apology for literature :)

Sorry for your not being majoring English

In Korea, it is hard to find a job as humanity major. Humanity includes Literature, History, Philosophy, and Psychology etc. People think those studies as impractical thing to apply to real life. More and more students tend to avoid to major literature. We can say that it is crisis of literature. Therefore, once I tried to double-major business which is popular to employer. After took several business classes, I thought that I am so fortunate to study literature. Though I do not degrade other major, but what I felt was those kinds of study was like “skill,” not study. So I want to say sorry for other major student.
By the way, the solution turned out more clearly when we face the crisis. And I want to find the solution at Sir Philip Sidney’s criticism. Didactic and entertain are the main characteristic of literature. He said the aim of literature is “teaching people and make them pleasure.” In teaching, as a function of instruction, it is not only moral but also help audience to have recognition by experience that literature gives. In Korea, when there was illuminism, literature is used to enlighten people. So, literature gives us instruction and leads us to have new or changed recognition. Literature also gives us pleasure which we can get when concentrating on the work. So, I thought about the meaning of “read for fun.” We have fun when we doing what we like. For example, we have fun when we enjoy sport or even gambling. But, the fun from literature is different kind of fun (and it should be). Pleasure from play is usually based on self-effacement, but pleasure from literature is based on self-perception. In addition, Aristotle said that we experience Catharsis through psychological comfort which came after conflict and tension that made by fear and pity. Though professional knowledge is very important these days, literature is also very important. This is because we need not only profound knowledge but also emotional mentality together. In Joseon dynasty (in Korea), there was a state exam to become government official. And there, giving poetry exam was necessary. In my opinion, it might have been a reflection of thought that people who instruct and undertake administration should have intelligence, cultural background and humanness through the literature. In short, only people who have profound knowledge of literature (poetry) can be given opportunity to participate on politics.Like above, literature is priceless even today which purchasing practical value. By literature, we can enrich our humanness, and achieve self-development. Literature, according to Plato and Aristotle, is mimicking of reality. We might see the poetry is not related to our lives but, in fact, it is mimicry of our lives. While reading, we agree or disagree with the action of character. In this way, we can share life experience, learn wisdom and finally can make our lives something worth. For example, in the book Don Quixote page 267, the innkeeper said “I’m concerned, I can tell you that when I hear about those furious, terrible blows struck by the knights, it makes me want to do the same, and I’d be happy to keep hearing about them for days and nights on end.” And I thought that this part represent the function of literature which satisfies the desire of mimicry. The innkeeper can experience that he could never do in reality.
Till now I explained how valuable the literature itself is. Then, why did I choose “English” literature? Not Korean literature even though I am Korean. If I majored Korean literature, I could learn only from Korean only about Korea. Fortunately, these days there are many books translated as Korean like Don Quixote that we learned in our class, but still there is limited number of books are translated. How fortunate English speakers are! They can experience many kinds and genre of literature because almost every literature work is translated in English. That means you can have more opportunity to learn and enjoy from literature. And also, there exist difference when I read Shakespeare sonnet in English and Korean. When reading in Korean, it is hard to get delicate sense of aesthetic beauty of sonnet, and difficult to recognize details that the poet intended to express. So, this is why I study English literature even though it takes more time and effort.
Lastly, there is British saying that “Shakespeare cannot be changed with India.” Through this saying, I could recognize British people’s thought about how worth literature is. And I hope people, who are now buried under practical values, can think about the worthy of literature.