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Semester Update My graduate class is not exactly what I hoped it would be. You'll remember that I was really, really excited that my first graduate class was going to be in the Romantics. My Romantics! My expectations were, of course, enormous. Is there anywhere to go but down from there? I like the professor. He's smart and funny. The course, however, is structured in a very frustrating way that has been, well, frustrating - and boring. The course is actually called "Romanticism and History," and studies some of the Romantics in the light of the French Revolution (which affected them all). We started with Frankensteinand talked (among other things) about how Mary Shelley was affected by her father and his politics. The problem? We hadn't yet read Godwin, so discussions of him? Meant pretty much nothing. I think it's the very rare English undergrad that reads Caleb Williams. We continued on to Wordsworth. Sigh. My Wordsworth. The night we had to prepare "Tintern Abbey," we spent the entire session discussing one article by Marjorie Levinson. We barely glanced at the actual poem. We talked about others ("Michael," "Simon Lee," some of the Lyrical Ballads) with many references to Edmund Burke. We hadn't yet read Edmund Burke. We then read Burke. And then Godwin. After we were done, I saw how the pieces fit together - sort of - but we couldn't discuss it all with what we'd done previously, because it's time to go on to Blake. And then PB Shelley. And then the course is done. If I'd had my druthers, the course would have been structured Burke-Wordsworth-Godwin-Mary Shelley-Percy Shelley-Blake. Well, Blake's the wild card and could have been inserted a couple of places, but I think it makes the most sense to stick him after Godwin. This way, we would have had all the necessary background to put the pieces together. It only confused me - a lot - to read critical article after critical article about Mary Shelley referring to her father and know nothing about him. Now, I just want the course to be over. Or I want Dr. V to come and finish teaching it. I've written my two smaller papers (one on Frankenstein, one on Blake's "The Little Black Boy") and started the research for my final paper (ironically, on Shelley and Godwin) and then I just want the semester to be over. Next semester I've decided to take a course in the 18th Century British Novel. Here's the tentative reading list: Moll Flanders, Pamela, Bridget Jones's Diary, Joseph Andrews, High Fidelity, Evelina, Emma. (That's a lot of bolding and underlining - forgive my not doing it). I was going to take critical theory, but it's FOUR hours a week - kill me now - and the professor is rumored to be insane, which is confirmed by his course description. So, no theory for me. My other possible choice is a Harlem Renaissance course that sounds really good, but I think I'm settled on the Brit novel course. If I could, I'd take two, but I'm supposed to direct You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown in the fall. If that falls through (again), I'll probably sign up for the second course. There are a lot of very smart people in my class, but I do get the impression most of them just can't wait to get their degree and leave. The majority of the students in this not-very-large program are high school teachers doing their continuing ed stuff rather than people like me who are doing it for more scholarly reasons. I have, however, lately been considering getting my teaching certification for secondary ed. I'm unsure about that. I won't make that decision anytime soon. |
