Oxford English reading list?

I've been offered a place to read English at Oxford next year, and am curious to know if there's any kind of reading list available.

I'm on a gap year at the moment and am enjoying exploring as wide a range of books as possible, but if there's a required reading list, I could get going now with the compulsory novels/criticism and it would probably save me stressing as much later!

Anyone know? Anyone willing to share said list with me?

Ta.

Reply 1

nofo

These were the first term ones that I remember:
Just This Once - K.G. MacGregor
Dune - Frank Herbert
Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters

Reply 2

caustic87

3

Call the college and find out, as what is required varies from college to college. If they won't send one (or say it's coming later) then my advice would be Dickens (especially Bleak House), Hardy, the Brontes, Eliot (especially Middlemarch), Tennyson and the Brownings. That's assuming you're doing Victorians first - most people do. Unfortunately, I can't tell you when reading lists are supposed to come - the Exeter English tutor was on sabbatical the term I came up and no one sent out reading lists in her place - I was presented with pages of Victorian novels 4 weeks before I started.

nofo - lol.

Reply 3

*pitseleh*

20

caustic87

Call the college and find out, as what is required varies from college to college. If they won't send one (or say it's coming later) then my advice would be Dickens (especially Bleak House), Hardy, the Brontes, Eliot (especially Middlemarch), Tennyson and the Brownings. That's assuming you're doing Victorians first - most people do. Unfortunately, I can't tell you when reading lists are supposed to come - the Exeter English tutor was on sabbatical the term I came up and no one sent out reading lists in her place - I was presented with pages of Victorian novels 4 weeks before I started.

nofo - lol.

Listen to caustic87!

I emailed the English tutor at the college I'm hoping to go to, because I'm only studying part-time so I have plenty of time to start working through a reading list. He emailed me back saying that he might be able to give me a proper list by the time I go up for the college induction day (9th May) but until then, I should read "as many of the Victorian classic novels as possible" (including Dickens, the Brontes, George Eliot and Hardy), "as well as the major Victorian poets" (including Tennyson, Browning, Arnold and Hopkins).

Reply 4

PPJ

I got a reading list from my college today... :x anyone else the same?! It's intense. I thought they wouldn't send out the lists until August, when it was confirmed we're going there and stuff? That being said, yes yes yes! It's Victorian! Lots of Hardy & Dickens. But someone also did say it varies from college to college, so would it be the same for all?

Reply 5

Cirsium

19

If they've sent it to you then it applies to you :wink:

Even if you don't study exactly the books you've read, the questions are mainly very broad and can be answered using examples from whatever you've read, so it's still useful to have a general feel for the literature of the period, even if those books aren't the main ones your tute essays are based upon.

Reply 6

caustic87

3

The slight problem is that a lot of the first year papers are "optional" - I use inverted commas because often colleges, rather than you, decide what to do. The only paper that in compulsory is Introduction to Literary Studies (Paper 1), and advising anyone to start with critical theory may kill off any enthusiasm they have for the subject. MOST colleges start with Victorians, but since you only actually have to take one of Victorians and Twentieth Century (although most people do both), not all do Victorians - a friend at Hertford only did Twentieth Century. So if your college sends/tells you something - that will be right for your college. It may not be right for everyone.

PPJ - yeah, the reading list is intense. It only gets more intense - for this one you have 5 months plus. Mostly, you get five weeks. Not trying to put you off - term time work is always managable if you do some reading in the vac. My advice is start soon - 'Bleak House' is long, and, from experience, I really wouldn't recommend reading it in 4 days...

Reply 7

caustic87

3

OK, I'm going to try not to be down about Introduction to Literary Studies, because it does have some good aspects. Basically, it is about introducing students to ways of thinking about literature - kind of critical theory. It is taught by a compulsory lecture once a week, plus whatever your college adds - some do more than others. At Exeter, we had a few classes and some timed essays. The lectures are kind of dull and didn't seem to say much, but, once I found some theory topics I liked, I did enjoy the reading.

As for books per week - I tended to write on between 1 and 4 texts per week in first year for Victorians and Moderns. Old English is a little different - texts are shorter for a start, and there's set texts you have to cover. On top of that, you have to do secondary reading - critical texts, articles, reviews. Of that, you can do as much or as little as you like. Some tutors set critical reading and others don't.

