I first decided to study English because, in high school, I was interested in little else. I would receive 100’s in the subject, particularly in the area of creative writing, while history, math and science were earning less than mediocre marks. Naively, when it came to choosing a college major, I thought English was an easy out, a cheat of sorts, something I had already “excelled” at. (See the very naive Kim sitting at her “word processor” at SUNY Fredonia, October 1988.)
As an adult, I now realize that, while I enjoyed the escape of literature and a creative use of language, this was no cheat. There was something intriguing within the pages beyond the story, something worth paying attention to, and the call was real. I simply couldn’t identify it, nor did I stick with it long enough to discover what that call was. Still, it has lingered all these years, enough to make me consider revisiting a formal English education in my mid-thirties.
Most of my high school teachers sought to bring English to life with their selections. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, King’s Different Seasons, and Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind were on our reading list. Still, when my peers groaned through Beowulf and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, I enjoyed them all. At the college level, I remember little and skipped often. There might be a correlation there. Determined to get through the major without taking Shakespeare just to see if it was possible, I was instead introduced, in depth, to Chaucer’s life, humor and influence on language. It was fascinating. It helped too that my professor was a bit crazy… a white-haired woman never without her enormous, floppy, purple velvet hat. Through it all, theory was never discussed.
As a returning student, until last semester’s Intro to Lit class, I was unable to define what made literature worthy of study. I used to determine the worth of a book by how it made me feel and how it related to my life. This definition fell short when, as varied as my life has been, a story was nothing like my own and yet I still found it to be “good.” It wasn’t until I learned about abstract thinking that I appreciated reading critically, interpreting, dialoging with the text and other critics. Suddenly, I was moved beyond the mechanics of a story or the author’s history and into a world of contexts and meanings that came from beyond the text itself. With little experience in theory, I have only had the opportunity to cover Shakespeare’s The Tempest (he finally caught up with me) and Morrison’s Beloved. I have had a brief overview of New Criticism, Postcolonialism, and Feminism. My limited experience with these “isms” introduced me to a whole new realm in which I still have much to learn.
I am able to relate to your experience of literature being a means of escaping. I have always been fascinated by the ability of writing, nothing more than words arranged on a page, to seize the hearts and imaginations of any readers. I grew up on a dairy farm in a small little country town, so I have always appreciated the power of good literature.
Similar to your experiences, through much of my life literature remained as something that was best understood through the emotions that it evoked when read. In high school I had an amazing teacher that helped us to become skilled readers and writers, but we never even touched the surface of literary theory. ENG 112 opened up a whole facet of the study of English that I wasn’t really aware existed. I, too, enjoyed becoming aware of and being able to utilize the idea that literature has implications beyond the actual words and is part of an on-going dialogue. While most of my friends remain highly skeptical of lowly English majors, I know that through understanding the implications of literature, we are better able to understand ourselves and our society.
I have to say that I admire the fact that you are so interested and determined in understanding the deeper depths of literature. Personally, I can relate to wanting to know more and being better able to interact with the material. Literature is a very unique subject that seems to have endless points of views and subject matters discussed in so many unique methods. There is almost always a chance that you will be able to discover a piece of literature that is much more than what appears at face value. To me being able to relate, dissect, and analyze pieces of literature is fascinating. I also feel that through past literature classes I have never thoroughly studied theory, such as New Criticism, Postcolonialism, and Feminism. Through the studies of these materials I am hoping that we will not just experience a glossing over of many theories, rather study theories to such an extent that they will better our understandings while strengthening our standpoints regarding literature.
I found your post very interesting. I like how refer to english as an “escape” and how you soon realized that this field was anything but an easy way out. For some reason, after reading the other classmates posts, yours really stood out to me. I like the way you described English as a whole, awesome job.
I must say, I love to toliet…it really makes me remember who you are (no wait…I already knew you!) From what I have seen from you in previous classes I think English is your calling. You are really good at it & obviously it was shown in high school. ENG 112 showed me something about English also, I thought that was ironic.
I completely agree with you on this one. I also decided the I want to major in English when I was highschool. I guess it was for the same reason, I always received good grades and this was always my strongest subject. I also thought it would be as easy for me in college as it was in highschool, but I was very wrong. I quickly realized that it was much harder and that I definitely needed to work to get the grades that I did in highschool. I love that you think of litature as an escape. I too have always thought this and I always loved that I could use my imagination and it could take me anywhere. Reading is really the only thing that can act as an “escape”, while serving as a challenge at the same time. I think that’s what I love most about this subject, and it seems like we both can relate to this. Great job!
Kim, i too use English as an escape .which is definitly somethign we both have in common. Another element that I do enjor about English classes in general is that it makes you just that much smarter than your friends who just are not in the know. Watching movies and being able to easily see the deeper meaning and characterazation development were ways i used my knowledge of this subject to my passions for film.