grad school prep reading list

[automatic]

Also going to be brushing up with my Norton Lit Theory book, and reading Felski! I'm also planning on reading Mark McGurl's The Program Era, everything by Marta Figlerowicz, and a bunch on this list. Also Leigh Gilmore -- The Limits of Autobiography and Tainted Witness. Oh, and I'd like to revisit my affect theory reader.

To @la_mod, what would you name as the canonical modernist texts?

And oh my gosh I don't know how I won't be that person in the first grad class talking about something that's overplayed or whatever! My undergrad program had a pretty formalist, lacking-in-theory bent, and I've been out of school for three years. How at all does one get up to speed (I'm seeing these readings we're talking about here as important, but not necessarily a surefire way to be versed in contemporary dialogue)?

[CulturalCriminal]

1 hour ago, automatic said:

Also going to be brushing up with my Norton Lit Theory book, and reading Felski! I'm also planning on reading Mark McGurl's The Program Era, everything by Marta Figlerowicz, and a bunch on this list. Also Leigh Gilmore -- The Limits of Autobiography and Tainted Witness. Oh, and I'd like to revisit my affect theory reader.

To @la_mod, what would you name as the canonical modernist texts?

And oh my gosh I don't know how I won't be that person in the first grad class talking about something that's overplayed or whatever! My undergrad program had a pretty formalist, lacking-in-theory bent, and I've been out of school for three years. How at all does one get up to speed (I'm seeing these readings we're talking about here as important, but not necessarily a surefire way to be versed in contemporary dialogue)?

Read up on whatever is being published at the big journals relevant to you. If it’s still being used as a lens, you’re probably good. 

[Hermenewtics]

1 hour ago, automatic said:

Also going to be brushing up with my Norton Lit Theory book, and reading Felski! I'm also planning on reading Mark McGurl's The Program Era, everything by Marta Figlerowicz, and a bunch on this list. Also Leigh Gilmore -- The Limits of Autobiography and Tainted Witness. Oh, and I'd like to revisit my affect theory reader.

To @la_mod, what would you name as the canonical modernist texts?

And oh my gosh I don't know how I won't be that person in the first grad class talking about something that's overplayed or whatever! My undergrad program had a pretty formalist, lacking-in-theory bent, and I've been out of school for three years. How at all does one get up to speed (I'm seeing these readings we're talking about here as important, but not necessarily a surefire way to be versed in contemporary dialogue)?

As far as important modernist texts, I had a terrific class that basically covered crucial texts in Modernist criticism through the present day, and even though that class was a few years ago, I still think Kenner's The Pound Era and Perloff's The Poetics of Indeterminacy are very important books (in different ways) for understanding Modernism as it's currently understood/discussed.

As far as new stuff goes, James Latham's Modernism: The Evolution of an Idea is an amazing survey of prevailing themes and trends in Modernist criticism from the beginning of the century to roughly 2015. If you want a book that basically catches you up on everything that's happened up to now then I'd just read Latham. 

[bumbleblu]

A request for rhet/comp texts: 

I'm not really familiar with the field, but my research is definitely going in that direction (specifically: queer rhetoric, autonarratives, and the connections of language and identity). So, can you recommend a/some good introductory text(s)? Or journal titles? Not necessarily related to my specific interests -- I do have some articles recommended by a POI, but I feel like I should also start with the basics. Imposter syndrome has already set in, but it might help if I didn't show up totally unprepared in the fall...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[LibraryLivingJT]

Also, I'm a bit nervous about being back in the classroom as a student - I've been teaching the past two years, so it will be a big change of pace. I'm excited also.

Anyways, this summer I also want to try to read some fiction:

The Surrendered - Chang-rae Lee

Portnoy's Complaint - Philip Roth

And some others I can't think of right now

 

[Isocrates2.o]

5 hours ago, bumbleblu said:

A request for rhet/comp texts: 

I'm not really familiar with the field, but my research is definitely going in that direction (specifically: queer rhetoric, autonarratives, and the connections of language and identity). So, can you recommend a/some good introductory text(s)? Or journal titles? Not necessarily related to my specific interests -- I do have some articles recommended by a POI, but I feel like I should also start with the basics. Imposter syndrome has already set in, but it might help if I didn't show up totally unprepared in the fall...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

So, last year I was rejected from every PhD program that I applied to. My thesis advisor presented me with two options: give up on academia, or commit to some serious reading over the course of the year. What he told me to do was simple: read the past five years of the major rhetoric and composition journals. 

Obviously, you don't have that much time. My recommendation is to read as much of CCC (College Composition and Communication) and College English as you can. These journals are the most prestigious in the field, though they're not specified to a particular sub-discipline within rhet/comp. Once you understand the general outline of the discipline, ie. the major debates scholars are still arguing about, you can specify the journals you're reading into those tackling only your specialty, such as those dedicated to queer rhetorics, etc. 

