Friday, February 19, 2010

Lit Woes


So the second semester of the first year is shaping up much differently than my first one. First, I love getting variety in workshop instruction, getting something different, coming to understand how another professor looks at poems and guides us to look at poems. Because of the weather we've only met at Rita's house once so far and that sucks, but that's not supposed to be the point of workshop lol.

This is a two year program so some of the second years have been submitting poems more frequently in preparation for their final thesis. Just when you think you've gotten to know their work...boom...some sort of crazy leap happens and a huge progression is obvious (not that they weren't already great). I feel this way about pretty much all of their poems lately. It's pretty amazing and inspiring. I'll take some progression please. Yes, one large lump of it would do. As far as my progress, I think the biggest thing that my professors and classmates have helped me to focus on with my work is an economy of words and really tightening my language. So we'll see where that takes me.

My first semester was very easy academically. Which was a nice break. Not that the writing was easy, it never really is. But this semester is a challenge so far with my lit class. I was an undergrad English major and I'm taking a graduate level lit seminar. A lot of the people in the class are first year PhD students whom I assume were also undergrad English majors. So to kill my intimidation I assured myself that only one semester separates our knowledge base. This would work for me if UVA wasn't apparently storing first year PhDs in pods their first semester, feeding them knowledge and the ability to speak intelligently, read quickly and still retain all the key points to discuss in class. I don't feel like I fit in my lit class, I almost feel like it's their class and not mine, kind of how I might feel if they were in the MFA workshop maybe. They don't make me feel this way. The professor doesn't necessarily make me feel this way. I do think the professor recognizes there are things I haven't learned as an MFA student that the Lit kids obviously picked up in their pod infusions. When I said I wasn't familiar with something, she said, "Well, you're creative writing." I made it clear that I was in the class for the opportunity to learn though. I don't know. It's seriously an internal struggle. Probably why I write poems in the margins of my notebook all during class.

19 comments:

  1. I went through the exact same thing last semester when I took Nineteenth Century American Literature (at GMU we have to take at least two graduate literature courses). I wasn't an English major in college so I really didn't know what the hell people were talking about. There were only three MFA students out of about fifteen people in the class, and I felt pretty lost. I was even nervous to go to class! But after a while I got used to it and started to fit in better. The academic papers killed me, too. But I ended up with an A-, and I loved the teacher, so it all worked out. Hang in there!

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  2. My guess is that the PhD grad students are already knee-deep in the existing criticism for the literature you're studying, and also probably have (and use) the specialized vocabulary of contemporary criticism. You don't necessarily learn the heavy academic stuff in much depth in an undergrad English major - that's my experience, and I'm not saying it's a deficiency either.

    If that's the problem, my suggestion for a quick fix is, get one of those books (maybe your prof can recommend one?) that talks about major critical approaches - New Historicism, Cultural Materialism, Marxist criticism, Feminist, Structuralist, Poststructuralist, etc. Understanding the basic principles of each will give you the terminology, and perhaps demystify a lot.

    Quick fix number two is, pick a well-known book you really like (not necessarily in the class) and get one of those Cambridge critical readers to it. Hopefully, since you already like and know the book, it won't be too laborious to read criticism of it. But I've found those Cambridge guides show just how a range of critical approaches can be applied to a text.

    I don't know if the above is your problem, but that should help if it is!

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  3. JayTee--If you get your prof to recommend one of those books that talks about the major critical approaches, please post the name of it on here so I can buy it too. Or--alternatively--anyone out there in the blogosphere care to help us out by recommending one?

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  4. I admit it was somewhat lame to recommend a book without giving a title. My excuse is, I'm ten years out of school.

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  5. This should do the trick. Probably more depth than you need, so skim.

    This is an example of the Cambridge Companion series I mentioned. They are by authors, not books as I said, though.

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  6. Wow...thanks for the great suggestions and encouragement! I'm going to try that Cambridge Companion idea out. I'll let you know how it goes. I really appreciate this!

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  7. Thanks so much Jamie. I just ordered the book you linked to. I really appreciate it!

