 Welcome to my channel, I am Arpita Karwa and in this video I am going to talk about how you can prepare British literature in just 30 days. I know that most of you must be worried with the length and depth of British literature and you cannot neglect it all together because if you have gone through December 2019's paper, you would have seen that from past 5 years they are focusing too much on British literature. Earlier they were also talking about European and post-colonial but from the past 2 years they have started focusing more on British literature. In fact if you look at December 2019 syllabus, you will be shocked to see that 70% of the syllabus was directly from British literature. 70% questions are directly asked from British literature. Now it's good and bad at the same time. Why good? Because all these British literature writers are already familiar to you. You have acquainted yourself with Charles Dickens, T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Shakespeare when you were reading these texts in your bachelor's and master's. So it's not unfamiliar portion. On the other hand it's bad. Why? Because it's endless. British literature has somewhere around 500 important writers and more than 2000 important texts. Now a person who starts reading British literature, starts preparing notes on British literature might find out that one year is not enough only to prepare British literature. Now the demerit is that if a person focuses so much on British literature, he ends up only preparing British literature for UGC net exam which is not sufficient. He is not able to gather time and energy to study post-colonial, European, American, Indian, theory, criticism and so many other things. What about paper one? You don't get time at all for paper one. So in this video I am going to tell you a very secret technique using which you can not only master British literature in 30 days but you can also know the smart strategy to study British literature. Because I have had a word with so many students who said that in spite of giving so much time to British literature, they sometimes are unaware of the questions that come up in the exam hall. They are not able to answer them correctly. So where is the lecuna? What is that you are missing out? There are some things that you miss out because of which you are not able to get those extra marks. On the other hand you devote so much time and energy on something so fruitless that no questions come up from that portion. So in this video I am going to tell you a technique and I am also going to tell you the portions which you should not skip so that you can get those extra marks and the portion which you should skip so that you can save time and energy. So without any further delay let's jump right into the topic. You must have heard of the saying know your enemy. I would like to rephrase it for this video and say that it is important for you to know your friend that is British literature. British literature is not your enemy. It might seem one but then once you start knowing these writers you will figure out that this is the biggest blessing in disguise. This is the most important section that can get you marks and can make sure that you clear net in first attempt. Now it is important for you to first know what you have to study. You might have watched cricket matches. Now when India is playing against England you must have seen that all these cricket stars would sit down and look at the previous matches of England so that they can know what are the strengths and weaknesses of each of the players against whom they would be playing on the field tomorrow. In the similar fashion before you even begin British literature you should equate yourself with all these writers. So the first and the foremost step starting any syllabus is by knowing what is the syllabus. I have been talking about this thing since long. I have been making videos talking about how to make syllabus and this is what I am going to say next in this video also. That first of all make sure that you refer to books, you refer to previous year papers and you make a list of all the writers which have been asked in UGC net exams. So you have to go through all the ten years papers, make a list of all these writers, you have to go through the most important books on history of British literature and make another list and then you have to club these lists together to finally understand the entire syllabus that you have to cover. Now just knowing these writers randomly would not help. You have to list them chronologically according to ages. So if you go to my website arpettakarwa.com you will see that in module one British literature I have listed all these writers chronologically and I have divided them further into ages and in every age you will find that there is a separate categorization into poets, dramatist, novelist and non-fiction writers. So by looking at these separate sections you will get an idea about what you have to study in every age and who are the most important writers that should not be neglected at all. So this list I have already prepared for you. You don't have to make a list of your own if you can just go to my website and get that list for yourself. This list is going to be the first stepping stone in your journey of British literature and this is going to tell you how much syllabus you have to cover every day so that you can complete British literature in merely 30 days. Now that you have your syllabus ready in your hand, the next thing that you have to do is to begin by understanding the history behind each of the ages. So British literature is divided into different ages. So there is age of Chaucer, then we have age of revival, Elizabethan period, Jacobian period, Interregnum, Restoration, Victorian, Romantics, Modern, Postmodern, so many ages. Now these ages are divided so that we can understand that why the writers were writing, what they were writing because of the political, social and cultural conditions of England at that period. So you have to look at each of the ages first and look at the political, social, religious, cultural background before you begin talking about the writers who were writing in that age. Why is it important? Let me tell you very simply, there are two important reasons for it. Number one, you know that all these writers, they were writing something because society influenced them. They were either talking about the social evils or they were talking about things that were rampant in the society at that point. For example, there is an Australian student who wants to study Chetan Bhagat. Now if he wants to study Chetan Bhagat and if he doesn't know what IITs are and what kind of lifestyle people at IIT have, he would never be able to understand Chetan Bhagat. He might have to just mug up Chetan Bhagat because it would not make any sense to him since he doesn't know the background of the colleges and background and lifestyle of the college students. Similarly, if you want to understand these writers, if you want to understand their works, then knowing the history of that period is going to help you a lot. Number two, if you don't look at the history, then there would be terms that you have to mug up while you will be reading these writers. For example, if you don't know the Reformation movement, you will just have to mug up that a writer was Protestant, a writer was Catholic, some writer did not belong to either of them. They were Anglican in their approach. You just have to mug up. You will never be able to understand it and literature will become tough for no good reason. You have to understand the fact that the kings and the queens who were living at that time impacted the writers so much. If you look at Henry VIII, you will find that he was the one who was excommunicated by a