1.How many of you guys haven't taken a college level literature

>>9163375
In the US 99% of colleges make you take English 101 and 102 (might be named different in different places) and Speech 101. I put less effort in these classes than I did highschool english and did fine. Either you're not a retard and can write A papers in a night or you're a retard.

>>9163385
yea I'm not worried about my grade; I'm talking about actually learning

>>9163375

1. Haven't taken any form of college literature course, was too busy retaking shitty english classes. Ended up graduating as a welder

3. There hasn't been a difficult text that I couldn't clarify by re-reading the page 2-3 times over, or just pondering over the subject.

You're literally fine if you can understand why an author would do basic shit like have a character hang himself or even look at a fucking pole for an extended period of time. If you are reading essays on JSTOR you're literally better off than everyone who isn't an English/Lit major provided your style and grammar aren't shit

>>9163375
It helped because i was reading anyway, and actually liked writing papers. Sadly, I could do maths but opted for what was for me, the easy way. If I cd do it again I'd double-up in Eng\Math and not Eng\and mfn EuroHistoryto1453 (that is, the fall of C-nople). Did read alot of books and had a great time otherwise but the aftermath, not so fortunate-

>>9163375
1. Never, the closest I've gotten is watching a couple of lectures online. And as far as high school, even though you didn't ask, public school English classes in America are a joke. They are no better than having a kid read a book by themselves.
3. Nope. I'm pretty confident that if you just take some time to think and reread, like >>9164018 said, everyone will be able to get most things. the few lectures I've seen and some analysis I've read seem heavily opinionated, even if they are only parroting opinions.
Everyone will be better off to just read and get what they get out of a book, grab onto what you grab onto. If you try to grab onto what other people did, their interpretation or points of importance, then you might end up doing yourself a disservice by looking past what you saw to fit into someone else's view.
If you are only just starting they can be helpful to get you introduced to the thinking. I'm not trying to dismiss schooling or secondary material, I just don't think it's very important, and when I see people stress its importance I think they've kind of missed the point of reading, or lack confidence.

>>9164306
Adding onto this already long post, it's still fun to read analysis and watch lectures on books I've read, and I imagine a class would be interesting, but I put only slightly more faith into them, than I put into posts on 4chan.

>>9163375
I took Multicultural American Lit and it was great. The required reading were books I would have never thought to find myself. The actual in-class discussions are a blur to me now, so my advice would be to track down the syllabus and take the required reading lists for yourself without taking the class.

Was a lit major at a decent university, also took lit related courses at an art school. It depends on the teacher really. If you have someone who's willing to be serious about the material and the critical theory they choose to incorporate it can be really rewarding. But there are thousands of college level lit professors who are...less than engaging. If nothing else I'd say they can act as a catalyst for your own interpretive mentality. Having someone or something to answer to always helps.

>>9163375
From my experience and from talking with my aunt who has been through college/grad school/teaches, it comes down to the teacher. Find out who is held highly and take their class.

>>9163385
I didnt know that about American education... and you pay money for the privilege of taking classes you vould be completely uninterested in? In Australia its not exactly free, more of an interest free loan from the government, but we only do classes relevant to our course unless we elect to do more.