The Death of the English Degree, Brought on by Critical Analysis

[deutsey]

43. "What are you going to do with that?"

That was the common refrain I heard over and over again whenever I said I was majoring in English back in the '80s.

I grew so tired of trying justify being an English major that I switched to journalism for a while. I was good at it and even secured a summer internship writing for a newspaper, but I found it kind of boring and formulaic in general. I was also (and remain) an introvert, so it was a real challenge for me to play Ace Newshound sniffing out the facts for a story through interviews.

After my internship (which had me covering the city council, a special council election, as well as the usual obits/fire/accidents stuff), I decided English was my one true love and switched back.

No regrets. Although I'm not on faculty anywhere (which is no big loss for me, from what I've seen of academia today), I have established myself as an independent scholar in Twain studies and have published a book (non-Twain related) that has sold moderately well.

On a "practical" level, I also find my interpretive skills (of the written word, film/TV, people and situations around me) often allow me to see a bigger picture or deeper level than a lot of people I know.