How to become a literary critic?

karaokeman

Anyone have any experience in scholarly writing? Is it tough to get? Is it paid well?

I'm going into my final year of an English degree recently with international experience, I've written a few 2.1 standard essays, and plan to go on to do a Masters and possibly a pHD.

Thanks,
Michael

Davarus Walrus

Write drunk. Edit sober.

roboshatner

Become a .....

or write a fairly decent blog

Harry Angstrom

Everyone's a critic.......

Vunderground

Submit some criticism to a newspaper and if they like it you have taken the first step.

I'd remember that a lot of critics are authors who aren't selling very well top up their earnings with criticism. It can be a bit of closed shop in Ireland, but if you are good enough you will succeed.

Having a degree/doctorate doesn't mean you will be good enough to write criticism for commercial newspapers/journals. If you have the correct mixture of talent/perseverance you should have a good chance of success. Good luck

Aragneer

Start a blog, that is what I was told to do (currently doing an English and German degree and going onto a masters (hopefully)). I started my blog this weekened actually after a lecturer recommended it.

I am doing literature and film reviews but not as formal as some would be.

Use the internet as much as you can for reviewing and becoming a critic. The internet is there to help people become more exposed (in a good way). Hopefully it can work to your advantage

Good luck and I hope it works for you!

Harry Angstrom

Aragneer wrote: »

Start a blog, that is what I was told to do (currently doing an English and German degree and going onto a masters (hopefully)). I started my blog this weekened actually after a lecturer recommended it.

Nobody reads blogs. There are way too many of them out there.

Aragneer

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Nobody reads blogs. There are way too many of them out there.

If you know how to use social media and have an already-interested base of 'fans', as well as a blog that stands out a little, then people do read them.

I know a lot of people who are constantly searching to read new critical blogs, etc.

Harry Angstrom

Aragneer wrote: »

If you know how to use social media and have an already-interested base of 'fans', as well as a blog that stands out a little, then people do read them.

I know a lot of people who are constantly searching to read new critical blogs, etc.

Blogs are the online version of vanity publishing. I doubt that anybody cares about what I think of a book or film, and I don't particularly care about what another individual thinks either.

Aragneer

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Blogs are the online version of vanity publishing. I doubt that anybody cares about what I think of a book or film, and I don't particularly care about what another individual thinks either.

That is your opinion though and not everybody holds the same opinion. If you don't care about what another person thinks then that is just you, isn't it? There are others in this world. They may be the opposite, you're just not part of that circle.

Anyway, I was only trying to give a bit of advice as I have always found boards great for advice, no need to generalise and believe everybody isn't interested in a blog. I'm just trying to help.

sarkozy

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Blogs are the online version of vanity publishing. I doubt that anybody cares about what I think of a book or film, and I don't particularly care about what another individual thinks either.

If somebody has something to say, or has a particular goal in mind for oneself, blogging can be a great way to build up a skill and nurture a talent. You can sit on your arse and think mutterings to yourself, or sit on your arse and actually write something because writing well and consistently well takes hard work and time. You can't dismiss all blogging as plain, unadulterated narcissism.

Perhaps a more relevant question might be: why literary criticism? Isn't literary criticism just for narcissistic, talentless hacks?

In a name: Susan Sontag. She raised the bar.

Harry Angstrom

sarkozy wrote: »

If somebody has something to say, or has a particular goal in mind for oneself, blogging can be a great way to build up a skill and nurture a talent. You can sit on your arse and think mutterings to yourself, or sit on your arse and actually write something because writing well and consistently well takes hard work and time. You can't dismiss all blogging as plain, unadulterated narcissism.

Perhaps a more relevant question might be: why literary criticism? Isn't literary criticism just for narcissistic, talentless hacks?

In a name: Susan Sontag.

Yes, Susan Sontag; a diamond in the rough of countless talentless hacks. Kinda proves a point though. I mean, for every Sontag or F.R. Leavis, there are about a million wannabe critics who will never amount to anything.

Mardy Bum

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Yes, Susan Sontag; a diamond in the rough of countless talentless hacks. Kinda proves a point though. I mean, for every Sontag or F.R. Leavis, there are about a million wannabe critics who will never amount to anything.

What is a wannabe critic? Surely a literary critic is someone who is paid to critique literature. There are very few professional literary critics. Most critics are also lecturers. Most of these critics would be those working in universities who write reviews on the side. These people with PhDs are far from wannabe critics.

If you are referring to people without any sort of background in literature who write blogs fair enough but I wouldn't call them wannabe critics. I wouldn't even call them critics.

Regarding the thread, if you want to do a PhD you are going to have to start getting 1.1s in your essays. Following this you will have to do a MA which you will also need to do extremely well in if you want to do a funded PhD. Once you do your PhD you will not be viewed as the next Declan Kiberd until you do a Postdoc and start writing important academic articles and then you would have to write popular books that are also slightly academic in content which need to sell very well, before you would be fit to solely work as a critic rather than part time critic full time lecturer. It is a horrendously long road with very few actually reaching the end.