Cyrano

I have been taking comparative literature courses for several years. Writing and reading are two sides of the same coin that enrich my life in so many ways. But in a recent class when the instructor announced that our next author would be Emily Bronte, I groaned. I have nothing against Emily, or her sisters, but the whole English Romantics literary canon is my least favorite. In response to my audile protest, a fellow classmate said, “But Paul, if you really want to understand women, you must read the Brontes.” I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking at that point I said something dumb like, “Understand women? Why would I really want to understand women?” But you’d be wrong. What I did say was that I would have to give some thought to which author women should read to really un…