to go into U of A Graduate English ended during my 3rd yr. of my B.A. in English. ‘Twas in the middle of the winter session, I sensed that this was my one and only chance so, with two egotistical profs as references, I applied and got an interview with the famed John Orrell. He counselled me what I should take (I would have no choice): Chaucer, Restoration poets, The English Novel (which included writers no one read anymore) and other similar courses that were undersubscribed. The arrogant profs also sabotaged the reference letters and I was officially ‘turned down”.
It was then, I decided that the diploma after degree leading to a high-school English teaching career was the ticket for me. In any cases, the English courses I still wanted to do– Shakespeare and English Poetry–I was still able to take after that.
In later years, in talking with profs, I would notice that I knew more about literature than they did and made significantly more money, and wasn’t on the bubble for being declared surplus from the system. So, in retrospect, one of those lucky limits and choices that gave me the freedom to read and study whatever lit I wanted to.