Book Smarts
By Kate Albiniak
Krasa Student Center
Photo by Kate Albiniak
Majoring in literature can be an exciting yet daunting task. As stated on Benedictine's Website, “The student of literature is capable of acquiring the specific knowledge appropriate to any profession.” A student must become “an expert reader and researcher, a persuasive writer, a skilled speaker and a careful listener.” Through this students “will continue to learn and to educate others, and to earn advancement in his/her chosen field.”
Literature students have many demands on them, they must read text, interpret it, share their interpretations, argue for and against their points, and write papers. However, students who chose to major in literature come away with a greater understanding of the authors they study, the text they read, and themselves.
“My Chicago literature and American literature classes were my favorite,” Trifilio said, “I like the teachers and became absorbed in the material. Although the Chicago literature class was a summer immersion class, it was unbelievable to be able to study writing that is about the city itself. The American literature class gave me such an incredible knowledge about the earlier American writers, that I eventually wrote my final paper on Hawthorne's short stories. “
