I need help deciding where to apply!! (aesthetics, modernism)

[LivePoetry123]

Hello everyone, I'm new on this forum.

I'm applying for fall 2012 entrance to English Phd programs. I have spent a lot of time in the past few months trying to narrow down my area of interest. My interest, broadly, is in modernism and aesthetics. Not really "modernist aesthetics" but more like how modernist literature itself theorizes "the aesthetic experience" and how that artistic theorization intervenes in or compares to aesthetic theories-- philosophical aesthetics as well as how aesthetics is configured in contemporary critical theory. I have the thought to focus this very general area of inquiry by talking about music metaphors in modernist literature. To clarify, I'm NOT thinking of doing an interdisciplinary project on music and literature. Rather, this would be a solely literary project which looks at how and to what purpose music metaphors are used in modernist literature. I have a tentative hypothesis that talking about music allowed the modernists to say things about their own art, about language, about aesthetics, that they could not express in any other way, or that were becoming unfashionable during the time that they were writing.

I'm also thinking that this project could be expanded out into a discussion of ALL the ways that the modernists talked about their own art in terms of other arts, sort of "translated" their own work into others, including painting, theatre, and music. Or even "translation" in general, including that between languages, but that would be a very abbreviated side note of "possible directions I could take this" because, aside from being really interested in theories of translation, I don't have any significant foreign language skills at this point.

I need to be somewhere that will allow and even encourage me to write about aesthetics. My feeling is that "aesthetics" is quickly gaining a nasty reputation for elitism (I'm not an elitist, I promise!) and becoming unfashionable in the academy, and that a lot of schools would try to push me in the direction of cultural studies and historicism, which seem to be the new trends. I definitely want to link my project to political and cultural issues, but not in such a concrete way that I am actually looking at "cultural artifacts" or anything like that. Another thing that's important to me is to find a department that has a strong graduate student creative-writing community or, better yet, some overlap and communication between the Literature and Creative Writing departments, since I write a lot of poetry and would actually rather be a poet than a professor. For this reason, my top choice right now is SUNY- Buffalo-- their poetics program sounds a great place for me, and it sounds like they are among the most flexible and "open" programs. Are there any other schools with a similar deal?? I was actually rejected from Buffalo a few years ago and while I think my application package is stronger this time... I definitely need some other options. I'm kind of an anti-establishment-hippy-artist, and while I'm not set in my ways or anything, I don't want to at a school that is very dogmatic and is going to make me conform to the current academic trends.

I could really, really use some advice on where to apply, or even how to SEARCH for places to apply. I know, it is quite late in the process to be asking this. My advisor from my MA gave me this list of schools that are strong in modernism: Johns Hopkins, U. of Virginia, U. of Washington, U. Penn. And I'm definitely applying to SUNY-Buffalo. But I think modernism is not my primary concern, my primary thing seems to be this philosophical-approach, aesthetics thing which I like to approach through modernism.

Thanks in advance for any help!! sorry this is so long...

[MichaelK]

I'm afraid I can't speak to the question of aesthetics, but I can offer you my list of schools (chosen by myself and my advisor for their strong modernism programs and an openness to inquiries involving philosophy and literature). My list follows:

1. UCLA

2. Duke (tons of modernists)

3. Johns Hopkins (you've mentioned)

4. Maryland (Richard Cross)

5. Virginia (already on your list)

6. Penn (on your list)

7. Rutgers (check out Prof. Walkowitz, sp)

8. Brown (Paul Armstrong)

9. WUSTL (Vincent Sherry, Julia Walker, Steven Meyer, William Maxwell)

10. UNC

11. Stanford

[Phil Sparrow]

This doesn't actually answer your question about programs, but I will briefly note that after some time being out of vogue, "aesthetics" as a mode or avenue of inquiry is lately becoming fairly fashionable again, especially in the intersection of aesthetics and affect studies or theory.

[TeamCoco-Bollo]

Hello everyone, I'm new on this forum.

I'm applying for fall 2012 entrance to English Phd programs. I have spent a lot of time in the past few months trying to narrow down my area of interest. My interest, broadly, is in modernism and aesthetics. Not really "modernist aesthetics" but more like how modernist literature itself theorizes "the aesthetic experience" and how that artistic theorization intervenes in or compares to aesthetic theories-- philosophical aesthetics as well as how aesthetics is configured in contemporary critical theory. I have the thought to focus this very general area of inquiry by talking about music metaphors in modernist literature. To clarify, I'm NOT thinking of doing an interdisciplinary project on music and literature. Rather, this would be a solely literary project which looks at how and to what purpose music metaphors are used in modernist literature. I have a tentative hypothesis that talking about music allowed the modernists to say things about their own art, about language, about aesthetics, that they could not express in any other way, or that were becoming unfashionable during the time that they were writing.

I'm also thinking that this project could be expanded out into a discussion of ALL the ways that the modernists talked about their own art in terms of other arts, sort of "translated" their own work into others, including painting, theatre, and music. Or even "translation" in general, including that between languages, but that would be a very abbreviated side note of "possible directions I could take this" because, aside from being really interested in theories of translation, I don't have any significant foreign language skills at this point.

