NowMoreSerious

Thank you, that is really good to know, and a shame, because they seemed like a great fit. Yes, I'm finishing up a Master's. Any knowledge about Amherst or Boston College? I'll check for fits but I'm wondering if they have that same tendency. I'm a 19th Century Americanist, bleeding more towards the 20th than the early American.

I think more than anything the benefit of Fry's video series is that he historicizes and contextualizes everything relationally. Yes, it is a bit linear obviously, since they are 1 hour-ish courses and in a certain order, but he always connects the ideas of critics and theorists to each other. I thought his treatment of Jameson was ok. I'm not trying to be a hipstery idiot by saying that either. Obviously Fry's a brilliant scholar, but as a huge fan of The Political Unconscious I felt his treatment lacked a bit, though I am 100% sure I would have done far, far worse trying to contract that entire book into one lecture.

I tried to spread myself out around the tiers, looking for good fits. Here's my working list: Temple University UPenn Boston University University of Southern California UC Davis Duke CUNY Graduate Center NYU University of Virginia Princeton Tufts Rutgers Maryland, College Park Fordham I've divided these into four tiers: Tier 1: If I even dream I'm getting into these schools I better wake up and apologize to myself UPenn Princeton Tier 2: No chance in Hell Duke NYU University of Virginia Rutgers Tier 3: Snowball's Chance In Hell Maryland, college Park Boston University CUNY Graduate Center University of Southern California UC Davis Tier 4: Highly, highly unlikely Fordham Temple -- Keep in mind, I'm not just basing these tiers on overall rankings but also fit for me and how attractive I may be to a program for various reasons, especially because I've been working out.

I only read literature to help me clarify theory. Ok not really but sort of. Theory is beautiful and poetic to me. I remember reading Althusser's essay on Marxism and Humanism and not understanding a word of it but loving every minute. Then later something clicks and it makes sense and it's like the end of the usual suspects and you drop your coffee mug and it cracks slowly on the ground. Then, after countless weekends of drinking, you forget it again. Right? Am I right people? Eh?

I haven't read that many articles by prospective faculty advisors. I think it's pretty important reading recent articles just for the fact that it will acquaint you with the field. I don't know how much it will help you directly since you can't cram too much about that into such a short SoP. I think the writing sample is much more important. I only know this stuff because my partner went through the Phd process last year and got into many good places.

Can we at least wait another week or two before we start freaking out? My summer just started. Ok fine I've been freaking out for months. I still have to take both GRE's, argh. Yeargh.

Yes, which makes me admire those who have "ridden the wave" and ignored it for the past 40+ years. They won. They eventually won. Now there are new better things for them to ignore.

Hello. Fellow 2013 here. Can you tell us anything about the test? Maybe some tips or something that surprised you? Was it heavy on British? American? etc.

Hello I will also be applying for 2013, and this will be my first time. I am currently a TA at a state university, completing an MA in English. My areas of research: late 19th/early 20th century American Literature, Utopian Studies, and the Digital Humanities. It should be a crazy year ahead. If we're lucky.

I agree. Or even better, funnel them into political positions that seem radical but actually reinforce hegemony. In that case they don't have to stay quiet. They can say all they want. They might even be the most "radical" prof on campus.

Not to jump in here, because I know you were being a bit satirical, but I don't know any professors who express that sentiment. Most professors I know are pretty stressed out and feel all kinds of departmental and institutional pressures to publish, teach, and serve on committees.

I thought Foucault must be a Chinese Philosopher first time I heard somebody pronounce it here in the US. I also teach Freshman composition. I could be here all night talking about hilarious confusions and misspellings.

Rough about the 0/8. You and I will both be applying this coming fall for 2013 then. Here's to good luck for both of us!

I'm also into 19th century American, and I will bet you anything he means that 19c has less competition, numbers-wise. The competition is pretty fierce though.

Obviously, an MA is a better life than working at McDonalds for most people. But who is to say that an MA might not, in this economic climate, lead directly to a job at McDonalds. I think that was my point. And by that I mean it has nothing to do with my earlier claim and is a complete non-sequitur. Seriously though, I just thought you were characterizing fast-food workers as these raving anti-intellectuals who would just as soon beat a person for knowing French than even consider that education might have value. I should have considered that you might be Canadian and living in a place where you are beaten for knowing French as some sort of class/cultural oppression, though. If I misunderstood that, I deeply apologize.

I agree what starlajane said is potentially problematic because of its class/cultural elitist undertones, but....(about the bolded) Whaaa?

“The original is unfaithful to the translation.” ― Jorge Luis Borges "Work is the curse of the drinking classes" ---Oscar Wilde

I feel the same way, Espressos. I'll also be applying this fall and I'm already nervous.

How do we know? When they are either blasting us with rubber bullets or offering us lots of money or secure positions? Or maybe their compromise: blasting us with bean bags full of lots of money?

This is good stuff. Reminds me of what Zizek says about the tendency towards expertise and solutions in academia. Zizek states that our job should mostly be to consider whether we are asking the right questions or problematizing the right things in the first place. Also, am I old-fashioned and naive to believe that we can also actually offer some kind of counter-veiling force, rather than just being satisfied with not overtly adding to the mechanisms of oppression?

Whew what a Friday night this is shaping up to be for me. Writing an abstract while watching a literary discussion/debate develop on here. I know I'm in bad shape when I'm reading this thread for my entertainment time between writing.

I know I'm new here but I'd like to mostly endorse this. This is not the time and place, but I'm curious about your idea of specialized canons. Shouldn't we bust the idea of the canon entirely?

I read the first 30 pages Oscar Wao and it was amazing. I find I'm always partial to a writer's short story collection, such as with Lahiri and Alexie, for example. oh and, in before somebody says The Bible