I was one of those students who arrived at university thinking that I was there to do original research, which is of course nonsense. Most people who graduate never encounter their subjects in their working life. They say they studied Derrida, and upon graduation they find that he is curiously absent from future job requirements. Only those who remain in academia obsess about the man.

And then you discover that professors at university are smarter than yourself, but if you are afraid to communicate with the great genius, he can teach you very little. His presence is redundant, and buying his book much cheaper. You are also overwhelmed with things to read in record time.

These things I have mentioned made me join the student newspaper in the 1990s, and start writing what I called tabloid pieces on literary history. And for some reason I then created my own path into the subject matter, something academic texts could not do. And when the internet arrived, and I graduated, I kept doing it, very small scale. But I enjoyed it, even if it was all unpaid. If you enjoy something, you will not only learn better, but you will over time outlast and overshadow a genius without genuine interest. I am not saying I did this, but I am saying that without that foundational interest, nothing will survive.

I grew up north of the artic circle at the outskirts of a small town, and I could walk the dog for an hour in winter under that great starry sky, and never see one person beneath the lampposts ahead. And I when I passed lighted windows, I thought, where on earth is everybody? But these things did not matter, I still had my interest, and they remain with me. And that can be a comfort, not only for me, but for any student.