6 replies to this topic

[marisarussell]

I'm staring my EE Research to gain ideas and such, and i definently want to do mine in english! I was going to do it on the Scarlett Letter, or Sense and Sensibilty by Jane Austen, but from what i have seen others have said classics are not such a good idea? If it's a comparison between two books is it more original? What if the Classic book is compared to a more modern book?

[marauder7]

i guess it is ok if you do it in classics. a friend of mine is doing it on pride and prejudice. she is writing something about the character of mary and how austen portrays women.
another good idea would be to look at intertextuality or how a classic book has influenced a modern one, for example the influence Ana Karenina has in The Unbearable Lightness of Being (this is just an example and it wouldnt be suitable for an EE on english though since neither of these books was originally writen in english)
so doing an ee on classics is not bad, you just have to find an original topic.
good luck

[Emy Glau-ski]

The reason why some people say certain classics, such as Shakespeare for example, aren't such a good idea is because everybody does theirs on classics. Examiners have seen hundreds of EEs on Hamlet or Emma or things like that, and it's not very original. Now, you obviously still can do your EE on a classic, you just have to be original in your choice of topic and how you investigate it.

Comparing two books isn't more "original" because lots of people do that. However, comparing two books can be very good, especially if you're doing a theme across literature. (I remember seeing an EE, don't remember what it got, but they used All Quiet on the Western Front and some other novel to analyze how World War I is portrayed in literature). Same with a classic and more modern book, many people do that. Just don't do Twilight. Seriously, don't.

What you need to do is pick an interesting angle and some books that are a little less-known. You can still do a classic/well-known book, but perhaps compare it to one that's not as well-known but still clearly literary?

Good luck I could never do an English EE, I'm awful at literature.

[marisarussell]

An english teacher of mine suggested comparing it to The chocolate war by Robert Cormier, anyone familiar with this? Its more modern, both of the books were on the banned book list though so not a lot of students read the chocolate war.

[A_JYG]

I did my EE on English A1 and from my experience, unless you come up with a whole new perspective which no once couldn't think of (superbly hard), I don't recommend you to do on cliche Classic books especially oh god, Jane Austen. But I think it's okay, however, to compare one Classic book to another book which is more modern since you can bring some new perspectives. Still, If you prefer novels than poetry (I did mine on less-known poet's poems), try to think of some books which few did. But then again, most of all, if you have books which you are definitely sure that you'll enjoy to do your EE on even if they are cliche Classic books, then go for it! Good luck!

Edited by A_JYG, Feb 25, 2012 - 13:39.

[llamaonumas]

I met a girl from Holland who took Sense and Sensiblity and literally went to a convenience store and bought some random corny poorly-written love story from the store. Got a B. Not terrible...personally, I'm doing Catcher in the Rye and Dorian Gray and the effects of their friends into leading them into insanity. Love those books.

With this in mind, people do Sense and Sensiblity a lot (same with Catcher for me but) it may be a good idea to do a book less common. It makes your essay seem more unique (small advice!)

[cabbageaddict]

Is it ok to focus just on one text? My supervisor seems to insist on doing a comparison between two texts, or at least doing the essay on a group of works. What are the advantages? In addition if you are doing a lesser know book, what sort of sources should you be using?