Why is Dr. Akbil Borak reading the entire "Collected Works of William Hazlitt"?

Philip Swallow is scheduled to visit the university in Ankara where Dr. Borak teaches and speak about William Hazlitt's writing. As no one in the department had read a word of Hazlitt, and Dr. Borak has the best spoken English, he was nominated to become familiar with the author and defend the department's honor.