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/lit/ - Literature

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1617686 No.1617686 [Reply] [Original]

/lit/,

How easy is it to get a job in the field of Literature?

Could a college degree in Literature help, or secure a position in the Literature field?

Can Literature ever be a profitable industry?

>> No.1617694

Be more specific. Like, as an author, or a literary critic or a college professor or what?

All three are equally unlikely to make you rich or even financially stable. Literary Theory Ph.D. here

>> No.1617699

Why yes. A simple training certificate in Literature will get you a job in that Literature factory that has no doubt opened up in your home town.

Literature is a booming industry with jobs just waiting to be taken. Get that certificate and grab your spot on the assembly line.

>> No.1617701

>>1617694

Well, what if you're a professor at, like, Cambridge or some shit?

>> No.1617708

>>1617701

Then you have a very good job, and probably publish interesting research.

>> No.1617712
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1617712

You reap what you sow in the field of literature.

>> No.1617715

Impossible.

You either end up a teacher, a librarian, or an underemployed JD (law school). Maybe a paralegal.

If you want to do it, double major with something else more marketable/practical/hooking you up with a job aligned to your personality type.

Just a Lit degree itself will be worthless, despite what bullshit colleges spout about the "flexibility" of liberal arts degrees. Speaking from experience here (luckily I didn't go into debt over it).

>> No.1617720

>>1617701

You had connections to people in Cambridge already or you have groundbreaking insight into the field of literature nobody else has ever conceived.

>> No.1617722

>>1617708

You also probably have family connections in academia and/or are independently wealthy.

>> No.1617723

>>1617715

>study what you love but be sure to study what you hate too so you can sell your soul later

>I'm a failure so that means you are too

>> No.1617729

>>1617723
>I'm hopelessly idealistic
>My parents are ashamed that they still have to support me when I'm in my thirties

Just taking the piss. But seriously, if you think having a back up plan is "selling your soul" and being a "failure," you're fucking stupid.

>> No.1617736

>>1617729

If you can't do what you love, you should kill yourself. Having a backup plan is for cowards and failures.

>> No.1617738

i probably shouldn't comment because i have a b.s. in interdisciplinary social science. equally useless but at least i studied real things that actually exist unlike you faggots who think taking a class on stephen king novels or comic books or other vaguely lit related shit that has jack shit to do with real life is somehow personal enrichment.

>> No.1617740

>>1617738

You're right, you shouldn't comment.

>> No.1617742

>>1617736

confirmed for fucking stupid. or college freshman.

same thing, basically.

>> No.1617743

>Earn Lit degree for fun

>Back it up with a professional certificate in a practical field from a junior college or trade school

There, problem solved.

>> No.1617749

>>1617742

Logical fallacies employed by the failure. Not surprising in the least.

>> No.1617755

>>1617743

So you can be a well-read whilst slaving your soul away welding shit you don't care about, or fisting through someone else's shit to find a hair clog. Sounds great!

>> No.1617761

What if you studied Lit at an Oxbridge/Ivy school or a major research college? You're more likely to get hired in a decent job on your school's reputation and name recognition, right?

>> No.1617767

>>1617761

What jobs?

>> No.1617773

>Lit major

>Get hired as paid intern by major publisher of comics and graphic novels

>Return to work for same company after graduation

>Six figures right out of college

>> No.1617778

>>1617749

So you can't understand humor, either?

Also, I'm pretty sure you probably don't understand "logical fallacies." Point out the flaw you see.

also, seriously dude--have a back-up plan. you're just setting yourself up to hate your life later when you can't meet your own impossible expectations. having a back-up plan =/= NEVER ENJOYING OR PURSUING LIT AGAIN DERP. there's the fallacious thinking.

it's time to grow up a little, eh?

>> No.1617791

>>1617778

Did you think I was kidding when I said that it's either do what you love or suicide?

And your humor was pathetic.

>> No.1617796

>mfw when i'm studying computer science and literature at the same time and I'm not even paying for it

Socialism works!

>> No.1617797

Unless you want to teach, no. It will not help.

>> No.1617813

>>1617791

well, personally that seems very selfish and juvenile.

adulthood is just ABOUT compromise, man. there's nothing dishonorable in it.

also, no one's saying you can't continue to write/study lit or whatever and see where it goes. killing yourself, or living your life in such a way that you'll be in such deep shit you won't have the time to pursue your interests anymore, seems like the ultimate way to short-change your dreams to me.

>> No.1617818

A Literature degree is worthless unless you:

1. Are independently wealthy

2. Already have a good job lined up

3. Are planning on attending law school

4. Are a fucking genius writer with marketable talent, in which case your degree would just be resume padding.

>> No.1617828

>>1617813

Compromise is nonsense. Adulthood is not about weak compromise, it's about strong resolution and responsibility. Above all, responsibility to yourself.

The only way to short-change your dreams is to let them remain dreams. And once things are decided, if you've failed to realize them, the only place left to go is in the ground.

>> No.1617829

>he believes a dying industry can be profitable

>> No.1617833

Okay so

What the hell is the difference between majoring in Literature and majoring in English?

