Reading too many books and magazine articles, I keep coming across more that I should read. The tenth or twentieth time I'm recommended to read something I'll go to the library and pick it up, but this is dangerous because passing by the "New Arrivals" section I'll inevitably see two or three titles that are not just interesting but germane and specific to the research I'm turning in in a few weeks.
I take a break from all this by getting back to my fundamental research on abstraction, communication, and the theory of knowledge that I won't be turning in for at least a decade. I want to sum up this article or that one so I can come back to it later (when I have more time) and fit it into a larger structure, and it occurs to me that - perhaps - this is one primary goal of literary criticism and analysis: to condense the long-winded explorations of the ancients and the greats into a sufficiently compact format that our peers and colleagues will have time and energy to digest them.
At any rate, now that I see it as even on the same level as the other goals of analysis and critique, I'm letting it serve as a motivator for me. Even though my work may be infinite, at least I can make it easier for others to access the information I have at hand.
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