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English Post-Offeral Open Day

How did you find today's open day?

If you missed it or were unable to attend, here is a quick summary.
The opening lecture was quite interesting. Shakespeare's sonnets, always holds a key to my heart. And Philip Schwyzer is a typical American-lecturer with a dandy sense of humour.
Next was the sample seminar, I had Anthony Fothergill; another "character" of sorts. He talked of Sadomasochism and tried to put on a Brummie accent: always a sign of a good professor.
The second year student talk was also useful, especially regarding freshers week. :wink:

After refreshments came the welcome talk. Pretty strange way to end the day, but Eddie Jones kept it somewhat entertaining with an outline of the different modules you can specialise in come the third year of study.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by it. Exeter is such an underrated University.
Although the campus isn't as fancy as others such as Warwick, I do prefer it to City Universities such as UCL.
Plus, the syllabus seems varied enough to be any student's dream.

Now, your thoughts?

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Reply 1

supercat

I do English here, so if you have any questions feel free to ask :smile:

I love all the lecturers you've mentioned. Actually, I have a seminar with Philip tomorrow, haha. But yes: any questions, feel free to fire away.

University of Exeter

Exeter

Reply 2

Kerouac

supercat

I do English here, so if you have any questions feel free to ask :smile:

I love all the lecturers you've mentioned. Actually, I have a seminar with Philip tomorrow, haha. But yes: any questions, feel free to fire away.

What are you studying in your second year? As we have been told that the modules are very flexible.

Reply 3

Angelil

yay Eddie Jones! :smile:

He's luffly :biggrin:

I also did English here, albeit on a joint hons programme. Any questions, feel free to ask :smile:

Reply 4

supercat

Kerouac

What are you studying in your second year? As we have been told that the modules are very flexible.

Last semester I did a module on Shakespeare & Renaissance Comedy and The Shock of the New (which is mainly about modernism). This semester, I'm studying Introduction to American Literature and Desire & Power (which is more Renaissance!)

There are a fair few modules to choose from (I didn't have to do two Renaissance modules, but I chose to). You do have to do two pre-1800 modules but I think that's a national thing, so it conforms to the English syllabus or something. Also, you can do modules in film or creative writing. AND, if you fancy, I'm pretty sure you can take modules from outside the school of English (one of my friends, for example, decided to do English & Japanese).

I did find that the choice of modules allowed me to choose things I was interested in (LOVED the modernism module, was like a dream come true :p:

) so I would say that's pretty good.

Reply 5

Angelil

ooooo Desire and Power :smile:

Does Karen still take that?

Reply 6

Last Summer's Dream

Eddie Jones being the one that looks a little like Hugh Grant? Mmmm. I liked him.

I had a really good day overall. I really liked the city centre. The Topshop looked MASSIVE :biggrin:

I went to this cute little pub called Chaucers as well. The food was really nice.

I was really impressed with the open day. I'd definitely be more than happy to go there. It'll be a shame if I have to turn it down.

Reply 7

Kerouac

supercat

This semester, I'm studying Introduction to American Literature.

What does this "introduction" include?
I love modern American authors such as Vonnegut and, obviously, Jack Kerouac. :smile:

Reply 8

romeosbitch

I'm a little disappointed with the second year modules that we are being offered. I was really impressed with the promise of film modules covering "more than just american cinema" so of course, the second film choice is "Shot in the dark: American film in profile". Really wanted to end up with a English with film studies degree but that just doesn't appeal to me at all. Both the pre-1800 choices in the second semester also hold little appeal so I'm a bit stumped as to what to choose now!

However, to stop putting such a negative spin on it, I'm not sure I'm doing the right degree at all, so i think it's just me.