I need to be somewhere that will allow and even encourage me to write about aesthetics. My feeling is that "aesthetics" is quickly gaining a nasty reputation for elitism (I'm not an elitist, I promise!) and becoming unfashionable in the academy, and that a lot of schools would try to push me in the direction of cultural studies and historicism, which seem to be the new trends. I definitely want to link my project to political and cultural issues, but not in such a concrete way that I am actually looking at "cultural artifacts" or anything like that. Another thing that's important to me is to find a department that has a strong graduate student creative-writing community or, better yet, some overlap and communication between the Literature and Creative Writing departments, since I write a lot of poetry and would actually rather be a poet than a professor. For this reason, my top choice right now is SUNY- Buffalo-- their poetics program sounds a great place for me, and it sounds like they are among the most flexible and "open" programs. Are there any other schools with a similar deal?? I was actually rejected from Buffalo a few years ago and while I think my application package is stronger this time... I definitely need some other options. I'm kind of an anti-establishment-hippy-artist, and while I'm not set in my ways or anything, I don't want to at a school that is very dogmatic and is going to make me conform to the current academic trends.

I could really, really use some advice on where to apply, or even how to SEARCH for places to apply. I know, it is quite late in the process to be asking this. My advisor from my MA gave me this list of schools that are strong in modernism: Johns Hopkins, U. of Virginia, U. of Washington, U. Penn. And I'm definitely applying to SUNY-Buffalo. But I think modernism is not my primary concern, my primary thing seems to be this philosophical-approach, aesthetics thing which I like to approach through modernism.

Thanks in advance for any help!! sorry this is so long...

That's exactly what an elitist would say . . . I'm not convinced.

Edited November 11, 2011 by TeamCoco-Bollo

[runonsentence]

Another thing that's important to me is to find a department that has a strong graduate student creative-writing community or, better yet, some overlap and communication between the Literature and Creative Writing departments, since I write a lot of poetry and would actually rather be a poet than a professor.

You should probably look into English programs that offer PhDs in creative writing (which is a fairly narrowed-down bunch). I know Poets & Writers has lists/rankings; you might be able to find more lists elsewhere, as well.

[ecritdansleau]

Cornell might be one place to look at; I think they do offer a joint program in creative writing and the literature phd.

[Captain Enjambment]

Hey there LivePoetry123,

I'm currently an MFA student in poetry and I feel compelled to tell you that if you are serious about pursuing creative writing in a graduate context, an MFA is really a better option. I am now applying to PhD programs in Lit and Creative Writing, and am doing so knowing full well that while my dissertation will be a creative manuscript, the bulk of my course load will be identical to that of a normal PhD in literature (the language requirements, in particular, are causing me pre-admit pre-grief.) SUNY Buffalo's program is definitely one of the better ones to look into if you haven't done an MFA, due to their academic focus on poetics, but even then, if writing is something you really want to pursue, I'd suggest looking into an MFA down the line. Many schools on MichaelK's list have MFA programs, but not as many of them offer workshops to non-MFA students, which is another consideration (Ohio State, where I am, does, as does UCLA, where I went to undergrad.) I can also tell you Emory is another school that seems to possess a good creative writing climate. I know this because one of my friends is there doing a PhD, though he's taking a leave of absence in order to do an MFA (since he's discovered writing is, in many ways, his true passion.) You can check out this blog: http://creative-writ...2.blogspot.com/ for more information on creative writing PhD programs, if you're interested. Hope this helps!

Edited November 11, 2011 by insertbrackets

[LivePoetry123]

Thanks so much for the input, everyone-- I really appreciate it! MichealK, your list was especially helpful, as "inquiries involving philosophy and literature" is definitely how I would define my interests in a lot of ways. Also, Phil Sparrow, it was quite a relief to hear that aesthetics is not completely out of fashion. As I do more research on schools I am seeing "aesthetics" pop up fairly often on the lists of faculty interests, so I'm feeling better about all that.

Cornell's combined program also looks great but I still feel like at this point I am not ready (if I ever will be) to formally study creative writing-- its just an atmosphere that I want around me and I want the chance to participate in informal poetry critique groups with other grad students. I feel like I need much more time to absorb other writing before I know what I am doing at all with my own writing, and my whole thing is that I don't think that academics and creativity should be so starkly seperated as they generally are-- and this is why SUNY Buffalo interests me so very much, and why I can't really see doing an MFA right now. Insertbrackets, do you mind elaborating on why you think doing an MFA would be better? thanks again everyone.

[Vertigo23]

Speaking from my experience, Utah (where I am) has a good creative writing PhD program (especially if you're into avant garde poetry) and an under-rated but strong lit faculty. Utah also offers some competitive recruitment fellowships. Houston (where my girlfriend is) offers the best creative writing PhD (in my opinion), especially if you have a more traditional aesthetic, but their lit side isn't the strongest--and they're pretty cheap.