snap!

[adelaidesean]

Of his experience studying English at university level, Garry Disher says (in the latest issue of Lumen, the University of Adelaide Alumni Magazine):

"I hated it. Back then I was already keen on becoming a writer, and it seemed to me that English was going to ruin my love of reading and books. I found the analysis of the novels we were reading too academic, too difficult, and in some respects wrong-headed. But I was just a kid, what did I know? I wasn't ready for that way of looking at literature."

I had the same experience at high school. It feels very weird to be a PhD candidate now.

(Received my first knock-back for a conference paper the other day. It didn't occur to me that by entering this world I'd be opening myself to rejections from a whole new sector!)

----------------
Listening to: Harold Budd & Robin Guthrie - How Close Your Soul

Comments

[derekcfpegritz.livejournal.com]

I have an MA in English and have, over the years, considered getting a PhD. My final conclusion: No way in hell.

Not only is academia a dumping ground for every sickening minority stereotype known to man, the hireability of anyone with ANY degree in English is precisely one ten-thousandth of a point above zero.

If I had my life to live over, the one thing I would do different is MAJOR IN SOMETHING ELSE. Anything. Psychology. Geology. Information Technology. Basketweaving. Anything would be better.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

a dumping ground for every sickening minority stereotype known to man

It does seem like that sometimes. :-) But you could say much the same about every subculture. Writes, science fiction fans, even Numanoids. (Gasp!) Into every ivory tower, a little weirdness must creep.

It's never too late to go back to uni, I reckon. I plan to do a maths degree one day, or more music theory.

[derekcfpegritz.livejournal.com]

Wow--that's odd: I was just at West Virginia University yesterday looking into a graduate program in math or music education! Every highschool within a hundred-mile radius of me is looking for a music teacher, and I do have a (http://www.myspace.com/derekcfpegritz) modicum of musical (http://www.myspace.com/retard2) experience (http://www.myspace.com/adoctrineofworks) to start with. Since I already have a BA and an MA, I would only need to take the core concentration classes and it would only take me at most two years to get it together. It's always good being multifaceted. And just as you said, it's never too late to take another swing through school. I once taught a lady who was going back to school to work on a nursing degree at the age of 58.

My problem with the ivory tower of academia is that it's not just riddled with a little weirdness (if it weren't, I wouldn't have any future there myself!), it's completely overwhelmed by militant idiots who have made liberal arts their personal platform for "social revenge."

I once investigated an English grad program at Carnegie Mellon University, one of the most prestigious universities in the States, and before the program director asked me ANYthing else, he asked, "Are you a Marxist?"

"Are you kidding me?" I laughed. "Who the hell reads Marx these days aside from sociologists interested in the history of their field's ideas or political science majors?"

He then asked, "How about feminist criticism?"

"I could not possibly care less about feminist criticism." (Mind you, I don't find anything objectionable about feminist or, for that matter, Marxist criticism--I just have no interest in it at all.)

"Well, what about queer theory?"

"No interest whatsoever."

"Well," he asked, "what stand do you take on literature?"

"I don't take any stand. Words are just words. I usually do psychological or cultural criticism to see how works reflect either the psychological or cultural milieu of their times, but that's it. I don't have an axe to grind with 'the patriarchy' or 'the bourgeoise.'"

"Well, you have no future here," he snorted. "If you aren't going to help us expand our social-revolutionary goals, then you have no place here."

"See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya," I answered.

The liberal arts departments of almost every university in this bloody country have been completely overtaken by "social revolutionaries" who have no real interest in literature--they just use it as a tool to advance their ludicrous political ideals. There simply isn't room anymore for a fella who is neither a Marxist, a feminist, or a homosexual, but just an average bloke looking to write about how H. P. Lovecraft's alien civilizations were inspired by the social and political turmoil of the U.S. during the Great Depression.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

Lawd. I can safely say that I've seen little evidence of this kind of behaviour at the U of A, so maybe you should come down here and teach. :-)

[derekcfpegritz.livejournal.com]

That's good to hear! Perhaps your subcontinent has actually ducked that particular bullet.

I'd gladly move to Australia if it weren't for the fact that every living thing on the damn subcontinent is poisonous in some way or another. Plus, I'd never get to see Devo again if I lived there.

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Just got my tickets for the August 5 show. Woohoo!

Hopefully they survive the tour.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

Whoops. Wrong account and wrong userpic!

[derekcfpegritz.livejournal.com]

Oh, SNAP! I forgot that Devo is coming to Australia!

OK, that cinches it. I'm going to seriously consider changing hemispheres. Plus, being closer to Japan and China means a better chance of riding the first wave of the Singularity!