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It’s 20 years this month since I moved to Ohio to go to graduate school, earn my PhD and dazzle the world with my literary-critical prowess.
It’s 14-1/2 years since I quit graduate school, having dazzled no one, and yet the books still remain.
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Christ, this makes me feel old. The books, though–they don’t look a day over 16. :^)
No kidding. Some of the non-critical-theory books, of course, *are* newer, so there’s that; I’m gratified to report that my quitting grad school didn’t throw a wrench into the world’s creative processes.
I kept thinking as we were packing to move that I should get rid of the philosophy and critical theory — I mean, I really don’t expect to *read* Poststructuralist Joyce ever again, do I? — but I just couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. I like seeing those books, even if I don’t want to open them, just to help me remember something about myself.
I completely agree about the pleasure of just *seeing* the books. I read some “de-cluttering” article in a magazine recently that said you should get rid of any book you’ve had for more than a year without reading. That just seemed ludicrous to me. What, do they get stale, or go out of fashion at that point?
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