Studying English Literature!

Sorry this is a bit late, work has been manic.

In today's post i'm going to talk about some of the common misconceptions about studying English Literature at degree level.

1. So you're just gonna read books for three years then

When I first said to people at sixth form that I was going to study English Literature at uni, I first discovered what people really thought of it. A few people, mainly those going off to do science, said to me "oh, so you're just gonna read books for three years then". It was so annoying, like my degree was being reduced to that of a book club. Yeah that's what we do, we turn up to seminars say whether we enjoyed it or not and then just leave! Seminars would literally last about 5 minutes if that's all we did.

When I studied a module called Contemporary Writing last semester, I literally wanted to drag along all of the people that said that we just talked about books and see if they could understand a word of it. In that module we talked about history, psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics etc. Seriously, one week we had a lecture in which the lecturer just basically said money doesn't exist. Seriously it was my weekly mind-blowing session.

2. English is an easy subject

Ha ha ha, no. Read 20 pages of literary theory and then some back and try and say it is easy. Seriously literary theory has got be the hardest module I have had to do so far. To be honest, I still don't fully understand half of it. Never before have I wanted to bash my head on the table than when trying to work out what the heck the Structuralists were going on about! As with every subject there are easy bits and there are hard bits.

3. You'll never get a job with that

One of the good things about English Literature is that you can do pretty much anything with it. One of the reasons that I chose to do it was because I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. English allows me to keep my options open. Also just because I'm studying English does not mean that I want to be an English teacher!! Seriously if I hear that one more time, I'm going to scream!

4. You're hardly ever in uni!

Yes that's right! I only have nine hours contact time, but that doesn't mean that the rest of the time I simply sit there and do nothing. With English Literature there is only so much that they can teach you and a lot such you have to do independently. The rest of my time is taken up with reading, researching, writing essays etc.

5. What's your favourite book

It is another one of those questions that Literature students hate being asked. How people think that because you read lots of books you will suddenly know what your favourite book is I will never know. By favourite this month will not necessarily be the same as it was last month and it definitely won't be the same as this time next year! Also, this is usually an icebreaker at the start of the semester and honestly every time we have to do it, I forget every book I have ever read!


6. So you've read every classic book

Normally they look horrified when you say that you've never read Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre. Personally I don't normally like classics, the only one I've liked so far is Great Expectations. And quite frankly, after reading Northanger Abbey, I decided that I'd read enough Jane Austen to last a lifetime! I am of the very unpopular opinion that once you have read one Jane Austen novel you have pretty much read them all! Seriously, it's like assuming that all history students love studying Romans or that all psychology students love Freud.

7. So you want to be a writer

As well as not wanting to be a teacher, I also don't want to be a writer! I like writing the odd short story every once in a while. However, that does not been that I am the next Dickens, I'm not deluded. I'm never going to be able to produce an international best seller, I'll leave that to somebody that actually knows what they are doing!


So hopefully this has given you a view of what it's really like to study English Literature.

Thanks For Stopping By! :)