Oxford 2011 Freshers Chat Thread

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Just a quickie, but people might want to check the spreadsheet of offer holders and their subjects etc. I had a nosy just on a whim a little earlier and myself along with a friend have been changed from doing English to Engineering science. I've changed mine back, and have texted him to confirm that I have remembered his username correctly, I don't want to change somebody else's! I just thought that if two have mysteriously changed others might be affected too. Not a big deal, but I just thought I'd let people know.

Thanks for that; I'd been changed to English too.

Reply 2361

Rachel*

Original post by jenny18

Yeah mine changed as well! Thanks (:

Reply 2362

fluteflute

Original post by jenny18

On August 7th somebody managed to sort both the College column and the Subject column! It's reverted now :smile:

Will have lost anybody who added their details since then, but I doubt many have.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2363

M'Ling

I feel so behind without a reading list!
I was 20 pages into Joyce's Ulysses when I realised it was probably a useless effort for first year so just began David Copperfield today; my copy is ~1100 pages long and I'm a slow reader at the best of times :s-smilie:

Hopefully an extremely general reading repertoire will be sufficient. Indeed, not even got the grades yet so this worry could all be in vain :smile:

Much in awe of some people on this thread who seem to have read absolutely loads already :biggrin:

Reply 2364

thurin

My Copperfield is ~900 pages - I'll have to tackle it soon!
Unfortunately I'm not very widely read in English Literature so I'm trying to put in loads of effort... I only started reading 'classics' (I despise that term but cannot think of anything more appropriate) after Year 11. And in Lower 6th I had/still have a fixation with Russian authors. I've got some catching up to do! I wish I could find time to read more Russian authors (or even learn Russian! haha) :colondollar:

Reply 2365

deFossard

Original post by micky022

I'm doing Law :wink:

The Russians must have a very famous, upstanding and not at all corrupt legal system then.

Your mention of Deuteronomy has reminded me how much I want to read the King James. It, along with Shakespeare, has formed so much of modern English that I really feel obliged to read it, and I suppose it may help with the study of seventeenth century England.

I feel sorry for all you English chaps, my girlfriend has an offer from St Hilda's, and her list is monstrous and compulsory. History seems so relaxed in comparison.

Reply 2366

dbmag9

Original post by deFossard

Your mention of Deuteronomy has reminded me how much I want to read the King James. It, along with Shakespeare, has formed so much of modern English that I really feel obliged to read it, and I suppose it may help with the study of seventeenth century England.

If you're going for works that have informed literature, I'd go with the Bible and Ovid's Metamorphoses, then some Shakespeare after those. Metamorphoses is a pretty fun read too.

Reply 2367

deFossard

Original post by dbmag9

If you're going for works that have informed literature, I'd go with the Bible and Ovid's Metamorphoses, then some Shakespeare after those. Metamorphoses is a pretty fun read too.

I suppose the Roman poets had a lot of influence as well, but I would have thought it was an influence at the very root of English literature and language, rather than Shakespeare and the King James, which are more obviously the stem and leaves, along with the Canterbury Tales. Can Ovid's influence be as explicitly seen today as that of the King James and Shakespeare?

I'm depressingly ignorant of Roman literature, though I have some Tacitus and Cicero around to read, the most I know of Rome, really, is Boris Johnson's book - The Dream of Rome - which is FANTASTIC.

Reply 2368

dbmag9

Original post by deFossard

I'd say there's not so much a linguistic influence (obviously Shakespeare and the KJV translators introduced words and phrases to the English language, whereas Ovid was writing in Latin), but the stories of the classical mythos definitely inform literature from that point onward, and Metamorphoses is definitely an important part of that. I can't think of any examples, but I remember when reading through it feeling things connect to other works I've read (and having an edition with notes that sometimes pointed out later allusions to it helped).

Reply 2369

jenny18

Original post by JAR12

That is the exact same for me!!!! In the last few months, since Oxford has become more and more serious, I have read more Classics than in the rest of my life put together. I'm just blitzing through Victorian stuff, in two months I,ve gone from having read only one of the set texts to having read 8. Concentration is what we all need now I think, in the last push to October.

(fingers crossed please please please please A levels, please!!!!!!!!)

Reply 2370

Philosopher-of-sorts

Good luck to everyone who needs it for A Level results day in one week. Hope you're all enjoying your summers, despite (or because of?) the insane reading lists.

I've had to stray off my reading list and into history of late since I've found far too many references to major political moments which I know horrifyingly little about. So I now have a stack of history books to get through.

By the way, can't recommend enough Peter Hennessy's The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945. Brilliant for a look-in on the different PMs' personalities and how they changed the power of the office. Plus you get brilliant anecdotes like Thatcher talking to Sir Anthony Parsons:

Thatcher: "Do you know, Tony, I'm so proud I don't belong to your class?"
Parsons: "What class would that be, Prime Minister?"
Thatcher: "The upper middle class who see everybody's point of view but have no view of their own."

Reply 2371

shinobi93

Original post by M'Ling

Hopefully an extremely general reading repertoire will be sufficient. Indeed, not even got the grades yet so this worry could all be in vain :smile:

Much in awe of some people on this thread who seem to have read absolutely loads already :biggrin:

I was crazy enough to read Ulysses whilst revising last year, possibly not the best idea :s-smilie:

I did have to give up my summer aim of reading Clarissa because it would stop me reading enough of the list.

I was disappointed that the three Dickens novels on my list are the only three I've read, although I guess that's useful!

And I agree with the thought that it could all be in vain, I often think that, but know it can't be an excuse for not having read enough.

Reply 2372

micky022

Original post by deFossard

I'm doing English Law haha, just fancied learning Russian on the side. I originally wanted to do Russian, then I changed to Arabic, and then it's back to Russian since Arabic isn't a LASR course.

I wanted to pick up a copy of the King James; it's a lot more poetic than the NIV. I currently have a Gideon Bible I was given at school years ago.

Reply 2373

kingjohno

I'm doing Medicine (hopefully), but have received absolutely no reading lists or any other information at all? Should I be worried?

Reply 2374

BJack

Original post by kingjohno

I'm doing Medicine (hopefully), but have received absolutely no reading lists or any other information at all? Should I be worried?

It's perfectly normal not to hear anything until after A level results have been published.

Reply 2375

flywithemma

Anyone doing history, where are you finding out the available modules in first year at your college?

Reply 2376

Incarnadine91

Original post by flywithemma

Anyone doing history, where are you finding out the available modules in first year at your college?

I got them with my fresher's pack after results, some colleges ask you to choose earlier but it's not unusual to not have heard anything yet. Details of the full range of modules are here if it helps. Catz gave me pretty much free reign :biggrin:

Reply 2377