If you are wondering, these are the second year options for 2008-9.
EAS2071 Chaucer and his Contemporaries (EAS2071) –
EAS2080 Renaissance and Revolution: Seventeenth Century Literature (EAS2080) –
EAS2082 The Enlightenment: 1700-1799 (EAS2082) –
EAS2083 The Shock of the New: Literature 1900-1953 (EAS2083) –
EAS2084 Creative Writing: Poetry and Prose (EAS2084) –
EAS2085 Film Form, Fantasy and Fiction (EAS2085) –

Semester 2
Module
Code Module
Title Notes
EAS2024 Shakespeare and Renaissance Comedy (EAS2024) –
EAS2026 Desire and Power: English Literature 1570-1640 (EAS2026) –
EAS2029 Revolutions and Evolutions: Nineteenth Century Writings. (EAS2029) –
EAS2074 Introduction to American Literature (EAS2074) –
EAS2081 The Nature of Story: Creative Writing (EAS2081) –
EAS2086 Shots in the Dark: American Film in Profile (EAS2086)

Reply 9

Angelil

Bloody hell, is that all you get this year? I seem to remember there being more options available to us :/

romeosbitch, so what do you wish you were doing instead? Like you, looking back I probably should have picked Classics with an MFL rather than Classics and English, but also like you that was more me picking the wrong degree than there being much wrong with the degree itself.

Reply 10

romeosbitch

I'm not really sure, my little pipe dream is to be a film director but English has been "my thing" since year 2 so I can't get past abandoning it to do film on it's own. That's why i wanted to end up with a "with film studies" tagged on the end but it's european and world cinema that grabs my attention not the american studio system.
Having a bit of a crisis.
I may just do one film module and one creative writing. But i'll be so annoyed to get to the end of the 3rd year to be just one module away from "with film studies".

Reply 11

Angelil

Can you not put up with the American film bit in order to achieve that 'with film studies' tacked on the end?
Plus, I'd be pretty surprised if there was NOTHING you could take from studying American film that you could apply to stuff you're more interested in.

Reply 12

romeosbitch

I probably could put up with it.
However, i can do one film module, one creative writing module and then in the third year use that creative writing module in order to do a creative writing dissertation and do a film script.
Crisis is over haha!

Reply 13

Angelil

Can I just caution you about the creative writing dissertation - if you're planning on going into further study that isn't creative writing-related after this degree then I'd really really advise doing a critical dissertation, otherwise admissions tutors won't have any proof that you can write critically at length.

Reply 14

sophisticated

romeosbitch

Agree with your point, I chose both pre-1800 modules from Semester 1!
I can only choose 2 modules (combined honours) which kind of limits the combinations I can have...bit annoying!

Reply 15

Angelil

^^ Yeah, it doesn't give much room for flexibility on joint hons, contrary to what they would have you believe...

Reply 16

supercat

Kerouac

What does this "introduction" include?
I love modern American authors such as Vonnegut and, obviously, Jack Kerouac. :smile:

Mmm we don't do any Kerouac (unfortunately) and it's quite a broad sweep (because it's an introduction, I guess). So we started off with early American literature, a bit of Washington Irving, Emerson, Whitman, Emily Dickinson, moving onto gothic, like Poe and Melville, and we've just been doing slave narratives (Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, if you're interested). It's pretty chronological, so next week we're doing Mark Twain (Huckleberry Finn) and then we go on to do other things, including a bit of Tennessee Williams (but to my shame I can't remember the rest!) It's pretty broad, but I quite like that because it is, after all, an introduction. Just realised how many brackets I used - sorry!

Reply 17

songsaboutjane

Im going to the post offer open day on Wednesday. What is a sample seminar and what should I be expecting! I'm extremely nervous!

Reply 18

songsaboutjane

ive been accepted for english lit btw...

Reply 19

Kerouac

There is no need to worry. I am a nervous and shy guy but even I was put at ease. The professor whom chairs your seminar will just talk to your group of twenty as a whole and if you have anything to contribute, you raise your hand. It is not as if they are trying to unsettle or test you.

You shall enjoy it, I sure did.