[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 57 KB, 606x400, 1294418717048.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2431066 No.2431066 [Reply] [Original]

>At the University of Edinburgh
>By all accounts, a fairly good institution with strong funding and a great history
>Studying English Literature - the university's most competitive course (33 applications per place), expecting reasonable high standard of classmate
>Second year tutorial:

>I mention Joyce (in relation to intertextuality with Eliot)
Two of eight have heard of him.
>I mention (in another class, on aestheticism) Wilde
Two of eight have ever read anything Wilde wrote.
>I bring up Bulgakov, Baudelaire and Proust (another class on Modernism)
"Dur, this is ENGLISH literature, why would we have read those?"

How can my fellow students be so poorly read? I'm forever lamenting my relative ignorance, but feel like Harold Bloom or Thomas Young compared to them. It seems strange to me that while bottom-end levels of literacy are at an all-time high, undergraduate ('educated' individuals, supposedly) standards seem to be slipping.

>> No.2431069

This is a benefit to people of only moderate intelligence, such as myself.

>> No.2431099

You came here too early OP. You mistook the community here for all literati.

Ask them about something like Robinson Crusoe or Moby Dick, they've probably not read those either. And a lot of them will graduate not knowing how to deconstruct a text. But then again, is that the main aim of University?

>> No.2431104

>How can my fellow students be so poorly read?
>be so poorly read?
>so poorly read?
>poorly read?

>> No.2431107

>>2431104
nothing wrong with that

>> No.2431108

That feel when receiving better education without spending $80,000.

>> No.2431111

>>2431104

I don't see the problem here.

>> No.2431118

>>2431104

Yeah, what's wrong with that?

>>2431108

The government pays my tuition. I'm spending nothing.

>> No.2431139
File: 4 KB, 184x211, reactionman_smile.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2431139

>Studying English Literature - the university's most competitive course
Oh god I can't stop laughing

>> No.2431170

>baaaw even "poor little ignorant me" can wipe the floor with the rest of my classmates
your life truly is tragic, you should start writing , you probably already are , clogging up this board with even MORE amateur writing

>> No.2431194
File: 273 KB, 560x746, 1320389915608.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2431194

here we go, another tortured genius thread

>> No.2431213

>>2431066
Most people have never read these things before undergraduate level, how old are you OP?

>> No.2431225

>>2431194
what a cut little girl. .... wait a minute, did you get this from a pedophile website?

>> No.2431226

>>2431225

what you mean 4chan?

>> No.2431269
File: 13 KB, 200x200, 1328502739607.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2431269

> Mfw I'm decently well read, am aware of all these writers and in most cases have read at least some of their work
> Mfw I'll never get into Edinburgh or any other institutes of its standard to study English literature
>Mfw other people who can jump through hoops and get mad UCAS points without a vested interest in the subject will get places instead

Well, guess I can look forward to studying fucking Stieg Larsson at the University of Chester...

>> No.2431279

Well, it's comforting knowing that this sort of thing isn't limited to my uni's English department.

>> No.2431297

>>2431269

why cant you?

>> No.2431298

>be smarter than most
>not smart enough to really shine
>always feel like shit because of the handful of people that you know are better than you

Makes me want to kill myself.

>> No.2431310
File: 109 KB, 461x523, 1294792884602.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2431310

>>2431297
I'm not going to get straight A's at A-level, I'll probably get an A in English lit but my other subjects will probably be B's.

To do pure English lit at most good Universities you need AAA.

My predicted grades are also pretty bad. It's extremely competitive and I would be immediately over looked based - even though it's a subject I'm incredibly passionate about.

Feels bad, man.

>> No.2431320

lol, i'm a math major and i seem to have a lit culture somewhat vaster than your comrades.
I does not matter though if your classmates do not have a "proper" background, do not even bother and try explaining their mistake. At first when i noticed something wrong like you did i would do anything to persuade the concerned people to change their minds and all but they never do.
Just continue reading, enlarge your horizons and let the teacher observe the gap between you and your classmates.

>> No.2431327

>>2431310
It's really time to stop being a pussy. You know that feeling of looking back at GCSE etc and thinking "jesus that was so easy", you'll get that again after A-levels. Seriously get off 4chan right now a(you're supposed to be in school anyway) and read the work you're supposed to. Stop giving in to base pleasures and stop being distracted by things that will serve you no long-term satisfaction. Just do it, if you think you'll get an A, get an A*, if you "know" you'll get a B and everyone think you'llget a B, prove yourself and them wrong. Don't read this with your stupid head resting on your left arm and forgetting about it, fucking do it.

>> No.2431461

ITT: people who aren't as smart as they think they are.

>> No.2431463

OP's image is so manly I got a boner

>> No.2431470

>>2431066
SPOILER: People are fucking retarded

As example, please see:
>>2431099
>deconstruct a text
I wish you were dead.

>> No.2431469
File: 28 KB, 500x279, tumblr_l67bo7L3101qzsvzxo1_500.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2431469

>>2431108
>how do you like dem apples?

>> No.2431474 [DELETED] 

>>2431310
>To do pure English lit at most good Universities you need AAA
This is why y'all niggers should study foreign languages. Everyone in the UK thinks the world speaks only English, which is of course nonsense, and means universities are lacking good candidates. You can get into fairly top places with surprisingly low grades (UCL offers are between ABB-AAB, for example).

You'll get to study lots of literature, and as if all this wasn't enough, they're very useful degrees thanks to the aforementioned lack of British people with foreign language skills.

If you want to study literature AND gain a useful degree AND get lower grade requirements, go for modern languages.

>> No.2431493

>>2431066
>"Dur, this is ENGLISH literature, why would we have read those?"
They have a point bro.

Also no one studies English Lit because they like it.

Jeez. They do it because they can't even get on basic courses like Sociology.