Casanova’s article on literary time has stood out for me all semester. It’s been one of those readings that I never stop thinking about and the ways that it applies to my life as well as my other classes. The theory that he is exploring is much bigger than just within modernist literature. It’s something that has continued to this day. The idea that you must travel to a certain esteemed place to truly study art or academia is alive and well. It is one of the primary reasons that I moved to Boston. It’s one of the reasons that my family is so proud of me. To “get out” of a small town or rural area has many complicated layers, but one is the belief that there are no smart people in rural places. That intelligence can only be found in large cities with lots of money and white people. To have a smart child is an anomaly and thus they are sent off to get “educated” as soon as possible, so as to not contaminate them. Casanova is alluding to a much larger system in The World Republic of Letters. He is acknowledging the fact that only those from white and rich places are allowed to be intelligent and thus taken seriously. If someone is from outside of that world, they must move there quickly. In the US, the South and the Midwest are considered to be poor while the Southwest along with the South again have large populations of people of color. In the same way, France and England were comparatively white and rich in the Modern Era. This sets Paris, London, Boston, New York, and Silicon Valley as places where intelligence can flourish. It has nothing to do with talent. Only race and class.