pope. Then he beheaded his wives and later he established supremacy of Anglican church. All these things might not make any sense to you right now if you have not brushed up on the history of British literature. So, if you look at my online course, I make sure that before I start with any age, I first give you an introductory lecture where I discuss all the important events that happened during that age, all the important political, social and religious events that somewhere or the other impacted literature. If you don't know the culture of that period, you will never be able to understand the works. For example, you cannot understand Jane Austen unless and until you know what were the Victorian values. You can never understand the pamphlet war unless and until you know that coffee houses became very prevalent during the restoration period. So, all these information, Darwin's origin of species impacted so many writers and their works. So, if you don't know this background, you will never be able to understand and absorb literature. Literature will never become a cakewalk unless and until you know why the writers were writing what they were writing. So, make sure that you don't skip what most of the students skip while they are preparing for UGC net, history of every age, every period. For that, you might refer to a lot of books which are available. There are books like Routledge History of English Literature, William J Long or else you can even go back to my lectures on YouTube. You will get information about periods like Commonwealth, Interregnum which are not taught by books so simply or you can even join my online course where I make sure that I give you a A to Z background of a age so that the writers and their works become very easy for you. You don't have to mug up any information. It comes down very easily. I make sure that I talk about Greek mythology. I talk about Bible. I talk about New Testament, Old Testament before I even begin British literature because these topics are going to give you base on which English literature and writers understanding would build. So, if you don't know about Greek mythology, most of these writers who are inspired by classical writers will not make any sense to you. If you are not aware of what are Protestants, what are Anglicans, what are Puritans, what are Catholics, you will not be able to understand somewhere around 200 years of British literature when this religious controversy was going on. So, make sure you put in some effort to understand these topics so that literature becomes easy for you. The next and the biggest chunk of British literature would consist of all the writers that you have to study. Now, if you look at the previous year papers and if you look at the major books, you will figure out that there are somewhere around 300 writers that you have to study. So, if you go to my website, you will find out that I have given a list of all these 300 writers for free so that the students who do not want to enroll in the course, at least they know the blueprint of what they have to study on their own. So, you can get that list from my website and if you look at that list, it has 300 writers. If you take a target that every day you have to complete making notes on 10 writers, very easily in 30 days you can complete the entire course of British literature. It is difficult but it is not impossible. So, make sure that you know what writers you have to studies and then you know what you have to study in every writer. So, it is important for you to limit the genus. Now, what is limiting the genus means? Limiting the genus simply means to know where to draw the line, what to study and what to skip. For example, there are students who for no good reason learn the birth and the death dates of each of these writers. You do not have to study the birth and the death dates because they never are asked in net exam. On the other hand, you do not have to study the name of their parents, the name of their school, their college but you have to be selective. For example, Rudyard Kipling was born in Mumbai. So, you must be aware of the fact that Rudyard Kipling was born in Mumbai in India. But then when it comes to other writers who were born in some town in England, you might skip that because that is not important from net point of view. So, you need to be very aware of the fact that what you have to study and what you have to skip. Similarly, background information, childhood information would not be important in most of the writers. But for a writer like Coleridge, you must understand and make a note that he was associated to a group called Pantysocracy. Similarly, E.M. Foster, if you look at the writer, he was a very ardent follower of Vedanta. On the other hand, if you look at the writer like E.M. Foster, you should also make sure that he was associated with another goal called Apostles. So, these small information, you must put a remark and you must make sure that you note down in your register. Similarly, when it comes to works of these writers, important works you have to study in detail. I have already given you the list of important poetry, drama, fiction and non-fiction works on my website in the PDF notes section. It is available for free. So, you can get the list of important works from that section. But then you cannot neglect the non-important works just like that. For example, there is a very famous writer who has written a poem called Timbuktu. Now, this poem Timbuktu was given a gold medal. I would like to know who was that writer in the comments section below. So, make sure you put your answer in the comments below and I am going to reward the person who comments first. So, that is the approach that you have to take when it comes to writers and their works. You have to be selective in terms of biography, what you have to study in the biography, what you have to skip. That is where a mentor's role is going to take place. For example, I give 385 lectures on British literature in my online course. In those 385 lectures, I tell you each and everything apart from what I mentioned in my audio course. You don't have to study anything. So, my job as a mentor is to give you the most important information in one place so that you don't have to refer to 10 things altogether. You don't have to go to 10 websites, search 10 books, go to previous year papers. You don't have to do all that stuff. You just have to listen to my lecture. I talk about the most important biographical information. Then I talk about each and every work in detail. I give you the summary. I tell you all the important characters. I tell you all the important references and quotations. And finally at the end, I tell you all the previous year paper questions which were asked so that you know that by understanding this writer, you can very easily solve those questions. So, this becomes one lecture of mine in which I complete a particular writer. For a writer like Shakespeare, I have given you 15 lectures because I know that he has written so many important works that I cannot compress those works in just one audio. So, that is the role of the mentor. The similar role you have to play as a student if you are not studying from an online course or from a mentor, you have to make sure that you know the difference between where to draw the line, what to study and what to skip. But make sure you make a list of 300 writers and begin your preparation by doing 10 writers each day. And I am sure that once you complete British literature, you will feel so much more light and you will feel so much more relaxed in terms of your preparation. So, with that note, I would like to take your leave. We will meet soon in the next video lecture. Till the time we meet next, happy learning, keep loving literature and stay tuned to arpitakarwa.com