Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

English Degree - liar or just 'clever'?

64 replies

Lavalump · 27/09/2019 08:14

I was talking to someone the other day and she said she knew a girl who had gotten her English Literature degree and yet claims she never read the books on the reading list.

Is this actually possible? Initially, I thought not but then maybe she read York Notes, watch films, read summaries and synopsis, old essays etc.

Or is she just lying?

OP posts:

Teddybear45 · 27/09/2019 11:24

Not doing a literature degree but I only refer to the ‘recommended texts’ in my course when the guidance associated with my assignment asks me too. I prefer doing my own independent research and reading journals / texts that I feel are relevant - I am, however, more experienced in the topic than my tutors. This was flagged to the uni and I will be working with them when they rewrite the course next year but many unis don’t take feedback as proactively.

fantasmasgoria1 · 27/09/2019 11:26

I would read just what I needed and was relevant. I found what I needed in a an article without reading the whole thing. I never read all of the books, articles and research papers. Even my dissertation tutor said its about scanning and selecting so long as you understand it. I did social work though not English.

PuffHuffle5 · 27/09/2019 11:31

I’ve got an Eng Lit degree, it’s not possible. Even I they did - why??? If you don’t like reading literary fiction, why choose that as a degree subject

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Books Higher education

WindFlower92 · 27/09/2019 11:32

Not lying, it's possible! I did my English degree because I wanted to be a teacher, but it did put me off as you only learn how to waffle! Got a first in my Russian Lit module having not read any books or gone to any lectures, and only using spark notes! I think the degree is a bit of a waste of time unless it's directly leading to a job though.

Dinosauratemydaffodils · 27/09/2019 11:51

I got an excellent mark on my essay on Middlemarch. I graduated 20 years ago and still haven't read the book.

I did however read most of the books on the reading list but I did focus wherever possible on poetry. I would think with tutorials, things like york notes and adaptions you could get quite far without reading all the texts.

tootiredforyourshit · 27/09/2019 12:03

Not lying - I did the same until 4th year . I did a specialised course at that stage in literature and medicine , and was also doing joint honours in linguistics by that stage ... but until that point I hardly read anything fully - I just wasn’t interested enough!

tootiredforyourshit · 27/09/2019 12:10

In answer to why did I do it? I quite honestly didn’t know what else to do , I’d started out doing primary teaching but I realised at first placement that I hated the way we were being taught and how schools were ran ...

So I ended up doing the English lit as I’d been good at that at school... then got forced to take a linguistics class ... actually enjoyed that but you couldn’t do pure linguistics , so did a joint English linguistics degree and never really worried much about the English classes - unless I was very interested in the books! I like literature with obvious feminist overtones, gothic novels, psychiatry (the madwoman in the attic...) and female sexuality .. did a fabulous class once on the yellow wallpaper and Plath, a few others (eg Janice Galloway) but I could take or leave the rest !!

I’m now training to be an SLT so it seems to have been worth it , eventually ...

Original poster

Lavalump · 27/09/2019 12:29

I think my main problem is I couldn't keep up a lie and say I had read the books when I know I haven't; I'd rather just read them!

OP posts:

AllTheGrrrrsAreTaken · 27/09/2019 12:29

Passed or done well? I have a designated Sociology degree because each course took me ~5-7h including course work and exam prep to pass with a 2.1 or 2.2. Never read any of the material for that because it wasn't what I was enrolled for and did not care. Choose the easiest essay topic and make an intelligent guess on the exam topic that will come up.

If you want a high 2.1 or first-class, it is way more effort - regardless of the course you enrolled in.

TeaAddict235 · 27/09/2019 12:45

Not lying, I used to have an acquaintance who watched films, read review books/ documents, basically do anything other than read the actual books. She too has a degree in English Lit and from a top uni as well. She was very vocal about it too

Trewser · 27/09/2019 12:49

I didn't read all the books for my a level eng lit (missed out persuasion) and got an A. Definitely didnt read all the books on my eng lit degree (cambridge)!

TeaAddict235 · 27/09/2019 12:49

@rivergreen we probably knew the same person. My girl had the gift of the gab and who start a debate about every bloody thing going. She loved the sound of her own voice.

Abraid2 · 27/09/2019 12:57

Its easy to read a good book, even if its a whopper, but harder to understand and get to grips with the sticky stuff of theory and deep analysis.

Not if it’s Sir Charles Grandison or The Faerie Queene.

TheyWentToSeaInASieve · 27/09/2019 12:58

When I worked in publishing, we used to get over 100 application for each editorial assistant vacancy. They all had English degrees. The vast majority were ineloquent and incoherent, generally uninspiring but all loved books so much! So I can quite believe they sailed through their degrees without doing much work.

Rivergreen · 27/09/2019 13:05

@tea seems there's more than one! This was a guy, lovely but very lazy. Now working for a charity so I hope he's found some self discipline!

Shakennotshook · 27/09/2019 13:09

Its possible, its mainly about the arguement anyway so you're cherry picking quotes etc.

TitchyP · 27/09/2019 13:15

I did an English degree (in pre-internet days) and definitely didn't read everything on the list. Certainly not The Faerie Queen or Paradise Lost.
I read the ones I needed for exams though.

BarbedBloom · 27/09/2019 13:21

I have a first class English Lit degree and there were a few books I just couldn't get through. I just read the critical theory around the book and was fine.

I loved Middlemarch but hated Ulysses

TeaAddict235 · 27/09/2019 17:15

Ha! Yes @Rivergreen , seems like there's ten a penny but this thread highlights the dubiousness behind wanting to "read" English lit or any other lit based degree; that there are some literally just for the ride through uni. It makes you question the usefulness of a degree.

BalloonSlayer · 27/09/2019 20:45

I have a first in English literature and language. I now teach it in a college and one of the best things I teach my students is the art of skim reading. I can read a novel in a day.

I can read a novel in a day and it ain't skim reading!

Wistful for the times when I could spend a whole day reading!

CatkinToadflax · 27/09/2019 20:50

I have an English lit degree and didn’t read most of the books. My library of York Notes was somewhat extensive! I would have done a fair bit better if I had the read the books, but had severe depression at the time and it felt like everything was imploding on me. I’m grateful to have passed with a reasonably good degree in spite of bluffing my way through many of my essays and a fair few exams as well.

Walnutwhipster · 27/09/2019 20:52

I have a degree in English literature and I know there were students who never completed a book. I never read any I wasn't going to write an essay or answer an exam question on. If I had to give a presentation on a text I'd always use the research as part of an exam question. We usually had three books a week to read, research, essays, many of us worked and I was married with a son. There wasn't enough hours in a week.

Expressedways · 27/09/2019 20:56

I have an English degree and read most but certainly not all of the books. Gave up about a third of the way through Middlemarch but did genuinely enjoy a lot of the Shakespeare!

2girlsandagap · 27/09/2019 21:21

Lit graduate here. Got a first. Only read a few from the entire list although I did read the corresponding academic articles about the texts.

GeePipe · 27/09/2019 21:36

Not lying. I read next to none of the listed books on my english lit degree. I just read spark notes before an exam.

Flip

1 2 3