Thursday, January 21, 2010

Epiphanies as an English Major


Before I begin my search for former epiphanies in my life as an English major I must first take exception to something Professor Sexon said in our last class. While I understand his thought between the distinction of "oh" or small epiphanies and "aah" or large epiphanies I have to argue with him in the matter of epiphanies found in good meals. As a strong follower of the James Beard lifestyle I have to admit that my only "aah" epiphany moments have been brought on by good meals, specifically the oxtail at cul-de-sac in Rome incident of 2008. If music can be a medium for an epiphany than experiencing the absolute genius of Thomas Keller certainly has to be an "aah" moment of perfect clarity and awakening. With that said I will now try to explore how literature has been a close second to food in my experience with epiphanies.

I suppose my first English "oh" epiphany came in high school when I first read William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. It was then that I realized that pieces of literature could be so much more than just a story, that they could be instead an intricate puzzle of meaning and allusions that the reader put together as they read. It was because of this that I chose English as my major, who wouldn't want to read great books all day, putting together each puzzle all while receiving college credit! In English 429, Professional Writing with Professor Downs last year I experienced another small epiphany when it finally hit me that literature majors have a very small range of job options after graduation and that the future was real and not like the fiction i had spent the last years immersed in. I assume for every novel i have read, there has been a small lightbulb moment where i finally understand a reference or allusion or put everything together, i am assuming however that there are too many of these to recall. This May I hope to revisit this post and write something more conclusive, a final epiphany about how i have spent my college life

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