hi! i’m an undergrad who is planning on writing a literary criticism essay for one of the events at my university. i would love to learn how i could make a good and insightful one :) any general or specific tips, advice, frameworks, etc. on how i should go about it? are there also some specific essays/critics you’d recommend that could help? thank you!

Hi everyone. As an undergraduate, I've been learning a lot about postcolonialism and been really interested in the overall field, since I'm from Singapore. I've been given an opportunity to teach some postcolonial concepts to students, but I just can't seem to nail Bhaba's "unhomeliness."

I usually do cursory research for direct sources about these concepts, but I can't seem to find anything Bhaba wrote about unhomeliness. Am I looking in the wrong places? Is it buried a book I haven't found? Is it even his concept? Admittedly, "unhomeliness" is something I picked up in my notes from a class with no direct reference, so maybe the term just doesn't actually exist?

If someone could point me to a primary source about the concept, or maybe something related to it, I would be most appreciative. Thank you!

I’m reading the Scotichronicon and am having trouble understand if the phrase “gild their own spurs” is a metaphor or not. For context, the Scottish army is asking their leader if they can “…make a trial of the English in front of the battle line in order to gild their own spurs.” I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure this one out all day. This is for a research project but it’s not a homework question or anything.

Hello! I’m coming up towards the end of my undergrad psychology degree and am wondering if I should study English lit next year, I don’t think this will help my career in any way as I’m wanting to work within psychology however I have taken an interest in literature and writing and also loved English when I did it in school and it’s something I’d love to have more expertise in. So I’m wondering if anyone has any insight to if I should do the degree or just put loads of effort into self study !! Thanks so much !

Recently heard about Nietzsche copying out Emerson by hand and also Robert Macfarlane doing the same with Cormac McCarthy. Want to read up a bit more on how extensively they did this (every day as a habit, or every now and then when the whim took them during reading?). Interested in other authors’ use of copywork too

I was recently revisiting Our Town by Thornton Wilder as a theatre major, but this is not homework related. I just noticed something kind of puzzling and my professor and I are curious as to why we haven’t found anything about anyone else mentioning it, so we’re both wondering if we are missing a piece of the puzzle.

In Our Town the play starts off with Emily and George at about 16 per the stage directions on May 7th, 1901. However Emily’s 12th birthday per Act III is on February 11th, 1899. This would make her born in 1887 and only 14 in Act I. This is notable as she should be 18 in 1904 because the Stage Manager tells us Emily and George get married right after commencement.

Is this just an playwright error, or is there more to this?

Hello all, I'm working on a short story right now and would love some recommendations for some short stories/films/books - whatever really. Particularly in the world of horror/thriller.

I'm focusing on paranoia in the sense of a main character who thinks everyone is plotting against her, essentially. So anything like this would be great. The paranoia is a result of childhood trauma that the main character cannot face. She dreams of the things that happened to her as a child (CSA), but will not face the fact that they are nightmares based on her reality.

So, basically, any recs based around paranoia, childhood SA, motherhood, therapy, coping mechanisms. Hopefully you get the gist.

Some things that have inspire me already:

- Marnie (1964) dir. by Alfred Hitchcock

- The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gillman  

- The Jacket (2005) dir. by John Maybury

- The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe

Thank you :)

I'm in a theory of rhetoric class and for our final project we're supposed to do some kind of scholarly research paper and our professor wants us to define our theory, our methodology, and our methods in terms of what we're studying (ex. what theory are we using, what methodology are we using, what methods are we using). It's an English class so a lot of us are doing literary criticism of a specific text... where in the hierarchy of theory, methodology, and method does literary criticism fall? Our professor insists methodology and methods are different and I've seen certain VARIETIES of literary criticism (such as New Criticism or New Historicism) described as methodologies, but does that mean literary criticism is then a theory since it is the overarching category above such varieties? And what does overall literary theory fall under?

For reference, I told him I was going to use queer theory in my paper, but he wanted me to be more specific (ex. Anzaldúan queer theory would be a more suitable theoretical basis). I know this is kind of homework help but it's also research help... I'm a grad student trying to get my work accepted into conferences yall

Basically title. Off the top of my head I can think of some Flannery O’Connor stories. Looking for more obscure things though.

Hello everyone! I am applying for PhD programs next year and I am trying to narrow down my college list, but it is a lot of work! Does anyone know of any college English departments that accept the study of speculative fiction and its intersection with culture, colonialism, history, etc? Would this be best as English or Comp Lit PhD?

For my research specifically, I want to study transnational and ethnic speculative fiction and how these novels decolonize the space of literature and education through alternate histories. I think there is a lot to be learned from these novels - a prime example is R. F. Kuang’s The Poppy Wars which was inspired by historical events like the second Sino-Japanese War and the Nanjing Massacre. These were not topics I learned about in American K-12 school, which was surprising. I do not even remembering being taught about China’s roll in WW2. By looking to speculative fiction, we can learn not only history but also learn about diverse identities and experiences.

