/lit/ - Literature

stay on /lit/ for a while
read a couple hundred books (most english majors read less but you want to outdo them)
yale and several other institutions have free courses online

happy autodidacting

Read two relatively similar books, choose s theme to explore and find secondary sources/essays on those books to help you, then write essays.

I study literature at university and most of the people in my classes down't seem like they're very interested in reading recreationally, don't have any misconceptions about how intelligent students are

Read books, make notes on your books, engage with your books, think about your books.

>become your books

then read about reading books.

>>3367793

>stay on /lit/

You're embarrassing yourself.

>>3367797
How do I unto write essays?

Do nothing and read pretentious hipster shit

>>3367916

>>>/tg/

>>3367835
Read some articles on essay writing, read a lot more essays then write some essays.
I managed to sell the first essay I'd written in, uh, ten years? If you write about interesting stuff it's a lot easier.

>>3367793
>>3367793
>>3367793
>>3367793
This,
lots o lots of schools have free online courses. I think MIT does too, but yes. I've been taking advantage of Yale's online corses as well.

>>3367829
as bad as it is, it's still a decent literature forum-- it won't teach you, but it's a good place to build up a reading list.

>>3367933
No Drupal site is configured here!

>>3367942
What?

An MFA student posted here a while ago that got through his undergraduate English by only reading Sparknotes.

>>3367972
An weeaboo posted here a while ago that some shitty animu is deeper than any book

>>3367769

Just reading a lot and making notes, will not get you very far. You will be running in the dark without a map or a compass. Make goals: big ones made up of little ones. By starting simple and gradually learning your way into complex understandings, you evolve your knowledge into wisdom. Here is a thumbnail approach that I hope will give food for thought on becoming a self-taught English Major.

Step 1.
Stay away from places like 4chan and /lit/. It is a distraction, and is a place of disinformation and misinformed persons solely looking for gratuitous amusement.

Step 2.
Start with the basics. Get a few books on grammar and usage, primarily the descriptive kind. This linguistic approach will help in analysing text. Get a few books on close reading, particularly books about annotation.

Step 3.
Pick a concentration and make a schedule to study it. Pick a genre or a kind of literature you want to continuously know more about. (examples: Early American Literature; Science Fiction or Fantasy; or Blogging or Online Journalism etc.) Start writing about what you read.

Step 4.
Learn to compose, and analysis with, in the following areas: Argumentation, Critical Thinking, Rhetoric, English Composition. In addition start reading poetry, or prose work, and practice writing poetry, or prose.

Step 5.
Start reading literary theories that pertain to your area (see step 3). Become efficient in gathering and researching what others have to say. Go online to where credible discussion can help gauge where you're at. (NOT 4CHAN!)

From there it becomes basically about managing your curiosities to make a meaningful self study. It's usually there you'll start to infer your own theories or outlook about things. That's where the game changes. These steps are the foundation for that to become achievable. It is all about backing up your argument with research.

>>3368092

Says ignore 4chan and then proceeds to post a very useful study guide ON 4CHAN. lol.

>>3368122
>
owned

>>3368092
stupid
0/10 would not try

>>3368092

This totally disregards the subtle nuances that come from reading a lot of books. It is fact that if you want to learn something you're going to have absorb as much as you can. All this post does is make the whole thing mechanical. English is not math, it's an Art.

The only way to learn as well as an English
Major is to go to school and be taught by better English Majors. No way around it OP, you need college if you want to truly learn something.

i have a mfa and i don't know anything. i only read genre fiction

You've totally contradicted yourself though. English is mechanical to a certain point, but isn't it defeating of the nature of the artistry to follow the well beaten path? Mechanics are certainly important, but isn't language the expression of who we are?

Reading literature and studying theory can be easily done by yourself.
The main drawback to not going to college is getting feedback on your writing from your peers(like it fucking matters) and your professors.
You could try to make up for that by having a blog or whatever but you can't guarantee that anyone will read and give you feedback on what you write.

