In the spring when Antti Majander was doing his final school examinations, he applied to study law in the University.

– I found reading for the entrance exams unpleasant in the extreme. I threw the books at the wall, much as I had done with my maths books at school.

Majander then did his military service in the army. Then one day soon after he found himself in a local library.

– I was standing in front of a shelf-full of study guides and wondering what I might start studying. Then by chance my former neighbor and schoolmate Pekka Nurminen appeared on the scene. I hadn’t seen him in ages. Pekka said, you’re the one who’s always got his nose in a book, why not study literature?

Majander was amazed. He didn’t know you could study literature. Nurminen grabbed one of the guides for the shelf and opened the page at Finnish and Comparative Literature.

– I read the reading lists and realised that I had read practically all of the books listed under the requirements for comparative literature. I was clear that I opted for ‘comp lit’, I had no interest in studying Juhani Aho back then.

– All due respect to my old schoolmates, but I found my soulmates at the University. It was rewarding and nice, and I’d recommend applying.

And yet it had never been made clear to Majander what exactly literary studies were if indeed they were at all.

– Then I felt appreciation, respect and admiration for the way the teachers had such a good knowledge of the writers’ works and how well they were able to explain them and put them in context. It’s difficult to imagine where else you could get such an enlightened analysis.

For the first few years Majander studied full-time. Then he worked alongside his studies for several years, until the work began to take over. Majander has his former boss at Fili, or the Finnish Literary Information Centre, to thank for his eventual graduation.

As publicist for the project Majander enjoyed a graduate’s salary but still didn’t have his degree.

– Rautalin told me that now you’re on half-time for three months and the rest of the time you’re to work on your Master’s dissertation. If you don’t get it finished, the project here is finished as far as you’re concerned. It was a pain at the time, but later I came to thank her, because without that pressure the dissertation would still be hanging round my neck like the proverbial albatross.

According to Majander, studying literature is neither a sensible nor worthwhile solution, but for some it may prove to be the only solution.

– There are plenty of people like me, who don’t really have an option. If this is what interests you, then you just have to throw yourself into it.

On the other hand, Majander’s experience of working as an amanuensis and part-time teacher taught him that the most ambitious students were those taking literary studies as a subsidiary subject.

– Literary studies are a good pastime, but as the basis for a profession, they make for a shakier foundation. On the other hand it would be sad indeed if there were to be no art or no study of it. Money and means may be more secure with an engineering background, but engineers usually get their kicks from the art world.

With the luxury of hindsight Majander regrets his choice of subsidiary subject. He studied sociology, which was trendy, but if he’d known what he would end up doing for a living, he’d have chosen languages at school.

– That way I could read in the original. And it would be nice to interview Spanish authors in their own language.