When I am not teaching, doing research, writing, or advising students, among other things, I worry about the place of the humanities (and Italian literature, language, and culture in particular) in higher education.
Learning a new language helps you understand the world (and often yourself) better. Similarly, reading literature (closely, thoughtfully) is not only pleasurable, a sometimes underrated quality, but also facilitates understanding the world (and often yourself) in a new way. Analyzing literature helps people become better writers, become better thinkers, and gain new perspectives. Partially in response to the questioning of the values of the humanities, many have written about their importance. This post will list articles that formulate why the humanities, especially literature and languages, are vital and should be studied. Please send any you come across that are missing from the list, it is in the beginning stages.
The articles and posts range from the practical (you will make money!) to the idealistic to the personal to the statistical to many other things.
For many reasons (humanities)
Learn Italian to understand English better
To be a better thinker and nicer
For many reasons (again, language)
