Ask an English Major: What Has Been Your Favorite English Class?
There are dozens of English classes available for Clemson students to take each semester. Although each English class at Clemson is memorable, here are six classes that students have loved.
Clarence Orr is a sophomore English major whose favorite class at Clemson is ENGL 3990 with Dr. Maya Hislop. He is enjoying this course as he is learning how to analyze text better. Additionally, Orr mentions that it is interesting to find aspects of life that can be related to reading text and “it’s amazing what a book can bring.” Orr’s favorite book that he has read in this American Literature Survey II class has been “The Red Record” by Ida B. Wells which centers itself on lynching throughout American history toward minority groups within a predominately white society.
Bamberg, SC native Bryce Compton has been enjoying Adolescent Literature with Sarah Cooper this semester. As a Secondary Education and English major, Compton has enjoyed this class because it has given him ideas of what to teach in his future classroom. Compton’s favorite novel in ENGL 3860 so far has been “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas as it has opened his eyes to the various perspectives surrounding police violence. Although Compton is still currently enrolled in this class, he is excited to see what the remainder of the course holds.
Erica Smoak is a senior Secondary Education and English major from Simpsonville, SC. Smoak’s favorite English class at Clemson was ENGL 4190, Post-Colonial and World Literature with Dr. Cameron Bushnell. Smoak says that she was affected by the novel entitled “Jasmine” by Bharati Mukherjee. This piece is about an Indian who immigrated to the United States and had to change her identity multiple times to survive. While Smoak admits that the class as a whole did not love the novel at the start, but as they became immersed in the text as a group, “we started to really like how the novel had so many controversial points and vaulted information about some of the goings-on in the US between immigrants and citizens”.
Reece Baldwin is a senior English major, pictured on the right. His favorite English class has been the Great Books course taught by Dr. Walt Hunter which centered around friendship in literature. “To The Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf was Baldwin’s favorite text from the course because he came to realize “just how much of an impact World War II had on literature and art in general.” Additionally, Baldwin notes that Virginia Woolf’s ideas on the relationships between men and women are concepts that he frequently thinks about. While Baldwin enjoyed all of the literature that was presented in this course, he says that Dr. Hunter made the class special. He appreciates that Dr. Hunter encouraged him to think a step beyond, a challenge that has stuck with him throughout his other classes at Clemson.
Caroline Cavendish is a senior English major from Roebuck, SC. Cavendish’s favorite course has been ENGL 3980 with Dr. Kimberly Manganelli. This American Literature Survey I course was centered around various pieces of African American literature. Caroline loved this class due to “Dr. Manganelli’s radiant passion for literature, and because of the way she made the class so inviting, I was excited to go to class on each Tuesday and Thursday.” Cavendish’s favorite piece in ENGL 3980 was Beyonce’s visual album “Lemonade” because it was a change from the typical texts presented in English courses.
Written By: Cameron Gaubert
11/12/2018