That's a great essay, Kari. I think it's easy to be put slightly on the defensive if you study an academic subject and someone with a utilitarian view asks you what it's for. Even more so with English! I'm rather concerned about the apparent drift towards subjects that have to be vocational. I suppose that's a slightly different issue.
With my Richard III interest, I've been intrigued by the suggestion that Sir Thomas More was writing, not a historical or anecdotal account, but something with a different and probably satirical intention.