I stumbled upon comments by Francine Prose in The Atlantic. She expresses her thoughts about being among academics who somehow did not share her interest in literature in quite the same way and with quite the same passion. She was among people who study “texts.” She terminated her doctoral program and left.
Prose’s words have taken me back some thirty-eight years to my own similar moments and feelings in grad school. Unlike Prose I hung around to exhaust my last option because I wanted to feel I had done my best in face of the odds. Those three years were not wasted, but only, only because of the reading, thinking and writing I did for myself. Now that I have forgiven the naiveté of a thirty-one year old, I have no regret — finally. After several livelihoods I find that the friends I made in my books are still there for me.
If you have stumbled upon this blog and you are facing similar decisions and feelings, I urge you to click on the link above. (The reference is the third from the last question on page three.) Francine Prose is the author of twenty books including novels, children’s stories, novellas and short stories. Elsewhere on this site in the Career category, you will find my experience with the PhD Octopus.
Your comments are genuinely and fervently requested.
Steadfast and cautious,
David Milliken
