I studied quite a bit of literature in my time - English classes throughout high school, English Literature classes in high school and French and German literature in University.
In many ways I don't think I'm representative of any majority as I think I had a particular fascination with language. Not just English and not just spoken - I also had a fascination with computer programming languages and mathematics, poetry and lyrics. I love expression of all sorts and have often used words like fluent and expressive when describing Python scripting on computers for example.
So with the small exception of Thomas Hardy (for some reason), I enjoyed everything I studied at school. I really liked
Othello,
Death in Venice,
The Outsider (in English and in French),
Medea,
Lord of the Flies,
Crime and Punishment,
To Kill a Mockingbird, selected poetry by Blake, Eliot and Donne, Calculus, molecular equations, Latin literature, Pascal syntax and even the lyrics of church hymns etc...
However, I don't think I was the norm - at least in that school. People looked at me strangely when I equated computer programming to essay writing and Latin to mathematics. They just thought I was weird. They were probably right - but that's a different topic
.
I think as I've grown older and connected with more people outside of a country boarding school I've realised that I'm not the weirdest person out there and indeed there may be more people that think the way I do than I had previously thought. Happy to see an increase in the population of freaks on this planet.
Anyway - this is just a bunch of "me me me" stuff I thought I'd write because I didn't have anything intelligent to say about the topic. I have been meaning to re-read
Merchant of Venice and have it on my Kindle, but admittedly this is the first time since high-school that I've thought of going back to Shakespeare. I wonder what he delights he has for me after all this time.
Ramblingly yours,
Caleb