Personal Statement:Nineteenth Century Studies

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MA in Nineteenth-Century Studies Personal Statement

I am interested in postgraduate study at the University of Sheffield for three reasons: the interdisciplinary nature of the programme, especially the option to take modules on German literature and the Russian novel; the universities facilities, particularly the new Jessop West building; and a desire to study in Sheffield.

The Nineteenth Century Studies programme represents a natural step forward from my undergraduate degree in English both academically and intellectually. I aspire to be a university lecturer and the programme, while a necessary step on the path towards doctorate work, satisfies my current and future research interests, which I have begun to develop using my extended essay; it is on Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground (1864).

My extended essay investigates the construction of the underground man's identity in relation to a number of literary devices in the novella - notes, prostitute, underground and wet-snow. Presently, I am tracing the “underground consciousness” through Dostoevsky's earlier works, and a number of other writer's works before 1864 too, including Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov, Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev, whilst also considering continental influences as well. I have also considered Dostoevsky's short story Mr Prokharchin (1846), Vladimir Odoevsky's short story The Living Corpse (1844) and Alexander Pushkin's short story The Undertaker (1831), which are partially important, albeit generally overlooked. Consequently, because of my research on Dostoevsky and a general interest in Russian writers, I am particularly well-read in the non-fiction works of Mikhail Bakhtin and Tzvetan Todorov (I am aware of the Bakhtin Centre, and it is another reason for applying), and the contemporary literature essay submitted with this application develops their theories of the carnivalesque and fantastic into a comparative essay about Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (2003) and Colm Tóibín's The Master (2004), proposing particular paradoxical strategies used by both writers in order to deal with a delimiting real.

Other interests developed outside my degree, though in relation to postgraduate study at Sheffield include the colonial travel writings of Ryszard Kapuściński and Mary Kingsley in Africa, and Joseph Conrad, whose short story An Outpost of Progress (1896) alongside the aforementioned writers heavily influenced my entry ('A long walk to the internet') to this years Guardian International Development Journalism competition. I wrote about the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs's ADEN project, which aimed to increase internet access in eleven sub-Saharan countries. I was long-listed for the award and published on the Guardian's website.

As aforementioned I aspire to be a university lecturer, and have attempted to further this aspiration alongside my undergraduate degree as best as I could. For example, I worked part-time for Aimhigher as a student mentor in my second year, using my subject knowledge in English to prepare GCSE students for their English language and literature exams. This involved researching fiction and non-fiction texts on the curriculum, creating revision material for students of different abilities, which was then checked by a senior lecturer in my department, and attempting to instil appropriate exam technique.

I believe this experience developed my communication and team-work skills as I worked alongside other mentors on the scheme, and coordinated with staff in the school. I often had to deal with large groups of students on my own too, which was difficult in terms of involving everyone in the session, especially when students did not know one another. But the way I learnt to prepare for sessions and explain ideas was the most valuable experience gained, pedagogically. Consequently, because of my aptitude, enthusiasm and reliability I was invited to participate in Aimhigher's new associates scheme, which launched in November. I will be working part-time at Macclesfield sixth form college from the New Year onwards, and I have also been invited to participate in one of the college's new staff training schemes too.

I have also been accepted onto the Liverpool Student Associates Scheme for secondary English. Manchester Metropolitan University does not offer English placements so I contacted other regional providers and was given a placement less than a day after an interview, which not only proves my suitability for a career in education but also my dedication too. I would actively look to build upon this experience while studying at Sheffield

Universities Applied to:

• University of Sheffield (MA in Nineteenth-Century Studies) – Offer (2.1)

Comments

General Comments:

The University of Sheffield's MA in Nineteenth-Century Studies programme is interdisciplinary, and teaching staff on the programme include members of staff from English, European languages, history and politics. This is why I have maintained my European focus in the personal statement.

Comments on the statement:

With regards to the universities' facilities, I should have perhaps mentioned the Bakhtin Centre.