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Here we go again
I'm thinking about switching out of my American lit class (1800s-21st century) and into a class on Shakespeare this fall. I was also thinking about taking UT's class on James Joyce, but I'm not sure that I'm prepared for it.
I've heard that Hamlet is important (hence the class on Shakespeare), but I haven't read the Iliad or Odyssey (although I did read some of the Odyssey freshman year of HS). I don't know. I really, really want to read it, enjoy it, understand it, and conquer it. I'm an English major too so I feel like it's important for me to read it.
Just to be clear, I do want to enjoy it. The ability to say that I read it is just a small part of my motivation for reading it.
I was also perusing the archive and saw a post with an excerpt from early on in the book (the one about the shaving cream, bowl, and mirror). I didn't really understand it and felt pretty dumb when someone else posted about how the speaker was mocking Christianity by reducing the Virgin Mary to a common woman (Christine, I think).
I'm definitely planning on reading Dubliners and Portrait first so I may have to wait until the spring semester after next to take the James Joyce class (which is only offered during the spring).
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>>8402738
Forgot to mention that I read House of Leaves for a class this past semester (class on cult classics of all things) and loved it. It was a ton of fun and really enjoyable to think about all of the complexities/relationships between the reader, the book, and the characters.
Although I guess the only similarity between House of Leaves and Ulysses is length, which is debatable considering the formatting of HoL.
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>>8402738
pls leave
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bumperooni
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>>8402738
Let me explain one thing to you first. The desire and analysis over "which class to take" is primarily a naieve neuroses that you are experiencing because life has not yet shit on you enough to make you realize that such thinking is largely pointless and counterproductive. What you are facing is a compulsion to find the right thing. The real right thing is to take whatever circumstances provide and interact with it with effort and self awareness.
Besides that, chief downside to the American lit class will be that survey courses tend to be weaker because you need more time to penetrate into most authors. I would say take American lit but tell the teacher you want to focus on just one author, like Whitman. Joyce may be a fine innovator and craftsman but I think at your youth you would benefit more from the heart and spirit of a guru like Whitman. College is a time for building foundations. Don't fall into the meme pit.
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>>8403090
And Shakespeare is fine, but is largely outdated, archaic and baroque to the modern reader, IMO. Unless you really care most about the sound and rhythmn of language, in which case sure, Shakespeare is probably one of the best lessons to learn from.
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>>8403090
>>8403096
Then of course you could redpill even both of these one step further, and say just take the course with whichever professor is better, as that generally determines the enjoyment of the course much more so than the subject matter.
>Responding 3 times to a typical /lit/ thread where OP will never be posting again and I will proceed to be shat on by 2-3 autists
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>>8403090
Ah yeah, part of why I've been thinking of switching out of the American lit class was because I took a similar class in the spring. It was a huge class, the grading sucked and we barely skimmed the surface of everything. It was sort of like going to a nice restaurant and eating one of every appetizer.
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>>8403115
No, serious question for you (which you won't answer): why? Do you have the brain cells to elaborate on a one word riposte, or am I correct to assume you find such a statement embarrassing simply because you lack the maturity to deal with an emotionally cogent directive?
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>>8403122
That may be true, but it is also true that there are some really top notch authors in the historic canon of American lit, my first picks being Whitman and Melville. If you have no experience with Whitman, it would be worth taking the class just for him. He invented an authentic place for American poetry and no poet in this country has been untouched by him. If it weren't for Whitman the meme level on this board alone would hit such catastrophic proportions that it would make /b/ look like a fucking prep school.
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>>8402738
How is it that you study literature but haven't read Homer?
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>>8404039
the wonders of modern education
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>>8404039
I have. It was just 7 years ago in high school.
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