'Top Books to Read' - Study English Literature at University - Immerse Education by immerseeducation

TOP BOOKS TO READ IF YOU WANT TO STUDY

ENGLISH LITERATURE AT UNIVERSITY www.immerse.education

If you are interested in studying English Literature at university then you will have already grasped that books are central to your learning.

With so much literature to choose from, which reading should a prospective student prioritise? Immerse Education is here to help. We spoke with our mentor team who are currently studying English Literature at top universities to ask them which books they think a young student should read before applying.

Table of Content The list below is some of the titles they recommended in no particular order.

The Adventure of English �� 4 by Melvin Bragg

Keywords: A vocabulary of culture and society �� 5 by Raymond Williams

The Waves �� 6 by Virginia Woolf

An Apology for Poetry �� 7 by Sir Philip Sidney

Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction �� 8 by Jonathan Culler

The Picture of Dorian Gray �� 9 by Oscar Wilde

The Oxford Book of English Verse �� 10 Finnegans Wake �� 11 by James Joyce

The Book of Common Prayer �� 12

The Adventure of English by MELVIN BRAGG

‘The Adventure of English’ is an enthralling story not only of power, religion, and trade, but also of a people and how they changed the world.

ere is the riveting story of the English language, from its humble beginnings as a regional dialect to its current preeminence as the one global language, spoken by more than two billion people worldwide. In this groundbreaking book, Melvyn Bragg shows how English conquered the world. It is a magnificent adventure, full of jealousy, intrigue, and war against a horde of invaders, all armed with their own conquering languages, which bit by bit, the speakers of English absorbed and made their own. Along the way, its colourful story takes in a host of remarkable people, places, and events: the Norman invasion of England in 1066; the arrival of The Canterbury Tales and a coarse playwright named William Shakespeare, who added 2,000 words to the language; the songs of slaves; the words of Davy Crockett; and the Lewis and Clark expedition, which led to hundreds of new words as the explorers discovered unknown flora and fauna. ‘The Adventure of English’ will give you a broad idea of the difference between literary periods, as well as the main writers within them and contexts from which literature emerged. This is particularly helpful when studying English at university since you often cover a wide variety of literary ages. Melvin Bragg sketches these time periods out simply and clearly.

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Keywords: A vocabulary of culture and society by RAYMOND WILLIAMS

An important critic to read if you want to understand how language functions in a wider society.

aymond Williams writes about etymology and the changing meanings of words in an engaging and understandable way. He is an important critic to read if you want to understand how language functions in a wider society. The words we use today had different and varying meanings throughout history. As critics, it is our responsibility to be aware of these differences, to not be anachronistic when using certain words, and to be aware of their everchanging subtleties of meaning.

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The Waves by VIRGINIA WOOLF

It is short but absolutely destroying and will stay with you for long after you put it down.

irginia Woolf was a central figure in the modernist movement, and ‘The Waves’ is her most experimental novel. Woolf said of this book that she had hoped to do away with ‘characters’ entirely, and the text consists of a series of ‘stream-of-consciousness’ monologues delivered by five distinct but interconnected voices. With its incorporation of poetic and dramatic techniques, this text raises questions as to the importance of form, and the ways in which form interacts with content and theme, a key idea you will come across in the study of English. ‘The Waves’ contains everything an English student needs to know about Woolf’s style and use of stream of consciousness. It is short but absolutely destroying and will stay with you for long after you put it down.

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An Apology for Poetry by SIR PHILIP SIDNEY

One of the most important works of early modern literary criticism.

idney’s long essay (also called ‘The Defence of Poesy’) engages in the ongoing debate as to what poetry is, why we write it, and what it is for. Reacting against accusations that poetry is inherently deceitful, Sidney argues that poetry cannot deceive, because it never purports to be true. It can, however, be a force for social good, as, freed from the demands of verisimilitude which, to his mind, constrain historians and philosophers, poets can provide moral guidance in the most affecting and poignant words possible. As well as influencing literary works of the time, the ideas expressed in Sidney’s essay can be traced in poetry throughout the centuries following his death, resonating in particular with many of the Romantic poets.

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Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction by JONATHAN CULLER

What is literary theory? Is there a relationship between literature and culture? In fact, what is literature, and does it matter?

hese are some of the questions addressed by Jonathan Culler in this very short introduction to literary theory. Often a controversial subject, said to have transformed the study of culture and society in the past two decades, literary theory is accused of undermining respect for tradition and truth and encouraging suspicion about the political and psychological implications of cultural projects rather than admiration for great literature. Here, Jonathan Culler explains ‘theory’, not by describing warring ‘schools’ but by sketching key ‘moves’ theory has encouraged, and speaking directly about the implications of theory for thinking about literature, human identity, and the power of language. Culler takes a look at material, including the ‘death of theory’, the links between the theory of narrative and cognitive science, trauma theory, ecocriticism, and includes a chapter on ‘Ethics and aesthetics’. This lucid introduction is useful for anyone who has wondered what all the fuss is about or who wants to think about literature today. When studying English at university, you are taught to completely rethink about the way you look at an analysis literature. Getting a broad theoretical background allows you the perspective to approach literature afresh when all previous school strategies have been stripped back.

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The Picture of Dorian Gray by OSCAR WILDE

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ offers the right mix between being a literary classic whilst providing an interesting modern insight.

he Picture of Dorian Gray’ is a philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. The magazine’s editor feared the story was indecent, and without Wilde’s knowledge, deleted roughly five hundred words before publication. Despite that censorship, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ offended the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde merited prosecution for violating the laws guarding the public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press, although he personally made excisions of some of the most controversial material when revising and lengthening the story for book publication the following year. ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ offers the right mix between being a literary classic whilst providing an interesting modern insight and therefore will provide applicants with the scope to uncover genuine and various fields of interest whilst retaining a strong insight into the complexity of works that can be encountered whilst at university.

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The Oxford Book of English Verse Candidates will often overlook poetry in their efforts to prepare for university.

his collection offers a complete historical coverage of literary developments which students will be able to observe as they read. This is a great piece of reading for prospective English Literature students because it allows students the freedom to jump between movements and times within seconds and reduces an urge to “read everything”, a skill which will be useful when it comes to reading lists. The collection also does a good job of featuring a mix of popular and less popular writers, something that will be important both in showing applicants that studying English Literature at a more traditional-seeming university does not, necessarily, entail a heavy focus on ‘Canonical’ texts or traditional writers, and in diversifying students’ interests.

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Finnegans Wake by JAMES JOYCE

Joyce’s ‘Finnegans Wake’ at first seems like an odd work: it is notably experimental and notoriously difficult to access.

nglish is such a broad course when studied at university, within every module studied, every student will study different works - from seminal pieces of literature to more unique niche works.

Joyce’s ‘Finnegans Wake’ at first seems like an odd work: it is notably experimental and notoriously difficult to access. However, it is precisely these qualities that make it the perfect book to read before attending university. It gives students the opportunity to understand how they read and what they look for in a book. It is also incredibly challenging - something that will no doubt give them a head start for modernist papers but also for the more obscure earlier texts.

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The Book of Common Prayer The Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible arguably underpin the whole of the literary canon.

hen studying literature (particularly from the Renaissance period) it is incredibly important to understand the permeating influence of religious texts. Indeed The Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible arguably underpin the whole of the literary canon. Reading this book opens up a whole realm of critical thought; its echoes can be recognised in works from Donne to Bronte to T.S Eliot - in terms of allusion, but also in terms of rhyme, rhythm and chiasmus. To ignore its influence is to ignore the omnipresence and strength of religion that is only in recent decades beginning to wane.

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