>> No.1617841

>>1617828
enjoy your bullet, radical

>> No.1617843

>>1617841

If that's what it comes to, I'll face my fate with dignity and resolve.

Y'know, like an adult.

>> No.1617849
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1617849

>>1617828
I don't think we can ever be confident that things are "decided," however. There's been tons of people who went from nowhere to success, especially in artistic fields--even late in life.

Also, if you really think all compromise means weakness, you're unbearably immature.

>>1617843
Killing yourself is not the same thing as nobly dying for an ideal, asshat. There's nothing "adult" about suicide.

pic related

>> No.1617850

>>1617849

didn't see the dumb caption in the pic, but still.

this is how you come across

>> No.1617852

>>1617833

If you major in English it's a more general field that covers professional/business writing, editing, journalistic writing, and creative writing, as well as literature.

Majoring in Literature basically just involves studying other peoples' writing, usually historically relevant fiction and some nonfiction essays.

>> No.1617858

>>1617849

>I don't think we can ever be confident that things are "decided," however. There's been tons of people who went from nowhere to success, especially in artistic fields--even late in life.

I bet you can't think of any single example of these "Artistic late bloomers" you're so fond of.

>> No.1617859

>>1617849

*nothing "adult" or "dignified"

4chan needs an edit option, goddamn

>> No.1617868

>>1617858
Writers:
Charles Bukowski
Elizabeth Maddox Roberts
Anthony Burgess
William Burroughs
Raymond Carver

Other:
Tom Waits
Rodney Dangerfield

that's just off the top of my head. most of these people didn't even begin to have things published/garner publicity until around 40.

>> No.1617876

>>1617868

>No Melville

Son I am disappoint

>> No.1617878

Is there any kind of college fraternal society specifically for English or Humanities majors?

>> No.1617889

I'm an English major, but I'm minoring in Human Biology so that I have something to fall back upon. Probably wont be Doctor Bookworm of the Wild Frontier, but I'm sure there's something out there.

>> No.1617911

>>1617889

Psh, Human Biology? What a fucking SELL-OUT man. CONFORMIST PIG.

Killing yourself is clearly the only way to retain any dignity, bro. Otherwise you're just yuppie SCUM.

FUUUU

>> No.1617921

>>1617911

Fuck all y'all, I'm minoring in Human Bio so I can prospectively be a mortician. So when you all blow your brains out from literary failure, I'll be there to piece your pretty faces back together.

>> No.1617923
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1617923

>>1617921

P.S.: I meant that in a funny way, not an overtly-morbid way. ...

>> No.1617928

>>1617868

You missed Wallace Stevens.

>> No.1617943

>Double Majoring philosophy and math
>300k any job i want

>> No.1617951

>>1617943

clearly, you're gonna need to kill yourself when only start at 35k

that much is obvious

>> No.1617967
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1617967

>>1617943

>> No.1618037

>>1617852
Damn, so there is a degree that is far more useless than an English degree.

>> No.1618051

>>1618037
Oh, tons more.
Philosophy. Art history. Theatre arts.

There are a lot of them.

>> No.1618070

>>1617951

>Math

Unless you have that coupled with comp sci, Engineering or Hard Science a math degree on its own is useless.
Sure, you can solve problems and think logically, but does that mean you'll be able to design a new invention? Does that mean you'll be able to program a computer? Not necessarily.

>> No.1618096

>>1618037

Well, Literature is technically a subcategory of English. So English is a specialized English degree in much the same way that Journalism and Creative Writing are specialized English degrees.

>> No.1618503

If I can afford a studio flat, cover my bills, and afford the basic entertainment utilities that I enjoy atm while I'm in college (books, tv, internet, ps3) I think I'll be happy.

English lit student. Shooting for a job as a professor.

I don't think it makes me special. I don't even think it makes me smarter than others. I just don't want to suffer to the point of suicide over something I enjoy.

>> No.1619213

>>1618503

Doesn't sound too bad.

Besides, pretty much every private company and public agency needs English majors to edit papers and press kits and shit for them. Work in the field is easier to find than most people think.

>> No.1619436

>>1619213

keep telling urself that faggot

>> No.1619452
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1619452

Three Literature stores closed with the last 6 months in my neighborhood. Cheaper, better written Literature is being produced in China and India at half the cost of producing it here in the USA.

Feels bad man.

>> No.1619462

>>1617868
Ricky Gervais also... I know it's not a very apt example, but the more you know.
He's also a very talented screenwriter, which is what I'll be taking an MA in, results permitting.

>> No.1619463

>>1619452

>implying the Chinese and Indians currently have a major foothold on the Literature industry

>> No.1619510

im majoring in film studies and minoring in literature.
im well fucked for the future. but at least ill be able to say i am doing what i truly, truly love doing. but i live in hope. im also doing a side course of creative writing and hope to follow in the footsteps of one of my favourite writers, burgess. plus i can always turn to screenwriting or working in some editing office if i got off my ass and looked for a job