Harry Beck

Harry Beck is a third-year student on our BA (Hons) English Literature. He recently took part in an internship project, funded by ARU, with the Clarke Award for Science Fiction and the Science Fiction Foundation Special Collection based in the University of Liverpool.

What inspired you to study English Literature?

My early love for how certain novels challenged how I saw the world inspired me. I love how, through this study, we can engage with complex ideas on human experiences from multiple narratives and across vast periods. Unlike my experience doing a History A-level, with English literature I have felt a more compelling grasp on the past through the lens of various authors. This was especially the case when studying Stefan Zweig’s short story ‘Burning Secret’ and researching how the Viennese modernism movement, characterised by an interest in subjective experience and individualism, influenced the depth of psychological realism Zweig used with his character Edgar.

Which aspects of the course have you most enjoyed so far?

Unsurprisingly, the most enjoyable aspect of this course has been the reading. The versatility in the modules I have engaged with has kept me greatly invested in my reading each week. From a Renaissance tragedy to a post-apocalyptic sci-fi classic to a novel from one of the Brontë sisters, it has been very stimulating to enjoy the sharp differences in style and setting.

Which aspects of the course most helped your career development, and why?

The aspect of the course that has helped me the most with career development is probably the Live Brief assignment I did in the second year for the European Novel module. Here, I worked in a group to create a publishing plan for an unreleased novel. This task, which included lectures from publishing professionals, opened my eyes to another side of potential employment in my future.

What attracted you about the science fiction internship?

The opportunity to work with outside professionals on topics that I enjoyed studying in class was something I couldn't let pass. I had also read and enjoyed 2001: A Space Odyssey and Childhood’s End before hearing about the Arthur C Clarke Award Foundation, so seeing the name of an author I had enjoyed attracted me.

Tell us about the projects you got involved in and the skills you learned that will help you find a career?

During this internship, I was involved in quite a few projects with three different professionals. Firstly, Liverpool University researcher Tom Dillon asked me to source and organise useful resources for his project to develop a decolonising science fiction guide. To do this, I searched Liverpool University’s online library for relevant sources, and created a list of key search terms to help find these texts. Once I had found them, I gathered useful information about the dates, type and brief content of each item. The skills I learned here would be useful for jobs in librarianship, archives or academia.

Secondly, Director of the Arthur C Clarke award Tom Hunter gave me a task to organise various texts into categories to advertise past Arthur C Clarke award winners or nominees. This involved researching all past winners and identifying works that share either thematic or genre similarities.. A challenge to this task was researching books I hadn’t read to ensure they fit the category I had put them under. As Google is not the most useful resource to identify this, I spent time reading more extensive reviews of various books, which led to me adding many of them to my reading list.

Another task Tom gave me was collecting contact details for independent bookshops as well as branches of Waterstones across the UK, which helped prepare me for work in a marketing and research field.

Thirdly, Jonathan Thornton, Reviews Editor of Foundation, gave me a task to review a science fiction novel. After familiarising myself with the style of these reviews. I re-read the set text, Maud Woolf’s Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock (2024), with a critical eye, as it was one I had already read –– This task proved to be highly useful in gaining some confidence in my review writing. I felt proud of my work and that I had built skills that would transfer well to a career in journalism.

What was the highlight of the internship?

There were two main highlights of this internship. Firstly, my contribution to the decolonising science fiction guide., I was very enthusiastic about this task - locating texts of use from Liverpool University and cataloguing them into a spreadsheet divided by various areas was fun. In reading the articles attached to the guide, I realised how important the link between colonialism and science fiction is. Science fiction emerged during the height of European imperialism, often using colonial tropes of exploration, conquest, and invasion to reflect and reinforce real-world fears of cultural 'otherness,' typically projected onto non-human life. Taking this in the context of our real lives, it spreads a harmful sentiment towards otherness.

Another highlight of this internship was writing a review for the Science Fiction Foundation journal. This was slightly daunting as I had only written Amazon book reviews in the past, but it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable parts. A great advantage was that I loved the book I was given to review, so talking about it was a joy. This experience gave me the confidence that I could write articles or reviews in the future.

What are your current career ambitions?

My career ambitions are open to change as I build experience, but my current ambition is to go into teaching. My past experiences as a teaching support as well as my studies in English Literature have inspired me to share my enthusiasm for literature this way.

What advice would you give to someone just starting their English literature degree?

Say yes to as many extracurricular opportunities as possible because, through this, you can contextualise how your skills are useful to the outside world. Furthermore, I would suggest using some time before the semester starts to read ahead so you can spend more time thinking about how you respond to the texts and arrive at class with confidence.