Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Learning's Best Justification

From Robertson Davies, The Rebel Angels:

I knew I was going to like Prof. the Rev. Darcourt. He seemed to think learning could be amusing, and that heavy people needed stirring up. Like Rabelais, of whom even educated people like Parlabane had such a stupid opinion. Rabelais was gloriously learned because learning amused him, and so far as I am concerned that is learning's best justification. Not the only one, but the best.

As you might gather, I've begun a reread of The Rebel Angels and am thoroughly enjoying it...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Robertson Davies is one of my favorite authors and perhaps my favorite "forgotten" author—I seldom see him mentioned in magazines or journal articles, but his work continues to astonish me whenever I reread it. When you can, be sure to get the interview collection featuring him, which I wrote about at the link: some writers seem very much deracinated from their work, but he's definitely not one.

Julie said...

Well, darn it, Kate. I have a million other things I really should be doing right now, but after reading that juicy quote I'm just going to have to drop everything and join you in the reread.