When I tell people I have a Masters of Arts (MA) in English, the first response is usually one of feigned interest sprinkled with pity. I am quite aware that a stressed economy does not hold the arts as a main priority, but I manage. What people do not realize is that a MA in English is really an MA in everything: Anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, history, women and gender studies (including masculinity studies), and any subject humanities related. I could also include in that list some more science related fields like archaeology, cartography, statistics, and astronomy.
I think we would all agree that a book is full of possibilities. After we trek along the first few lines of the first chapter, we are embarking on a path lit only a few feet at a time. As we step, perhaps we see more of the ground we hadn't before, or we can perhaps see that the ground is changing like gravel to pavement. For students of English, a book contains every element of the world. Air, fire, water, earth, yes, but also ideologies and conjectures. A book encapsulates the world in which it was written, and English folk are those who take the cap off. It is, indeed, a very daunting task which is why we feel it necessary to have a certain amount of specific knowledge. How can we talk about the cognition of a character without psychology? In that case, how can one propose textual hints of a character's illness without research in the medical field?
I have generally spoken for English folk as a whole, but there are some who may disagree with me or see their role completely different. However, in my experience with the people who I consider colleagues and friends, this is the broad idea. Many of us end up teaching, because jobs that are specifically designed to just let us foster theory of theory's theories are few and far between. Those of us who do manage to find them are often greeted with a hoary head.
It took me a while to realize the adaptability of students of Humanities, initially. While I knew that English studies could make a person an eloquent reader or writer, the point was lost on me at first, I suppose because of the lackluster way it's taught in High School.
ReplyDelete"Read Beowulf! It's important! What, are you analyzing it? Stop that! Read The Canterbury Tales instead!"
In my research for my novel (my first significantly large writing project), i've discovered how intensive the research is. I've had to consult psychological journals, interview people with jobs even remotely similar to a character's job, study the history of the region i'm basing it out of, and even pouring over and writing my own maps so that I can keep all the details in check. I suppose it's superfluous, as I don't usually check for those details in my reading, but I feel that it has to be done to accurately portray what I need to portray.
An English student is, the way I see it, a student of people, not one of language.