Sunday, August 8, 2010

Academic

Someone who teaches in an academy (i.e., a university or college).

“I don’t know if I ended up siding with the academics just because I happened to end up in graduate school, or if I ended up in graduate school because I already secretly sided with the academics. In any case, I stopped believing that ‘theory’ had the power to ruin literature for anyone, or that it was possible to compromise something you loved by studying it. Was love really such a tenuous thing? Wasn’t the point of love that it made you want to learn more, immerse yourself, to become possessed?”

Elif Batuman, The Possessed (2010).

1 comment:

  1. On behalf of all of us lit professors out here, thank you for reminding people that learning does not "kill" the object of study, on the contrary...
    Julia

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