I grew up in a literary home and majored in French, English, and sociology. They all have served me well over the years.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When I was in college, I was a semiotics major, which is this hopelessly pretentious body of French literary theory.
Remember, I have a Ph.D. in English literature.
Literature has always been a part of my life. I studied history and literature in college. My mother is a novelist; I grew up around books.
I had the most incredible English and literature teachers in school, and it really influenced my love of storytelling. It's what made me excited to study journalism in college. I love editorials and documentaries. All of that came from being given the opportunity to lose myself in good writing when I was a kid.
I entered the literary world, really, from outside. My entire background has been in sciences; I was a biology major in college, then went to medical school. I've never had any formal training in writing.
My primary and secondary education was in French, which had a lasting influence on my life.
When I entered college, it was to study liberal arts. At the University of Pennsylvania, I studied English literature, but I fell in love with broadcasting, with telling stories about other people's exploits.
My master's degree was in English literature.
All of my education at Harvard, then Oxford, then Paris was in literature - even my thesis was on Shakespeare.
I was an English major in college with minors in Fine Arts and Humanities.