Also, I am in the process of writing my masters thesis and article/book recs would be appreciated! My masters thesis is how can the legitimization of Indigenous science and inclusion of Indigenous futurism in mainstream media deconstruct Eurocentric colonial systems and beliefs. Right now, my reading list consists of Grace Dillon, Daniel Heath Justice, Miriam Brown Spiers, and Patrick Wolfe.

Hi, I'm looking for works (fiction and non-fiction) that deal with an aesthetic of ugliness.

I'm thinking of works like Sontag's “Notes on camp”, Umberto Eco's On ugliness and Fisher's The weird and eerie. Of fiction, I need American writers, better if they are from the 20th century. I have in mind the grotesque in Winesburg, Ohio, for example.

If you know any articles that work with concepts such as the grotesque, the weird, the aberrant, or whatever category that implies some sort of disgustment level within American literature that would be very helpful.

Thank you.

I want to inform on some good sources and approaches in order to try and analyse book to film adaptation for a uni assignment. I have it in my mind that narratology and semiotics go hand in hand, but I am afraid I will sound unprepared and not very academic if forget to read something important, that is I don't want to miss out on something.

This is probably a silly question, but I always find myself hesitating about the most natural approach. I have to write an assignment on a 10p short story. Do I have to describe it from start to finish in one paragraph between the introduction and analysis? I have done assignments in the past where I have naturally done both - summarised and not summarised. What's the general rule for this situation? The problem usually arises because the summary quickly fills half or a third of the word limit.

In the case where it is not necessary, how do you deal with jumping from the introduction to your argument without this intermediate passage of pure recollection of the story?

Thank you very much.

I did my undergrad and masters completely in English...I didn't take any courses that demonstrate another language's capability. However, I want to apply for a PhD in Comparative Literature, with Marathi, and Konkani - one is my native language and I have been studying the other since I was a child in school for 10 years. Would such linguistic experience qualify me for serious consideration to Comparative Lit programs? Or is college level experience in intended languages mandatory?

Additionally, my undergrad and masters are in related fields, but not in literature or comparative lit. I hope that having an undergrad degree in Comparative lit, or at least literature, is not necessary for applying to a PhD in Comp lit?

Currently streamlining my master's thesis into a potential writing sample for my grad shcool applications in English and I'm confused about a lot of things.

1. Can it have a title and consequent subtitles?
2. Can it have citation-work (my thesis talks about a lot of obscure texts, say what if the AO hasn't read that text and gets confused when I cite from it/ mention it?)
3. Can people here who have successfully gotten into PhD programs in English (or other fields in the Humanities) please share their writing samples and SOPs, if possible? It's really hard to find good samples apart from YouTube.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if there are any 'modern English' translations of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. The English translation I am using is Fairfax's 1600 translation, and its more antiquated language is making it very difficult to follow and understand the plot. When I try to Google this myself, a lot of the responses I get are just about Fairfax being the first English translation.

Thank you!

Hello! I am currently analyzing Mary Wroth's sonnet 19 "Come darkest night," but am just having trouble figuring out if it follows Petrarchan or Shakespearean sonnet structure. In my opinion, it looks Shakespearean, but I ask because in all of the scholarship surrounding the sequence, they keep mentioning that she is rejecting Petrarchan tradition. What about it is Petrarchan? Thank you!!!

In the sense that a reader is continually "hearing" in their head their own voice saying "I did x, y, z," as it's narrated in the book.

I'm uncertain if this falls in the realm of semiotics, or meta-fiction.

Edit: Just to add an example of the type of things I'm thinking of: In Lolita, Humbert Humbert writes "Imagine me; I shall not exist if you do not imagine me." How this works as far affirming the narrators existence through the imagination of the reader.

Let us know what you have been reading lately, what you have finished up, any recommendations you have or want, etc. Also, use this thread for any questions that don’t need an entire post for themselves (see rule 4).

I’m trying to read The devil in the shape of a woman and I’m having trouble remembering how to annotate historical text. It follows many witch trials that took place in New England. I tried going on YouTube but wasn’t able to find anything good.

I'm attempting to take some courses in literature at schools in cali because I largely studied another topic during my undergrad years. I've already taken a few community college and state uni courses, but they've had a terrible track record of either reducing the work down to multiple choice quizzes to check if you've done the work or, if there are professors, they try to push you into committing to their specific view point. It's been very unhelpful and I'm just wondering if anyone can help sort me out a bit so that maybe I can finally get a legitimate education in lit. I know this might be a bit vague, but I guess I don't know exactly how much to explain, so just throwing this out there and I'll answer any questions if needed.

Does anyone have recommendations for essential literature extension courses and universities/resources in cali that are on par with taking a course as an English major in undergrad?

