The Literati

At Oxford University, there is a college called All Souls College. Of the forty or so colleges making up Oxford, All Souls is the most exclusive. In fact, its admission standards got raised so high that about two hundred years ago, it stopped taking in students altogether. There are only dons at All Souls.

The dons are not required to conduct research or teach - all they do is think. As Alex Kerr writes, All Souls is the original "think tank".

Within such an illustrious company, the literati thrives. I want to be a literati and be paid to think and indulge in the arts and letters. I want to live a leisurely life of wit and be surrounded by snoobish company engaging in obscure literary topics.