On Books (Part Five)

I'm reading a book about famous military villains. The first chapter was on Spartacus. As a result, I'm highly interested in learning more about the Roman Empire. The second chapter features Attila the Hun, who is slightly less interesting, for some reason. Maybe it's because the novelty has worn off, and the book ... well, let's just say the writer is passable. I would think historical biographies would be difficult to write in an engaging way. Several people manage to pull it off quite well, but it seems a relatively rare skill.

Because I was prompted by one of my blog followers (yes, I'm making it sound like my blog is actually famous, rather than the truth that only 2 or 3 people ever look at it), I'm going to introduce here my new project, which is going to make me look like a genuine dork, but oh well. I've always thought I wanted to do an advanced degree in literature, but it doesn't seem like a good idea. I've read several articles that say that the majority of people with PhDs in English do not work full-time in their field. It makes sense. Tons of people love to read, but how many English professors are necessary out there? I value the research they do, but it's hard to contribute to a body of knowledge and ideas already so saturated. Another point, raised during a conversation I had with a friend, is that there's so little action involved in the study of literature—it's more about idly discussing ideas than it is actually doing anything truly useful. So, it seemed to me that if I did that, it wouldn't really get me anywhere professionally. That leaves only one reason to do it—personal enrichment. Now, personal enrichment is a wonderful thing, but not financially sound when you consider the cost of tuition and everything else that goes into getting any kind of formal education. Besides, I'm wary of academic agendas, and I don't like the study of literary theory. This was one of the reasons behind the career decision I made a few years ago, and why I decided to pursue the degree program I did.

However and therefore, in lieu of pursuing more formal education in literature, I have designed my own course of study, with classes, syllabuses, and everything. I am designing my own program, based solely on my own interests and goals, and I will award myself some sort of diploma at the end, after I have complete a certain number of fictional hours. And I have made sure to design the classes so that they are more than just a reading list, although they are all mostly based on reading lists.

There is always the objection that an education designed by oneself can never be as challenging as one designed by an expert, and that I'm only going off what I already know, rather than being introduced to new horizons. That is regrettable, but I'm sure I'll still get a lot of valuable knowledge from my endeavor. Here's my course listing:

* Classics I (Homer, Virgil, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Catullus, Ovid, Beowulf, Marie de France, etc.)
* Military History (Sun Tsu and study of warriors including Ghengis Khan, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon)
* World Mythology
* Science Fiction and Fantasy Worldbuilding
* Christianity in Literature
* Rhetoric and Language
* Spanish
* Music History
* Film
* Writing Fiction
* Advanced Victorian and Early Modern Literature
* Classics II (Chaucer, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Cervantes, Milton)
* Advanced Shakespeare

This should be highly enjoyable.