A couple of years ago I came across an article by a scholar who was studying, from a cog sci point of view, how people get absorbed in the books they are reading. The article was relatively popularizing (I think it was in something like the alumni magazine of the school where she was teaching), but I remember looking up some of her work and it looked more like science publications than humanities ones.

Anyway, this scholar had a name for her field of study -- she called it something like "absorption studies" or "immersion studies", except it wasn't either of those, but something similar. She and some other researcher seemed to be (according to her, at least) the main practitioners of this studies field.

Unfortunately, I guess I didn't save these articles, and now I can't find them again. Anyone know what / whom I'm talking about?

I hope someone can advise and thank you if so.

I had to take a break from academia after my PhD. But I would like to get back into the swing of things. Are there any resources on writing good journal articles and then what would be the process on submitting the articles e.g preparing an article then submitting it at an appropriate journal?

Exactly what the title says, are there any good essays that do an analysis of Palestinian poetry from one or multiple perspectives?

Thank you.

Hi all,

I’m a PhD student who started in Comparative Literature last year. I’ve always loved literature—close reading, teaching, analyzing texts—and for the longest time, I dreamed of becoming a professor. However, my impression—and what others have said to me directly, as well as comments I’ve read here on Reddit—is that the field of Comparative Literature is in decline. This feels like more than a rough patch. This seems to be part of a broader trend affecting all of the humanities, but especially this field.

I’m at a crossroads: On one hand, I fear that if I quit, I’ll always regret it and wonder if I could have achieved my dream. On the other, I fear pushing through, filling the next few years with anxiety, competition, and stress—not only for a field that might be disappearing, but at the expense of other important experiences in my life. I doubt myself a lot, and the impostor syndrome (if that’s what it is) feels crippling most of the time. I want to start a family soon, and I worry that the stress of the PhD will ruin the experience of motherhood and take away precious time from loved ones.

I’ve spoken to professors who’ve been kind and encouraging, but I’ve also encountered those who outright told me they think it’s not worth it. So, I’m reaching out to this community for more perspectives—both from people inside academia and those who have left or never entered it. What are your thoughts on the current state of Comparative Literature and the humanities?

Do you think the field is in decline, or are there still reasons to be hopeful?

Do you think it’s worth pursuing this PhD?

Financially, I’m in a good enough position—my partner earns well, so I don’t need to worry about finding a job just to make ends meet. I don’t need this, but I have wanted it for a long time. But I also want to be happy and stop having so many doubts all the time. This constant indecision has been causing an incessant spiral of anxiety. I don’t want to unnecessarily take myself out of the running for a job—being a professor—that I’ve always wanted. But I don’t want to completely waste my youth for something useless, either. :(

Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated as I try to make a more informed decision.

Thank you for reading and TIA for any input you may have. :( <3

The other night I met a friend for drinks after work. He introduced me to a new co-worker of his. We started talking about books that we liked because my friend knew we both liked Blood Meridian. That then spiraled into us talking about TV shows we enjoy and him and I trying to sell my friend on watching Deadwood and Succession. When all was said and done the co-work said something along the lines "I'm glad to meet a fellow ○○ian." I had never heard this term before and I asked him what it was. He said it was a term for dramas that focus on morally ambigious or morally wrong protangonists, characters, and worlds. No white hats or black hats but a sea of grey. It was a term I had never heard before. I've been trying to recall it ever since but due to being more than a few drinks in at that point I can't remember the term now.

I don't remember the exact definiation that he gave me. It was about works with symapethic protagonists who are morally wrong or evil and works that are replete with characters like that. It could be a term refering to the works themself or to that type or work or even could be refering to people that enjoy that type of work. It was something like "Faustian" (I know it's not that) but had a similar feel of a name with "ian" being added to it.

I apologize if this is vague or hard to answer or even the wrong place to be asking at all.

I want to know what are the implications of free direct indirect speech. I understand that is a way of writing but dont get the hype modernist writers benefit from using it

Any tips on how to remember the old english of The Merchant’s tale and prologue by Chaucer?

Hey y'all. I'm drafting a research project for a postdoctoral scholarship in my country, in which I will employ a methodology I have never worked with - and have never seen employed. I want to investigate the reception of the novels in my corpus (with regards to some specific aspects I'm interested in), but I want this investigation to be threefold: academic criticism, journalistic/cultural criticism and reading public reception. And, particularly as it pertains to the reading public, I was thinking about using online reviews on Amazon and GoodReads as sources.

Now, I have never really worked with reception theory; I read Jauss and Hall when I was doing my BA and MA, but even that was over a decade ago. I don't really know what are the modern developments in reception theory, or in any other theoretical approaches that might support the methodology I outlined above (particularly in working with the online reviews).

I'd appreciate any input!

Hello,

This is the first time I've ever used Reddit. I am in a search and I wanted to ask if there are any books that use non-obvious messages or terms to say something to other members of the LGBTQ community. Books or other literary texts that use them, for example, would be very nice. I hope my question is clear and understandable.