What skills does one need to have in order to do well in lit

[Venus_Severus]

Hello everyone , I'm a literature student just in high school , and have a great interest in involving literature in my future. My school is'nt focusing on any particular lit type , but i hope to have a headstart ( i wih to be a literature professor) Any ideas ?

[Katrina]

Being that I am less than a month away from graduation from college with the same goal as you and a degree in English-Literature, I would have to suggest that you always keep open minded about what types of literature you learn about. If you focus on just one, it may not be as much of a learning tool as learning about various ones. Stick with it, its tough but definintly worth it in the end.

Good Luck! :D

[Aesopone]

i'm a community college (:() freshman and i won outstanding english scholar in my highschool last year, my adivce to you is read as broad a range of material as you can stand and as many books at once as you are able.hope that's helpful.

[eji]

Stick with it, its tough but definintly worth it in the end.

You're about to graduate with a degree in English Lit and you write like this? God help us. Don't they teach grammar and spelling at the university level?

[eji]

crazycaleb, it seems you're making the rounds and commenting on my comments -- all very well, because I wouldn't want what I say to be the last word on anything.

I don't expect spelling and stylistic precision on most Internet bulletin boards, but I do think that a place called the Online Literature Forum should be a bit more careful about it than most. And if you read that post, you'll come across statements such as, "If you focus on just one, it may not be as much of a learning tool...," which are so blandly phrased as to make them meaningless, and compounded with the hyphenated "English-Literature" [sic] (and non-hyphentated "open minded" [sic]) seem to speak volumes about whether the poster's errors were Internet casualness or mere carelessness.

My friends always snigger whenever I use "whom" and not "who" when speaking, but I still continue to police (ah, that metaphor again!) my own speech and writing to avoid making sloppy habit the norm. Living in Germany, I'm even more attuned to rules of grammar, because German is a language that calls for the utmost deliberation in both speech and the written word, else you sound like a complete dolt who doesn't deserve to be taken seriously.

I feel terrible about hijacking the thread from V_S. (S)he's probably getting an e-mail alert with each one of these posts and rushes to the BBS, only to be disappointed by my pendantic rants.

So, as a former literary professor of sorts with no formal qualifications whatsoever, my advice for a career teaching literature would be: Read, learn the fundamental rules of grammar, read, think some original and coherent thoughts, read, pass on your passion for the work and not just the dry information, and finally, read, and you should do just fine. Until, that is, you come up against dim establishment philistines who scheme up ways to fire you because you dare to challenge accepted wisdom or threaten their modish Groupthink. Aber so ist das Leben.

[AbdoRinbo]

All eji asks for, guys, is a little consideration. Poor grammar might send him into fits of convulsion.

[Venus_Severus]

Thank you all for your replies ,I'm just a tad dejected after not getting highest in literature this year. (though i got an A1)
The problem with me is that I've got too many ideas , am im too eager to write them down , so i always end up writing way out of point (though i don't realise it) and sometmes , for great literary works, I'm AFRAID to think whether i like it or not , as I'm AFRAID that I'll end up liking some piece of lit which everyone abhors , and hating a highly acclamimed one , so i usually reply on critics 's judgement (stupid,moronic thing to do, I know)

[IWilKikU]

If you read through some of the longer threads on this Forum, you will see intelligent, educated people loving the same piece of lit another hates. It's ok to love somthing that's generally accepted as rubish if you can defend your reasons. Likewise, it's also ok to lothe something that critics think is pure geneous. For example, I hate A Room with a View by E.M. Forster. People love that book, but I can't figure out why. If anyone cares you can ask me why and I'll tell you. But thats a different thread; this one is about the right to like or dislike.

[Dick Diver]

The way you respond to literature is also dependent on your mood at the time. I hated Leaves of Grass with a passion when I read it but looking back I think it was my state of mind (LOCO). I do intend to read it again because I think that I never gave dear Walt a chance.

And never forget there's no right or wrong with literature - whatever your professors might try to tell you.

Art is subjective.

[crazycaleb]

crazycaleb, it seems you're making the rounds and commenting on my comments -- all very well, because I wouldn't want what I say to be the last word on anything.

I'd quote the whole thing, but it's too long. I did read all of it though, and respect your position. I wasn't intentionally replying to all of your comments on this board though, if that's what you think, I was just commenting in threads that I found interesting. I also deleted my post in this thread (before I saw that you replied) because I thought it was a bit needless; I didn't really make much of a point, and it was just taking the thread too far away from it's intended topic. So basically I do agree with the essence of what you're saying, but I just saw her grammar as being a result of casual typing (typing something out and not looking it over afterwards to see if it was grammatically correct, as I often do), and not a result of ignorance.