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  8. i love that you are having this discussion. i had been away from school for almost 10 years when i started my low-res program and it was really hard at first to critique and then also to write short response papers.

    i wish i had had this my first semester in the program but we did have a critical theory class and we used this book which went through different critical theories as they applied to The Great Gatsby which we re-read at the time. It helped IMMENSELY!

    http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Theory-Today-User-Friendly-Guide/dp/0415974100

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  9. Jennifer glad I could help in any small way. Jessie your book looks really cool too.

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  10. This might be lame but everyone commenting here has a name that starts with a "J" lol. I didn't come to say that. I came to say thanks for the book suggestions, Jamie and Jessie!

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  11. @JayTee - Like I said, glad to help in a small way...

    And nothing lame about "Js" sticking together!

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  12. my publisher and i are both named some version of jessie/jessi so we are j1 and j2 to each other. nerds unite!

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  13. sorry, kids, i'm crashing your "j name" party ;)

    JayTee - I'm in a similar situation this semester. Taking a lit class with a bunch of PhD students and/or 2nd year MAs. I am *freaking* out about the 20pg seminar paper! I still don't know what poet(s) I want to write about. Ugh. It's my plan for the weekend, to get some sort of idea in place because I'm meeting with my professor on Tuesday.

    My intro to graduate study class this fall sort of gave us an overview of theory (like the books people linked to), but even with that, I do feel very much uninformed about the critical conversation. It also doesn't help that the class I'm taking is in an area I've never studied before, so I'm not really acquainted with the poets everyone else seems to know either.

    I guess I have nothing helpful to say, just wanted to commiserate. You're not the only MFA in this spot. Hang in there!

    P.S. Any ideas for my seminar paper? Ha ha!

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  14. Sounds like good suggestions for catching up with the lit students (and I'm sorry to hear that the literature classes have been a hard conversation to feel a part of).

    I had always been wary of literature classes because I came at it from the perspective of craft, or, how/what is the writer trying to do, and why. When I stopped trying to be a better writer from literature (although the being better-read at all in and of itself helps, I think) and instead started thinking of literature as a way to make arguments about the world and be a scholar I felt like I got a lot more out of those classes.

    That being said, I'm still as lost in the discussions (even if I feel less so), because I also lack the special vocabulary of criticism (it seems like just knowing what the words mean/are make the concepts real).

    Feels nice to be part of a community that is all equally lost...

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  15. Hey Jaytee. If you are indeed looking for books to help you brush up on literary theory and jargon, I would recommend the book we used in my undergrad Practical Criticism class--Jonathan Cullen's "Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction." It's from Oxford University Press' Very Short Introductions series, which, if you are not familiar, is excellent. It's a very helpful little book that also has the advantage of being both very short (obviously) and very cheap.

    Keep you chin up, friend. I know you're going to show that professor and your pod-suckled classmates who's who in the end!

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  16. Oops, make that Jonathan Culler. My bad!

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  17. Thanks Nick! Sounds like you have Twilight on the brain (Cullen). Must get you into a grad program stat! lol

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  18. No, no, no, make it stop! GRAD SCHOOL NOW!

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  19. I've always been fascinated with J. M. Coetzee, who's well-known as a double-Booker Noblist novelist, but is also a fantastic, wide-ranging, and highly respected scholar/critic. There probably aren't too many doing double duty like him. (Susan Sontag in her day, maybe?)

    Both by his innate prose style (cold, piercing clarity) and his critical approach (English more than Continental), Coetzee presents an alternative to the terminology-laden style you sometimes find in academia. Also, because he's a working novelist, his approach to works and authors integrates a "craft" perspective with consideration of the scholarly dialogue. You can find many essays of his free on the New York Review of Books site - just search "Coetzee" (note: you have to scroll down and pick out the free ones).

    Coetzee is on the fiction side of things, but he originally wanted to be a poet (if his memoir is to be believed), and he still translates poetry. I found his analysis of the Dutch poet Gerrit Achterberg's "Ballade van de gasfitter" one of the most interesting pieces on translation I have ever read, and have returned to it several times. So maybe you poets can get something from that.

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