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    My Harvard. A Love Story
    My Harvard. A Love Story
    My Harvard. A Love Story
    Ebook94 pages44 minutes

    My Harvard. A Love Story

    By Jeffrey Lant

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    About this ebook

    To come to Harvard, and remember only Erich Segal's "Love Story" filmed in Harvard yard, instead of imagining generations of intellectual endeavor and achievement and commenting on the venerable buildings or taking a scholar's interest in the Latin inscriptions on the walls, mischievous and groaning puns, this was precisely what irked Segal's colleagues in the Classics Department at Harvard. Classicists, especially Harvard trained classicists, must be suitably obscure, recondite, far above the rung of common man, difficult in their personal relations. And, above all, must be teetering on the brink of genteel bankruptcy.
    Segal of course, with the publication of "Love Story", which he wrote over a
    weekend, broke every rule. His book was turned out in a minute, unendurably
    pedestrian, dealing not with imperial subjects and irregular Greek verbs, but
    the one subject in which we all have an often confounding interest... love.

    Segal didn't care what his Harvard counterparts thought, he was grinning all the way to the bank. Harvard had found him, educated him, nurtured him, employed him, extolled him... and he made millions embarrassing his eminent colleagues.

    Harvard has everything... if you know how to find it

    Erich Segal had proven what every bright and intelligent student comes to
    know, that Harvard has every single thing one needs to succeed in life. The
    problem is, no one tells you it's here. For that, you must either discover it
    yourself, or have an exceedingly generous mentor to help you on your way.
    Harvard is not just a place, an institution, but a formula for success for those who know where to look.
    Dr. Lant through the pages of this book, gives a glimpse of this special world, and his place in it.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJeffrey Lant
    Release dateNov 23, 2016
    ISBN9781540185457
    My Harvard. A Love Story
    Author

    Jeffrey Lant

    Dr. Jeffrey Lant is known worldwide. He started in the media business when he was 5 years old, a Kindergartner in Downers Grove, Illinois, publishing his first newspaper article. Since then Dr. Lant has earned four university degrees, including the PhD from Harvard. He has taught at over 40 colleges and universities and is quite possibly the first to offer satellite courses. He has written over 50 books, thousands of articles and been a welcome guest on hundreds of radio and television programs. He has founded several successful corporations and businesses including his latest at …writerssecrets.com His memoirs “A Connoisseur’s Journey” has garnered nine literary prizes that ensure its classic status. Its subtitle is “Being the artful memoirs of a man of wit, discernment, pluck, and joy.” A good read by this man of so many letters. Such a man can offer you thousands of insights into the business of becoming a successful writer. Be sure to sign up now at www.writerssecrets.co

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      Book preview

      My Harvard. A Love Story - Jeffrey Lant

      Introduction––––––––What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died...? My Harvard.

      A Love Story.

      My_Harvard_scene_from_Love_Story

      ––––––––

      Perhaps the only shred of interest for my sister Shelby when she came to

      Harvard to visit me at the time I received my first Harvard degree (1970),

      was evinced when she looked at Harvard Yard and burbled some gleeful

      comments of the Look, here's where 'Love Story' was filmed! variety.

      She being a younger sister, has always had a million ways to irritate me, but

      that was a surefire zinger, to come to Harvard, and remember only Erich

      Segal's Love Story (1970), particularly the two protagonists sporting

      in the snow.

      Yes, instead of imagining generations of intellectual endeavor and achievement,

      instead of commenting on the venerable buildings, so right for the august

      institution, instead of taking a scholar's interest in the Latin inscriptions on the

      walls, mischievous and groaning puns, she commented on the lightest bit of

      trivia of all, the filming of Love Story in the Yard.

      The unbridled excitement she demonstrated was precisely what irked Segal's

      colleagues in the Classics Department at Harvard. Classicists, especially

      Harvard trained classicists, must be suitably obscure, recondite, far above

      the rung of common man, difficult in their personal relations. And, above all,

      must be teetering on the brink of genteel bankruptcy. O tempora o mores.

      Segal of course, with the publication of Love Story, which he wrote over a

      weekend, broke every rule. His book was turned out in a minute, unendurably

      pedestrian, dealing not with imperial subjects and irregular Greek verbs, but

      the one subject in which we all have an often confounding interest... love.

      "How long does it last?

      Can love be measured by the hours in a day?

      I have no answers now but this much I can say

      I know I'll need her till the stars all burn away

      And she'll be there"

      This was light indeed.

      This tawdry jeu d'esprit caused Segal's Harvard stock to crash, an

      embarrassment to the department. But my sister's reaction, which so irked

      me, was precisely why Segal didn't care, grinning as he did all the way to the

      bank. Harvard had found him, educated him, nurtured him, employed him,

      extolled him... and he made millions embarrassing his eminent colleagues.

      Harvard has everything... if you know how to find it

      Erich Segal had proven what every bright and intelligent student comes to

      know, that Harvard has every single thing one needs to succeed in life. The

      problem is, no one tells you it's here. For that, you must either discover it

      yourself, or have an exceedingly generous mentor to help you on your way.

      Segal knew that just the name Harvard was the key to the success of "Love

      Story"... Can you even imagine it, set at say, Michigan State University? Just

      saying this mundane name indicates how far they are from the nirvana that

      emanates here in Cambridge, and permeates the world of every intelligent

      person everywhere. Harvard. It is not just a place, not just an institution, but a

      formula for success for those who know where to look.

      Professor Mason Hammond

      In my case, it was Professor Mason Hammond, Pope Professor of the Latin

      Language (1903-2003). Professor Hammond must have liked me; I certainly

      admired him. However, being the consummate litterateur I have become, I was

      dismayed by his relative lack of published information. Still, his metier was not

      in writing books, but in developing souls. He would look, assess, and decide

      just what any worthy student might need, and then go about helping him find

      it, for our betterment.

      For instance, in my studies of European history, I had determined that I

      needed to understand the crucial history of Greece, the role of the Orthodox

      Church, and the scattered remnants of so many incursions by so very many

      different armies and nations.

      I remarked to him one day of my intention to visit Greece in

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