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"War is Coming." So Why Waste Our Time With Literature?

coffeewithkeats.substack.com · 2,106 words · saved by 1 readers

The Chief of the Australian military recently warned that Australians must soon prepare for war on the mainland. Some days prior, the U.S. Defence Secretary declared that an escalation with China in the Indo-Pacific is almost ‘imminent’. Coupled with these concerns is a cost of living crisis that is making everyday life unaffordable, and an AI revolution that, it appears, won’t slow down until it has replaced my role entirely. Yet, I sit down at my desk to annotate a poem. I cannot help but ask: Is this not like fiddling while Rome burns? This is the same question that C.S. Lewis posed to the scholars and students of Oxford in the Autumn of 1939, just one month after Germany invaded Poland, starting WWII: ‘What is the use of beginning a task which we have so little chance of finishing?’ This sermon by Lewis, delivered from the pulpit of St. Mary the Virgin at Oxford, I believe can speak to our moment in a helpful way that justifies our creative work even amidst global crisis and uncert

"War is Coming." So Why Waste Our Time With Literature? Coffee With Keats Jun 08, 2025 895 43 247 Share The Chief of the Australian military recently warned that Australians must soon prepare for war on the mainland. Some days prior, the U.S. Defence Secretary declared that an escalation with China in the Indo-Pacific is almost ‘imminent’. Coupled with these concerns is a cost of living crisis that is making everyday life unaffordable, and an AI revolution that, it appears, won’t slow down until it has replaced my role entirely. Yet, I sit down at my desk to annotate a poem. I cannot help but

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