Oxford & Cambridge Shelley & Bronte

Last weekends we went to Oxford and Cambridge and had two really nice days. They are both university cities and have many colleges in them. Different colleges have different symbols, different regulations and different cultures. Although, colleges have many individual rights, they are all in the control of the university. It’s quite different in China. We don’t have university cities and all universities are in control of the Education Department. Our universities don’t have such a long history like Oxford, but we’re trying our best to learn from western countries and improve the quality of our universities.

When I was wandering in a garden of a library in Oxford, I happened to find a little museum in memory of Shelley. In that museum I got a lot of knowledge about Shelly and his wife Mary Shelly. The couple both achieved high in literature, but they lived together just for a short time and their life was misery. That reminded me of the Bronte Sisters. The Bronte family was totally a tragic but the sisters created so excellent novels. Is there a relation between suffering and genius?

Maybe because the genius has unique characteristics—they’re more sensitive and feel more deeply about the life, they have to suffer more than us. However, on the contrary, the genius’ talent may due to their hard life. It may be the hard life that builds up the great characteristics which make a genius different from ordinary people. 

（This is a diary which I wrote one week ago.)