JimmyH555

Hey guys, I'm so psyched to be going to Columbia!!!

The only downside is that I'm kind of nervous about all the books we'll have to read in Lit Hum...I was just looking at the list of books at http://columbialithum.blogspot.com and it looks intense.

Anyone know any other good sites about Lit Hum and how we can get a jump on the reading? Sorry to sound like such a nerd, but I want to get some reading out of the way over the summer so I can party more when school starts.

Hanajima Arashi

Hm. The problem is that the syllabus changes over time and by teacher. There are only 5 books that have been part of the Lit Hum reading since the Core was established: Homer, THE ILIAD; Aeschylus, ORESTEIA; Sophocles, OEDIPUS THE KING; Dante, THE INFERNO; and William Shakespeare, KING LEAR. (<-cut-and-paste from Lit Hum website)

I'd say that it's also reasonable to expect Homer's Odyssey, Plato's Symposium, Virgil's Aeneid, and at least Genesis and Job from The Bible.

Even with getting ahead on the reading, "partying more" isn't necessarily the best goal. Just remember to keep on your toes, freshman year is a difficult balance.

ConfucianNemisis

1) Dirty Secret - Many students don't do all the reading. That being said, the more reading you do, the better your in class experience will be.

2) What's not clear on that website is that you don't read the entirety of some of those books (Herdotus, Thucydides, The Bible (you only read Genesis, Job, Luke, and John) in the fall)

3) Hanajima, that's not entirely true. Every section of lit hum is required to read a certain set of books, with the option to add a few short readings, or use that time to catch up on the required selections. The curriculum is *relatively* stable and uniform. Comparing my bookshelf (I took Lit Hum 5 years ago... yikes) to the reading list, none of my books have been removed, and Gilgamesh, Ovid, Purgatorio, and Paradisio have been added.

4) You might find this: Literature Humanities - WikiCU, the Columbia University wiki encyclopedia and this: Books about Columbia - WikiCU, the Columbia University wiki encyclopedia interesting.

iwantcollege09

I read most of the Lit Hum books/readings this year in Humanities, though I'm sure I'll need to reread them for CU.

highfiver

yeah I agree with confucian's statements--I definitely don't do all the reading, but that's basically cause I just don't have the time. Although here I am on college confidential. Anyway...don't worry about the reading that much, I thought it would be much worse than it has turned out to be. It is true though that the more you read, the better your in class experience. I think later on in life I'm just gonna have to go back and read all these books over again.

JimmyH555

thanks for the links, guys. anyone else know any good Lit Hum resources? there's just sooo much reading!

JimmyH555

anyone know of any good Lit Hum resources? thanks!

Epaminondas

^umm, your brain?