decidedly undecided

@screamingacrossthesky thank you very much for the list. It should keep me busy for quite a while. As perhaps is to be expected, I quite like your username.

Please excuse me if I don't use the correct term of art to describe my interests, as I mentioned above, I've not really studied this with any formality. Generally speaking there are a few areas I'm particularly interested in: (1) modernism, especially the period between the wars; (2) post modern literature, especially work touching on the absurdity of consumerism and late capitalism; and (3) acid noir, for lack of a better term--basically the detective story taken out of or beyond the classic detective novel. I feel like there is a reasonable way to fold all three, or at least aspects of all three into one.

Thank you both for the responses. Every bit of information is helpful. I will do a proper Googling, but @erosanddust, if you happen to have any journal suggestions or good places to look for them I'd certainly be grateful.

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum, and I am hoping to gain from your collective knowledge and experience. I've been out of undergrad for quite a while (10+ years), and have a law degree (worked as an attorney for 5+ years), but I am considering going back to school for a PhD. Reading is my passion (sounds cheesy), and I often find myself annotating, dissecting, analyzing whatever work of fiction I happen to be engaged in. Since I have virtually no interest in practicing law--it's just a paycheck to me at this point--I thought perhaps it time to switch careers in hopes of spending my time doing something I might actually enjoy (life is too short to do something you hate). That explanation out of the way, I have a few specific-ish questions you knowledgable folk might be able to help me with: (1) As an undergrad, I was a history major and thus did not take many (or any) proper literature courses. Will this count against me in the application process given how long I've been out of undergrad? (2) I have nothing remotely resembling a writing sample. Does anyone have suggestions on where to begin developing one from scratch? More to the point, is there anyone here who has faced a similar situation (creating a writing sample without a smidgen of guidance from a Professor, knowledge of current trends in literary analysis, experience in literary analysis, a prompt, et cetera)? (3) My undergraduate grades were far from fantastic (better than a 3.0 but not by a large amount), though the institution I attended is well respected. My law school grades were not fantastic either, though the school is considered to be top five in the field. I only mention this las bit because it may be relevant in how an admissions office looks at my academic background. Between you (the board) and I, those rankings are absolutely meaningless in terms of indicating quality of education (or student for that matter). What sort of program might I have a chance of gaining entrance to? Is anything open at this point or would I be advised to look outside the "top" programs? Thanks in advance for the help.

Thanks for the reply, it definitely gives me plenty to consider. I've been out of school for quite a while, so the obvious does not seem quite so... obvious. Unfortunately, studying outside of the US isn't an option at the moment (family considerations).

Please forgive me if I've overlooked something in my search of the site, but I'm having some difficulty finding what I'm after. Is there any thread--here or elsewhere--that might give me an idea as to what schools have reputable* PhD programs in Modern Spanish History? Or is the best route to discovery scrolling through the university websites? I'm just beginning to seriously look into grad school and am at a bit of a loss as to where to start. Many thanks in advance. *vague term, I know.