Surveying the Field

During his three year period of concentration, an undergraduate in the English department can get a comprehensive, if disjointed, picture of English Literature. By carefully mapping his program, allowing for courses that skip a year of two between meetings, and hoping that no professor decides to take a three year holiday, the English concentrator can study from Beowulf to the present. But he can take no course that will give him a more rapid, unified and consecutive view of England's literary history.

A concentrator in an outside field who hankers for a passing acquaintance with English literature is in a worse state. Lacking the necessary time, inclination or experience to plow into a course stressing criticism, or concentrating on a few selected authors, this sort of student needs an elementary survey to whet his appetite for the subject.

The present English 10, the department's basic survey course, does not really answer either need. While a vast improvement over the old English 1, which raced through English literature, confusing students with a welter of minor names and works, English 10 has ridden the pendulum too far in the swing of reaction. It is mostly a Great Authors course.

The fact that it is well taught and well received does not make English 10 what is needed. Omitting such authors as Byron, Shelly, Browning, Forester and Woolf, it does not pretend to be comprehensive. At the same time not enough is read of any single author to give the student a complete view of him. Nor is it a survey course's function to do so. Instead, it should touch on more major authors, reading less of each to make up for the increase in number. This would help broaden the student's grasp of English literature.

Even more important, the emphasis of the course should be on the trends in literature rather than on single authors. If open to freshmen, such a coures might be an effective enticement for concentrating in English. Also, it would allow non-concentrators to savour the essence of English literature without either skimming the arid territory of minor figures or bogging down in the Old Masters. With a few revisions, English 10 could be a far more valuable basic course.