>>3368605
>you need college if you want to truly learn something.

Look what they've done to you.

And this is coming from a fellow college student

>>3368122

I have a B.A. in English, graduated summa cum laude, awarded a scholarship to grad school for "most promising English student."

Currently in grad school, working on a M.A. in Lit.

Let me tell you, these degrees are worthless crap. I haven't learned shit in my classes. I daydream through them and throw the work together at the last minute, just like everyone else.

If you want to learn about literature, just start reading through a list, and every 4th or 5th book or so read a book about fiction like "Reading like a Writer" by Francine Prose or "The Art of Fiction" by whatshisname.

You'll be every bit as knowledgeable as "educated" literary faggots like me.

>>3368798
For that reason alone it might be worth signing up for one or two writing/composition classes.

>>3368822

Oh, by the way, I've said this here before and people don't believe me but I'll say it again – BECAUSE LIKE IT OR BELIEVE IT OR NOT IT'S TRUE – a surprising number of English majors, even in grad school, just SparkNote the required reading and then go off and read what they want to in their spare time: Neil Gaiman, Cormac McCarthy, etc.

>>3368092
You don't have to stay away from /lit/. I'll be darned if we haven't had a couple of nice debates. At least online you can have a reasonably free-minded debate without worrying about hurting feelings. I try to talk about literature with reasonable, smart people I know, but the discussion never delves past the surface.

>>3367805

>i am become books

>>3368835
>the discussion never delves past the surface.

That sounds like every thread I've read on /lit/. People just dress it up a bit more.

This place is a waste of time. Look into your soul. You know it's true.

>>3368840
No, you'd be surprised. When we had the weekly/biweekly read (or whatever), there was some meaningful discussion going on, especially concerning Gilgamesh. I mean, if you get past the whole translation bullshit.

Pick up the Norton Anthology of English Lit and read the most popular work(s) as described in the introduction to each author. Read ALL the introductions, for both the authors and especially the period introductions.

In addition, be sure to read Chaucer and Shakespeare intensively.

>>3368847
>When we had the weekly/biweekly read

Why the fuck did that stop after 3 or 4 weeks again? It was the most productive thing /lit/ ever did next to TAR.

>>3367769

you won't have the access to journals that english majors have though. Universities pay so much money for that stuff.

>>3368847
>Gilgamesh
any archive link?

>>3368862

Who knows.
Some guy tried to start it back up a few weeks back but no one the goodreads group conflicts with it and no one seemed interested in participating.

>>3368835
Jabbering on ends about Infinite Jest or Lolita or Game of Thrones or whatever the latest /lit/ fetish is, doesn't make for a 'nice debate'. Almost everybody gets on /lit/ and either makes a naive declaration, or begs at anons to justify something with them. That the basis of 4chan: to either rally a boasting or rally a ridicule.In the end it's about having someone or something to laugh at.

There is nothing here on /lit/ that will make for a 'nice debate'. Some on /lit/ do tricks with their vocabulary, but there is nothing meaningful or insightful. You may find posts that flatter your disposition, but still nothing substantive. If someone is serious about learning literature, they should stay way from places that serve disinformation too much, places like /lit/.

>>3368866

There are plenty of open access journals online. And a major public library, like a metropolitan library, gives access to them via their computer terminals.

Also, you can sign up for some recreational adult class your university may give during the summer, and when you get and I.D. *voila* you have a library card, but without that heft price tag of an annual tuition.

College and Universities only uniquely offer networking opportunities, everything else can be learnt without them.

>>3367769

1. Read the (entire) essential canon of the English language
2. ...
3. Congratulations! You are now more educated than the vast majority of english majors

Do a lot of Math with words and stuff;
And after you break down all those axioms
With all of those weird ass contradictions
That you didn't even know existed:
You're body will be ready
For like one or two genre fictions -
Like max, in your life . . .
Then you can do actual Math.

Read books actively. Read criticism and theory. Write.

>>3369730
Oh boy, oh boy.... 4chan is 18+.