Among the countless reasons which pulled me towards CompLit, perhaps the most significant one has been my stern belief in the philosophical weight of literature, in poetry/poetics as a mode of thought. In this regard, the emphasis on theory and continental philosophy in CompLit inspired me greatly and made me feel at home in the discipline. Moreover, the chance to work across languages and the freedom with which one discovers upon developing a muscle for synthesis and adopting the comparative approach is unlike any other joy I have experienced in academic work.