Reply 8

Raskalnikov

Im going to merton hopefully- a conditional offer. Anyone else? It seems obvious to me that the easier choice to go for initally would be victorian, though the charecters and plots of victorian novels can be just as complex or even more so that modern novels, the writing style, the ideas and the "meaning" of the stories is overall alot simpler. For modern literature you have to dive straight into T.S Eliot and Joyce, am I right in assuming that Ulysses is a book I should read this summer then? I love both nineteenth century and victorian literature, just wondering which one it is better to start of with. :confused:

Reply 9

tigrrmilk

11

merton will probably decide for you which you're starting with, and it will probably be victorian. you can make a start on ulysses if you want i guess, i didn't start my reading at all until i got sent a reading list in late august last year. but it's not a book you "should" read this summer.

Reply 10

Raskalnikov

tigrrmilk

merton will probably decide for you which you're starting with, and it will probably be victorian. you can make a start on ulysses if you want i guess, i didn't start my reading at all until i got sent a reading list in late august last year. but it's not a book you "should" read this summer.

hmm, well it says im allowed to choose but they're probably lying :smile:

, do u say its not something i "should" read because its not really mentioned in any lectures/tutorials/essays or because its notoriously difficult and will put me off life?

Reply 11

Reverie.

14

Raskalnikov

Im going to merton hopefully- a conditional offer. Anyone else? It seems obvious to me that the easier choice to go for initally would be victorian, though the charecters and plots of victorian novels can be just as complex or even more so that modern novels, the writing style, the ideas and the "meaning" of the stories is overall alot simpler. For modern literature you have to dive straight into T.S Eliot and Joyce, am I right in assuming that Ulysses is a book I should read this summer then? I love both nineteenth century and victorian literature, just wondering which one it is better to start of with. :confused:

I guess it might make sense to do a bit of Victorian first so you can see how 20th century lit. is shaped by what came before it? (As well as more often than not being what colleges start with - most Victorian lectures will be in Michaelmas term.)

Reply 12

tigrrmilk

11

Raskalnikov

hmm, well it says im allowed to choose but they're probably lying :smile:

, do u say its not something i "should" read because its not really mentioned in any lectures/tutorials/essays or because its notoriously difficult and will put me off life?

it's definitely one of the major texts of twentieth century lit, so if you're going to start with that paper then yes i guess you should make a start (although you probably can avoid it - one of my friends didn't read it and he did fine). it seemed like you wanted to start with victorians, though, in which case it's not vital/useful for a while yet.

i'm glad i started with victorians and then did moderns the next term, largely because first term is a time for finding your feet and so by the time i came to study stuff i really like, 20th century lit, i already kind of knew what i was doing. plus a lot of modernism attempted to define itself by contrasting itself with victorian literature, so it's a useful background to have. but choose whichever you prefer if they're giving you the option.

Reply 13

Meg For Short

Hey,
I got the reading list from Merton for English a couple of days ago. I'm puzzling over the choice between Victorian and Modern Lit for paper 2. I prefer Modern but it seems to make sense to study in a linear way, especially if the lectures for Victorian are concentrated in the first term.

Raskalnikov, hello :smile:

Have you made a decision yet? It would be good to be studying the same topics as other people at the same college, just for moral support etc!

Reply 14

*pitseleh*

20

Meg For Short

Hey,
I got the reading list from Merton for English a couple of days ago. I'm puzzling over the choice between Victorian and Modern Lit for paper 2. I prefer Modern but it seems to make sense to study in a linear way, especially if the lectures for Victorian are concentrated in the first term.

Raskalnikov, hello :smile:

Have you made a decision yet? It would be good to be studying the same topics as other people at the same college, just for moral support etc!

If you don't take Modern for Paper 2, you'll be able to take it for Paper 4 instead; a lot of people do.

Reply 15

Raskalnikov

Meg! its you :smile:

! Its me Rozina- or Rose, i cant remember how i introduced myself! Yes I've made a decision...im doing modern for paper two! It was really hard to choose though, i thought victorian would be a nice comfy thing to start with so I could have a less intense time first term so I was really tempted but I read more of TS Eliot I love him and as I really want to study classical lit or Beckett for paper 4, I kinda thought modern would be best. Anyhoo, I was pooing myself a little when I got the reading list- it cost a bomb for one thing and for another I was determined not to do old english because middle english has that whole romantic, troubadours stuff and would be great BUT on iTunes you can download a bunch of old english stuff and it does sound quite interesting, you really should check it out if you havent already! Im getting my A Level grades on the 20th scream! Hope your well, let me know what you decide! xx