Any English Majors?

hey_you · Tue Nov 22, 2011 3:21 am

Hi everyone!

I've recently joined booktalk and this website is awesome

I'm a Literature major at the University of California Santa Cruz. I love modern fiction. Big fan of poetry.

PS: I've just read Caspian Rain by Gina B. Nahai. It's pretty great.

Happy reading!

DWill · Tue Nov 22, 2011 6:24 am

Nice to meet you, hey_you. Always glad to welcome a fellow English major. I was one ages and ages ago, back when the major may have been a little different, more traditional than it is now. We couldn't get away without taking at least Chaucer and Shakespeare. Milton was escapable, at least in undergrad. The idea of the canon has always puzzled me, I have to admit. I can't get past the analogy to the books of the Bible, the officially validated works that are said to have special significance or quality. Who decides, and is there a point to it? I'm not set against the idea, it just alienates me a little.

geo · Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:50 am

Any English majors? Guilty as charged.

Aah, the liberal arts education, so quaint and old-fashioned. A college education today means something very different.

DWill, are you talking about Milton with regard to the canon and the analogy to the books of the Bible?

Chris OConnor · Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:14 am

Welcome to BookTalk.org.

icindy · Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:03 pm

hi hey you... I just read "Art of Lying"...hilarious...every sentence! I love twain too...did you ever read the adam and eve diaries by twain...wonderful...

i'm an english major..

I have a great book i'm always trying to get others to read and have not been successful although i hear it's enjoying a renaissance among current professors- LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN BY JAMES AGEE...
happy reading

hey_you · Tue Nov 22, 2011 3:40 pm


	DWill wrote: We couldn't get away without taking at least Chaucer and Shakespeare. Milton was escapable, at least in undergrad. The idea of the canon has always puzzled me, I have to admit. I can't get past the analogy to the books of the Bible, the officially validated works that are said to have special significance or quality. Who decides, and is there a point to it? I'm not set against the idea, it just alienates me a little.

I haven't taken a single Shakespeare course in five years of college! It has never been required here or at community. I find that remarkable. I guess today Shakespeare is the one who is escapable. Santa Cruz is quite different from other UC's since it has a Literature department instead of an English one. I came across the Canterbury Tales in Traditional British Canon. Interesting course, especially because we read Paradise Lost and spent several lectures relating it to Genesis. We even read the story of original sin. From my understanding, Milton compares God with the British government and Satan's army with the English rebels. Of course, this is still up for interpretation. We also had to purchase the canon (which weighed a TON) and I definitely had trouble with it. I completely agree with your stance. Why are some authors/texts included while others are left out? Who should be the ones to decide? I wish our class went over these questions more. They're important topics of discussion. Thanks for the post

hey_you · Tue Nov 22, 2011 3:42 pm


	geo wrote: A college education today means something very different.

Geo, I wonder what you mean by that.

geo · Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:30 pm

hey_you wrote:


	geo wrote: A college education today means something very different.

Geo, I wonder what you mean by that.

Only that in the good ol' days, probably even before my time, young men and women went to college to get a liberal arts education, study literature, history, philosophy, etc. The idea was that a well-rounded education would make us well-rounded individuals. Today's student goes to college almost strictly to gain specific job skills. David Brooks wrote a pretty good article about this a few months back.

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/lates ... ts-895.ece

hey_you · Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:12 pm


	geo wrote: young men and women went to college to get a liberal arts education, study literature, history, philosophy, etc. The idea was that a well-rounded education would make us well-rounded individuals. Today's student goes to college almost strictly to gain specific job skills.

That couldn't be more true. People ask me all the time, "Why are you an English major? What can you do with that degree?" This is my fifth year of college and I'll be graduating in June. It seems many of us are here just for a piece of paper that will ensure higher paying jobs. My parents, friends, classmates, teachers, etc. always ask what I'm going to do after graduation. I never give them a straight answer. But I'll tell you, Geo. I plan on going back to serving tables. The pay is actually decent if you're good at it. You see, right now grad school is like a scapegoat for those who are too afraid of entering the real world. I definitely want a masters in the future, however, at some point I feel a person needs to educate his/her own mind. Lao Tzu once said "when you have institutions, know where their functions should end." Why not spend the next five years in a library reading? I think the most important thing in life is to strive for knowledge.

By the way, I read David Brooks's article. It was wonderful, thank you.

wilde · Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:18 pm

Welcome to BookTalk!

I'm an integrated language arts major... so I just sort of float around in the education & English departments.

And Shakespeare is sort of inescapable at my university. You can either take Shakespeare or Chaucer.... I'm thinking Shakespeare. :wink:

Sal_McCoy · Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:37 pm

Welcome to Booktalk, hey_you.

I got the same thing when I was doing a Lit Major.

I ended up dropping out and 'getting a real job' for a few years. It taught me a lot about societal pressures and the constructs that have been created to ensure people want to accumulate material wealth.

I've just taken a year off, only working 10hrs a week. Started reading again and also brushed up on my maths and science. You come to realise that if you're not learning anything or improving yourself there's no point to life, no matter how much money you have.

Good luck with your studies and hang your Literature Major degree with pride when you graduate.

icindy · Wed Nov 23, 2011 2:57 am

i don't know...i think you should fall in love with shakespeare and chaucer...even if it's not required, how can one leave such beautiful gifts to be enjoyed by others? The tributes and sonnets and odes to Shakespeare by other poets and writers directly acknowledge this ... i would be astounded if one did not care to read them...or even be curious...I think one would be missing a great deal...

joy_lu · Sat Dec 17, 2011 1:12 am

I'm new here too. I was an English major many, many years ago at San Francisco State - so not too far from Santa Cruz. I've taught Hamlet a bunch of times and as the years progress I get more and more teary eyed. Shakespeare was the bomb y'all.

DWill · Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:49 am

I've noticed over the past several years that booktalk seems to attract a lot of English majors. Not surprising, though, I guess. Shakespeare is not a writer every English major has to concentrate on in this age. A lot has changed.

Grim · Sun Dec 18, 2011 8:09 pm

I knew an planned Art History major who eventually dropped because he was tired of everyone trying to "out art" each other. Liberal education unfortunately means "book snob" to many, even members of this forum! Of course I also know a Graduate Art History major who absolutely loves the competitiveness and rigour.

Personally I would like to see more information about member's education background just so I can be sure I'm not catching flack from a CS major while discussing semiotics.

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