Two Handed Warriors

Cultural Engagement

The ‘Story Behind the Story’: Making Lit Matter, by Erick Sierra

The ‘Story Behind the Story’: Making Lit Matter, by Erick Sierra

As American society increasingly questions the importance of what we in the humanities do, in the classroom I’ve been able to depend less and less on the grand narratives that long ago motivated my own passion for literature and instead imagined an importance for literature—a story behind the story—sourced not in grand abstract metanarratives, but in what students themselves find viscerally and deeply important.

Why has the Imagination been Sidelined in Literature? by Damien G. Walter

Why has the Imagination been Sidelined in Literature? by Damien G. Walter

Einstein once famously proclaimed that “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” Yet we find ourselves at the position today where any non STEM subject has seen a de facto obliteration of its status and funding. That’s not a criticism of STEM subjects or their creative potential, but as Einstein was trying to tell us, those subjects are at their strongest when honed by a powerful imagination.