What kind of preparation should you do before starting English at University?

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Reply 40

romeosbitch

i HATE harry potter

Reply 41

hobnob

epitome

Hahaha! Well, you can make it *kind of* happy, if you think of A&E walking away into the sunset holding hands. And forget all about the fact they just ruined Paradise and invented the concept of Original Sin (eejits). :wink:

... and of course there's always Paradise Regained to look forward to. :biggrin:

Reply 42

epitome

Yup...sorry for the off-topic nature, but I'm currently re-reading book 6 too...time is ticking!

Nobody seems to care very much if we go off-topic down 'ere in the boggy English forum. :wink:

And time is indeed ticking!

i HATE harry potter

Oh dear. All these "I hate -----" comments are a bit tiring. WHY do you hate it? (That's not to say you shouldn't - it would just give me some academic peace of mind if you had a reason).

... and of course there's always Paradise Regained to look forward to.

Yeah, the wait is only a few thousand years!

Reply 43

silence

i never really got into harry potter, but i have no doubt that it will be a major text studied by english students in centuries to come. we haven't had such a remarkable text in terms of reader popularity in absolutely ages, if not ever before.

Reply 44

hobnob

silence

I'm not so sure about that, actually... My guess would be that if anything it will be the fuss accompanying the books that will be remembered rather than the actual books, so it would be of interest to future generations of historians, sociologists and marketing experts rather than English students.

Reply 45

silence

hmmm, perhaps. but we tend to know and explore the texts of shakespeare far more than any playgoers or even academics of the 1590s-1620s would. perhaps different because it's drama. but yes, the most interesting aspect of the book is the cultural and sociological phenomenon behind it.

Reply 46

empfrench

Harry Potter (or Barry Trotter, as I mock my sister with) = TRASH

*runs stealthily*

P.S. I did try to read the first one on a day when I was Ill. I threw the book across the room in disgust after the first chapter. Although I can understand why so many people enjoy the comforts of that sort of thing. Do I sound like a patronising swine? I love 'The Hobbit'. Maybe that's similar. Sorry.

Reply 47

sahir02

Hi, this is probably a very asked question, but are there any 'must reads' before studying English Lit?

Reply 48

epitome

In fairness, the 1st chapter of the 1st book isn't the best sample of Rowling's writing. She really HAS got better!
It's certainly light reading...but it's fun! :biggrin:

(And there's nothing wrong with not liking books - there just has to be a reason. Unsurprisingly most people who "hate" something know hardly anything about it).

Reply 49

sophisticated

epitome

Unsurprisingly most people who "hate" something know hardly anything about it).

Agreed. And Harry Potter is absolutely NOT trash. If it was trash, it wouldn't have gone so far as it has...films, video games, 7 best sellers, people have been collecting each book at midnight on the day of release since book 2, I can't think of any other book series where this has happened!
People who dont like Harry Potter have to be in a very small minority indeed.

edit; all IMO :biggrin:

Reply 50

silence

sahir02

Hi, this is probably a very asked question, but are there any 'must reads' before studying English Lit?

i'd say at least a few shakespeare plays (though GCSE and A level english should have covered that). i don't actually thing there are any 'must reads'. whilst most people will have an opinion on what you should read, just see where each text takes you.

Reply 51

romeosbitch

sophisticated

Well we're on Big Brother 8 in the UK which is a tv show with worldwide versions, and that is perhaps the dictionary definition of trash. I quite enjoy BB but that is not to say that I think it has any value other than trash. Meaning that something can do extraordinarily well, and still, be trash.

Yes Harry Potter haters are in the minority but that is not to say we are wrong.

Personally I hate it more for the obsession than the book, and this whole feeling of "if you don't obsess about harry potter you cant call yourself a true reader" etc. At the risk of literary blasphemy, its only a book.

(sorry for the off topic rant)

Reply 52

empfrench

romeosbitch

Here! Here! It's time the silent minority were heard!

Reply 53

sophisticated

romeosbitch

Oh well we must agree to disagree then :smile:

Especially seeing as I dislike BB and like Harry Potter, and you're the opposite, hehe.

Reply 54

epitome

Despite really enjoying the Potter books, I quite agree with this post (probably mainly because it has the sense to rubbish BB... :wink:

). Something does not have to be unsuccessful to be "trash" (take the long-running and money-making Mills & Boon series of books, for example). Though our definition of "trash" is sliding somewhat. Loads of people ask me (thinking that as an English student I know the definitive answer to these kinds of things - I don't!), "Is Rowling a good writer?". Well, all I can answer is that she writes the HP books well - that is, she does what she sets out to do; writes genuinely gripping books (proof = massive readership and genuine interest in the fantastically constructed plots & character histories), which have a wide audience (proof = wide audience!).
The books aren't morally damaging (unless you take the extreme religious view, but that's just taking things ludicrously far, cf: headteachers of strict religious schools banning the books). Neither are they brain-deadening. And in my (personal) definition of "trash" both those factors would appear.

As for the obssession being more annoying than the books themselves - I agree; but that's the embarrassing, damaging and scary media-ridden world we live in. No-one can say there's not hype around Shakespeare, it's just of a different kind. (And no, I'm not *really* comparing Shakey to Rowling!). :wink:

I'm rambling, really. No-one's "right" on this of course. But I do come back to my earlier disapproval and exasperation regarding the "I hate......" brigade. It's infuriating. (I hate Big Brother. *grins*).

Reply 55

hobnob

empfrench

Here! Here! It's time the silent minority were heard!

Hmm, that sentence reminds me of something... :wink:

Reply 56

Franc Vouloir

romeosbitch

Yes Harry Potter haters are in the minority but that is not to say we are wrong.

I wholeheartedly agree, and am reminded of Nicholas Lezard's post on the Guardian's Books blog today.

Reply 57

tigrrmilk

Ugh, but that post is so smug and self-congratulatory! I mean, I don't think that enjoying Harry Potter means that I am 'self-evidently someone on whom the possibilities of the English language are largely lost', it just means that I like a popular series of children's books. Harry Potter isn't a work of great literature, but it's fun, intricately constructed and set in a really ace parallel world.

Reply 58

Franc Vouloir

tambourine

... I don't think that enjoying Harry Potter means that I am 'self-evidently someone on whom the possibilities of the English language are largely lost', it just means that I like a popular series of children's books. Harry Potter isn't a work of great literature, but it's fun, intricately constructed and set in a really ace parallel world.

To be fair, I think that, with that statement, he's talking about people who don't accept that J. K. Rowling isn't an especially brilliant stylist. You do seem to realise this, though, and so can enjoy the series in other ways, which is fine.