I took higher level English literature because, very simply, I love reading- novels, short stories, poetry, drama, non-fiction. Exploring lands fantastical and whimsical, or rooted in historical reality; seeing the shades of nuances of the human psyche come alive from mere patterned ink printed on a page; lost time in the wee hours of the morning turning page after page of a book.

Looking back, it had been quite a daunting choice for me- my friends and my parents all wondered aloud with a mix of doubt and incredulity about my choice of English Literature. Higher level? they said. Isn’t there a scary amount of reading? Won’t you need to write a one-thousand word essay every week? they asked. After some moments, they then asked. Isn’t Chinese your first language?

They all perhaps see me as more of a science and mathematics person, but my ultimate passion for reading and exploring literature ultimately drove me to this decision- a mix of an irresistible urge to deep dive into a work with peers as passionate as I am and a realization of my limited time left in high school.

We did several warm-up activities this week- writing about our own identity, reading and discussing some poetry by Chen Chen, a short activity on famous “first lines” in novels, and creating a story around a set of three LeNormand cards. They seemed to hint at the wider things we’ll be doing this year: making and writing about personal, historical, and intertextual connections between the works we’ll be reading, and through it all, of course, explore what makes something literature. As I’m also taking Chinese literature (at standard level) this year, this idea of literature as a common heritage will perhaps be even more clear. Mr. Huntington said in class today that there’s something in every piece of literary work that transcends the particular, the personal, and thus becomes a reflection of the universal, the human condition. I suppose then, that the ultimate goal of the arts and the sciences at the most general level is the same- to make sense of who we are and our place in the universe.