Lit majors: Can you send me a reading list of commonly read books in grad school?

[BookWorm90]

I'm currently an undergrad at Northwestern. I'll be getting my BA in Lit Studies next month. WOOT WOOT!

 

I'm starting my PhD in September, a PhD in American Lit Studies. I want to spend my summertime preparing for graduate school. Is there a list of comparative literary readings that I should become well-acquainted with? Or what are your recommendations?

 

Thanks!

[BookWorm90]

I'm currently an undergrad at Northwestern. I'll be getting my BA in Lit Studies next month. WOOT WOOT!

 

I'm starting my PhD in September, a PhD in American Lit Studies. I want to spend my summertime preparing for graduate school. Is there a list of comparative literary readings that I should become well-acquainted with? Or what are your recommendations?

 

Thanks!

 

Sorry, I meant MA, not BA. I was lucky to have gotten my MA at the same school where I got my BA. Maybe that's why I didn't get into their PhD program?

[poliscar]

Not to sound rude, but if you're going into a doctoral program you should probably have a good idea already of what you want to/need to read. I'm sure you applied with a series of interests that is more specific than American lit; try following them for reading specific to your research interests. 

You could also check different departments for General and Qualifying exam lists. I know that Northwestern, Columbia, and Stanford post them online. Additionally, some are available through the Berkeley English graduate site. 

That being said, I do think that if you don't have any idea as to what you might need or want to read come September, you're going to have trouble. Graduate sites post all sorts of course syllabi and reading lists—they fact that you haven't found them yet suggests that you didn't research programs properly. 

[lhommependu]

harry poter

[danieleWrites]

Books on composition pedagogy.

[Roquentin]

I'm currently an undergrad at Northwestern. I'll be getting my BA in Lit Studies next month. WOOT WOOT!

 

I'm starting my PhD in September, a PhD in American Lit Studies. I want to spend my summertime preparing for graduate school. Is there a list of comparative literary readings that I should become well-acquainted with? Or what are your recommendations?

 

Thanks!

 

Your BA should be preparation enough (I think that MAs are invaluable in this respect too, but whatever). I recommend that you use the time to read for pleasure, because it can be hard to find time to do that when things get going. Oh, for a spare night or two to read some Kafka...

[ProfLorax]

If you're switching from one concentration to another, then I get your anxieties. My BA and my MA were in literature, but my PhD program is in rhetoric and composition; thus, I asked my POI and now advisor for a "rhet/comp starter kit." She sent me a variety of pdf's and a textbook recommendation to ground me in the language before I started my coursework. It was really helpful!

 

Once I finished with that packet (it wasn't all that much to read), I just read for fun. And I'm so glad I did, because it is near impossible to do while in coursework. Find whatever novels, comic books, short story collections you've wanted to read for a while (for me, it's usually YA fiction) and dive in. While I'm sure lhommependu is joking, I do know several grad students who take long breaks as an opportunity to re-read the Harry Potter series. Because it's awesome. 

[Alex Stinson]

I would ditto all of the other discussions above: summers are for reading and rereading stuff you enjoy. Maybe focus on texts that you will think can contribute to your research focus but won't get during the year (I enjoy reading ecocriticism and YA lit for example, both are of interest in my Food studies approach, but aren't a ready part of my current masters program of study). Don't worry about being as well read as everyone else: everyone has huge gaps with the size of the canon. Don't sacrifice the time where you aren't under obligation to doing things just because you think everyone else is doing it. The expansion of other bodies of knowledge within the field, like cultural studies and digital humanities, means that almost everyone can't speak to the whole field: instead, its important to have your focus criticism and literature firmly established in your mind, so that you can pull out what you want to practice during the semesters when you don't have enough time to do extra reading. One approach is to ask your POI or mentor from your current program for some "must read" texts in your subfield, if you find you aren't going to take classes around the field in the Fall (I read alot of ecocriticism and digital humanities because my program doesn't support it well), but otherwise do other branches you won't be taking coursework in. 

 

Once I finished with that packet (it wasn't all that much to read), I just read for fun. And I'm so glad I did, because it is near impossible to do while in coursework. Find whatever novels, comic books, short story collections you've wanted to read for a while (for me, it's usually YA fiction) and dive in. While I'm sure lhommependu is joking, I do know several grad students who take long breaks as an opportunity to re-read the Harry Potter series. Because it's awesome. 

 

Why leave it for the summer, when you can take classes during the year in the Harry Potter series? I must be in an unusual graduate program: we have three profs who have written on the Harry Potter series, and regularly teach classes about it

[BookWorm90]

Thank you, everyone. I do love Harry Potter. You guys have been real helpful. I don't know why, but some other users on here are d*cks.