature-got-to-do-with-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Lit Got to Do with It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

The New Year brings resolutions for some and re-evaluation for others. The heaviest thinkers among us tend to start questioning everything<\/em>. Since we\u2019re nothing if not thinkers around here, we\u2019ve started to ponder why we do what we do.<\/p>\n

Read, that is.<\/p>\n

\"Reader<\/a> Photo Credit: shamray<\/a> via Compfight<\/a> cc<\/a><\/p>\n

Just about everybody who engages in studying literature says the same thing: they started down this path because they love reading. But why<\/em>? Why do some people love reading, while others loathe it? And what\u2019s the point of reading, let alone discussing and analyzing books?<\/p>\n

Heavy thinkers have been asking these questions for as long as literature has existed. In ancient Greece, Aristotle believed it could purify the soul<\/a>. In Victorian England, Matthew Arnold believed it could provide a moral tonic<\/a>. Today, philosopher Alain de Botton<\/a> and his School of Life<\/a> tout literature\u2019s power<\/a> to do everything from saving us time to making us nicer. Heck, we\u2019ve even talked about it in such pragmatic terms as job preparation<\/a>\u2014and the proof of that is in the UFV Alumni<\/a> pudding.<\/p>\n