It is important for us to read the classics!
“Why?” you ask. “Why should I read the classics? Isn’t reading about pleasure, about what I enjoy? I enjoy Harry Potter so much more than The Brothers Karamazov. I move so much more quickly through Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler than I do W. Somerset Maugham, Ernest Hemingway.”
Read on at Joel Hirst’s blog (in which he echoes my previous words about One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich).
I shall be back at work next week (Week 6) and my lectures and seminars will run as scheduled.
Re: my dissertation students – can you please get in touch with me next week so we can set up meetings ASAP?
I have been off sick since Week 3 and will not be back in action till Week 6. I am unable to answer emails.
Apologies if you have been trying to contact me. I may be able to respond during Reading Week. In the meantime if you have anything urgent that needs attention please contact a relevant tutor.
Michael.
A reading of the last couple of paras from an early section of In Parenthesis by David Jones.
In Parenthesis is a book-length Modernist poem about the First World War (the only great Modernist work by a Brit rather than an American or Irish writer). It’s not often included in courses on Modernism since, like similar texts, it can appear difficult to get into, but it’s well worth the effort. It’s also a startling contrast to the kind of “war poetry” most people are used to.
A few thoughts about Conan Doyle’s Gothic masterpiece.
The latest upload to my English Readings channel on YouTube:
READING LIST FOR MICHAEL’S GROUPS, ENL1013M, 2018
These are the main texts we will be dealing with (not necessarily in this order) so please make sure you have obtained copies and read them in advance. A schedule of the seminars will be released shortly on Blackboard.
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Conan Doyle
King Solomon’s Mines, Rider Haggard
Dracula, Bram Stoker
The War of the Worlds, H G Wells
Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K Jerome
The Diary of a Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
Peter Pan, J M Barrie
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen (in the Dover Thrift edition)
Poems: “Convergence of the Twain” by Thomas Hardy; “Cargoes” by John Masefield
The following short podcasts are available on YouTube: “Dracula As The Jew”; “Peter Pan And The Mother Lode”; Three Men In A Boat: A Microlecture”; “An Air That Kills: Housman’s Blue Remembered Hills”; “Dowson’s Cynara: A Microlecture”. These are at English Readings: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYJz11iRqn9CJMh4Zr7DLlA
For students interested in the 19 century sensation novel, here’s a discussion by Melvyn Bragg and others.
Brian Higgins (1930 – 1965) is now forgotten as a poet but published three collections of poetry during his lifetime. This poem, “Analogy” comes from his second, Notes While Travelling (Longmans, London, 1964).
His first collection, The Only Need, was published by Abeland-Schuman (New York – London – Toronto) in 1960, and the final one (posthumously), The Northern Fiddler, by Methuen (London) in 1966. His death was ascribed to a ”rare heart condition”.
More on Higgins available on Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Higgins_(poet)
The portrait of Higgins is by Patrick Swift and is used courtesy of Wikipedia.