Should I take British or American Literature?

[CaptainKahuna]

I need to take either British or American Literature to graduate, which do you think will be less painful? The thing I hate reading most is "weird" stuff, books that are surrealist, open to crazy interpretation, etc.

British or American?

 

[Shelly21]

I prefer British Lit, there are more selections. But you might get stuck with the boring stuff.

 

[bobbybe01]

They're both boring...but I'd probably go with American lit because well, America hasn't been around that long and it's probably not as boring....or at the very least, there isn't too much boring stuff to go on.

 

[SacrosanctFiend]

Brit Lit...10x better.

 

[DannyBoy]

Coming from a Brit/Scot I would say British Lit over American, but I've not studied American Lit so I couldn't give you a full opinion.

British History is amazing though, it's only boring if you want it to be boring.

 

[CaptainKahuna]

I really don't mind boring at all, I'll get through it, I just can't write papers on "weird books"

 

[mchammer187]

brit

 

[Garuda]

American literature is mostly 19th and 20th century stuff. Easier to comprehend than British literature which goes back much further than that.

 

[trmiv]

That's a tough choice, they're both boring as hell. My wife was a English major with a Britsh Lit minor, I don't know how she did it. She loves those British authors though.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Literature > all....except maybe history or philosophy.

BTW, personally I'd take American. There are some AMAZING American authors you'll study, and much of what you'll read will be much more applicable to your current life than what you read in British Lit. British Lit is still wonderful, but it's much more of an appreciation thing.

 

[EyeMWing]

American if you hate english. British lit at a college level will involve reading Middle English - not a fun task.

Edit: Me need English class

 

[Shelly21]

I enjoy Chaucer, and in fact, did the term paper on him for my Brit. Lit. class.

 

[CaptainKahuna]

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
American if you hate english. British lit at a college level will involve reading Middle English - not a fun task.

Edit: Me need English class

This is true about Middle English, good thought, I hate that stuff. I think its better than weird interpretive stuff. I'm hoping that Brit Lit will be more famous/old books, and therefore: Spark and Cliffsnotes

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: CaptainKahuna

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
American if you hate english. British lit at a college level will involve reading Middle English - not a fun task.

Edit: Me need English class

This is true about Middle English, good thought, I hate that stuff. I think its better than weird interpretive stuff. I'm hoping that Brit Lit will be more famous/old books, and therefore: Spark and Cliffsnotes

another thing to note is that from what I know, Brit Lit is by far more popular and therefore resources will be more readily available to you for learning.

Keep that in mind.

 

[UglyCasanova]

I'm not sure why, but I find American literature boring.