If you can show up on day 1 and make references to the major theorists in the field (Burke, Elbow, Flower....), imposter syndrome won't be quite so resolute. 

[Isocrates2.o]

23 hours ago, punctilious said:

I think my husband has a few things he wants to read:

• We Have Never Been Modern by Bruno Latour
• Getting back up to speed on Russian, using The New Penguin Russian Course and the Russian texts we own (novels, short stories, a book on Putin, etc.)
• I saw suggestions for a couple theory overview texts that he may pick up: The Routledge Companion to Critical Theory and Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction
• Perhaps not this summer, but he'll probably pick up French for Reading (as previously recommended by @a_sort_of_fractious_angel, I believe) to work on his second language requirement
• I think Harvard sends out its reading list for the General Exam sometime over the summer, so he'll probably get started on that, too!

Excited to hear what other people are thinking!

I really like the inclusion of Latour on this list, as he's as "hot" a philospher in academia as anyone out there. I'd replace We Have Never Been Modern with Reassembling the Social instead, though, as the latter includes an actual overview of Latour's Actor Network Theory which is only hinted at or outlined broadly in WHNBM. 

[punctilious]

21 minutes ago, Isocrates2.o said:

I really like the inclusion of Latour on this list, as he's as "hot" a philospher in academia as anyone out there. I'd replace We Have Never Been Modern with Reassembling the Social instead, though, as the latter includes an actual overview of Latour's Actor Network Theory which is only hinted at or outlined broadly in WHNBM. 

We'll add that to the list! He already owns We Have Never Been Modern and has been reading it (he was quoting it to me last night as I stared at him--I have zero clue what any of it means). Good to know that he's a "hot" philosopher -- maybe that helped him this cycle since he referenced "The Berlin Key" in his SOP?

[la_mod]

15 hours ago, automatic said:

To @la_mod, what would you name as the canonical modernist texts?

I'm mainly gonna read Woolf because that's who I want to work on, and then Ulysses. I'll get around to finishing some stuff by Forster, Waugh, and Lewis that I've been slow to read. 

[automatic]

15 hours ago, bumbleblu said:

A request for rhet/comp texts: 

I'm not really familiar with the field, but my research is definitely going in that direction (specifically: queer rhetoric, autonarratives, and the connections of language and identity). So, can you recommend a/some good introductory text(s)? Or journal titles? Not necessarily related to my specific interests -- I do have some articles recommended by a POI, but I feel like I should also start with the basics. Imposter syndrome has already set in, but it might help if I didn't show up totally unprepared in the fall...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

Could you share with articles your POI suggested? I'm interested in a lot of what you mention (autonarratives, connection of language/identity). Thank you!

[bumbleblu]

Hey @automatic, I will send you a PM once I get back to my computer!

Edited February 28, 2018 by bumbleblu

[Melvillage_Idiot]

Big, public shout-outs to @CulturalCriminal, @a_sort_of_fractious_angel, and @Jožin z bažin for giving me several reading lists/theory ideas back when I accidentally hijacked the "What makes research compelling?" thread with my theory fears =P I'll likely try to start hitting theory on spring break (or at least tracking the books down). (Also, sorry to you guys for ghosting those PM threads; things got hectic IRL).

I've also got a huge stack of histories of Appalachia to work through right now, in preparation for early discussion of possible dissertation projects. I have my first school visit next week, and I'm ready to chat semi-intelligently with people who know way more than me.

[automatic]

2 hours ago, Melvillage_Idiot said:

Big, public shout-outs to @CulturalCriminal, @a_sort_of_fractious_angel, and @Jožin z bažin for giving me several reading lists/theory ideas back when I accidentally hijacked the "What makes research compelling?" thread with my theory fears =P I'll likely try to start hitting theory on spring break (or at least tracking the books down). (Also, sorry to you guys for ghosting those PM threads; things got hectic IRL).

I've also got a huge stack of histories of Appalachia to work through right now, in preparation for early discussion of possible dissertation projects. I have my first school visit next week, and I'm ready to chat semi-intelligently with people who know way more than me.

Oooh would you mind forwarding those to me?  

[Cassifrassidy]

Definitely going to FINALLY get to North and South and Wives and Daughters by Gaskell, also planning on reading the entirety of The Madwoman in the Attic (a bit old, but definitely a staple). Also am planning on reading Anne Bronte because I have (somehow!) never read her. Will also be brushing up on my literary theory as my undergrad program doesn't do a theory component, which made the subject test extra painful. Any suggestions for books on theory would be great! I already have the Eagleton book, but anything for someone who basically has no formal background on it and is about to enter an MA program would be incredibly helpful.