MA English Studies Week In Review (21/11/05)

Original Post:

"Everything fine."

Updated post:

"Everything this week was pretty good. Getting down to the nitty gritty stuff now like choosing an essay title. Lecturer for Romantics seemed to think my question, should I put the effort in, would make for a good essay.

I am quite a happy man at the moment. Prague is getting closer."

At Last I Have Graduated

After all my friends have graduated - I think the last of which was in September - I have finally had my graduation ceremony. Anglia Ruskin University (new name, same Uni) obviously like to make us wait until the icy chill of winter has set in most likely so that seats at the ceremonies are not oversubscribed or something! Anyway, after failing to be enthused by the description of Dave's ceremony I didn't have high hopes for what is officially Anglia Polytechnic University's last ever graduation ceremony.

I am a big enough man to admit that I was very wrong. The Corn Exchange was indeed a great venue, seeing all those faces again was excellent and the little jazzy four-piece was pretty damn good too. So what, you may ask, could top all that... well... The fact that Stephen Fry was there to receive an honorary doctorate from the University, not only giving a highly meaningful and hilarious speech - which referred many time to Cambridge Uni as 'the dump down the road' - but also clapping each and every graduate as they went up to receive their certificates one by one. It was a complete surprise to me and didn't believe whilst reading the event programme that it was the Stephen Fry. The man showed his intelligence, humour and empathy for those graduating - quite a guy.

So anyway, had a good time at the ceremony. Mum, dad and gran all were in attendance - which meant a certain degree of hilarity was to ensue - and we headed off for dinner at the Eagle. I believe all were satisfied.

One drawback was that the Doc has got me off caffeine, alcohol and gluten at the mo so there was no getting drunk that night. I opted for a night in - as much as I had broken the 'no gluten' rule for the day I didn't feel like pushing my luck!

The most strange thing about yesterday was a strange sense of loss. Amusingly I felt sad to be leaving 'those' Uni days behind me despite still being at Uni. Weird, hard to explain. I dunno. I am feeling better about it all today though.

In summation I have a certificate now and will be getting framed for posterity soon. Hurrah!

MA English Studies Week In Review (14/11/05)

So this week I'll mostly be annoyed at losing £48 - for that is the cost of each seminar when you break it down. I had read a great deal of this weeks text The Magus by John Fowles. I enjoyed what I'd read. I was annoyed at missing this session due to my new illness flaring up - an apparent gluten-related oversight on my part. For the second week running - "enough said."

In romanticism we looked at Wordsworth's Prelude Book X and Book XI. Too annoyed to write anything of worth for this week.

I was feeling a little better by the weekend needless to say.

MA English Studies Week In Review (07/11/05)

This week I mostly came back from a brief two-day break in Warwick seeing the 'Boys of the Old Brigade' and going to a fireworks party. When Monday came it was time to buy a copy of Sarah Kane's Crave and get back to work!

Although I shan't dwell on the various things that annoyed me during this seminar - it is safe to say I was a little annoyed - this session helped me to appreciate more a different approach to theatrical performance... performance postmodern style! I do wholeheartedly believe that I will pursue seeing soon that may tick the right boxes for me. Enough said.

Romanticism saw a change of personnel in the seminar leader - which was good fun. We looked at the Peterloo massacre and its effect upon the romantics. This included looking at Shelley at his most overtly political/revolutionary which I very much enjoy. In addition we looked as some more pictorial examples of political satire (I guess) which was a great new spin on looking at this great post-French Revolution period. A good session all round.

During this week I finally gave in and visited the doctor - for the first time in seven years - who immediately told me to cut gluten (so no more meals made for me by others), caffeine (so no more coffee at Costa with classmates) and alcohol (so no getting drunk at graduation) out of my life. Sadness.

The weekend held for me a solo expedition to the University of London's School of Advanced Study, more specifically to a seminar in research methods being organised by the Institute of English Studies. It was interesting if not only for the content of the 10-4 session but also to be in the slightly 'more exotic' climes of the U of London - as opposed to Anglia Ruskin. There was one other person from Anglia Ruskin but I have no idea who she was. Happy days.

Portuguese Botanic Minutiae

A picture taken of a view between two rather leafy plants in Portugal 2004. During the scanning process I fiddled accidentally with some of the colour enhancement features. This strange explosion of pink and white was the result - the original plant was green for the record.

MA English Studies Week In Review (31/10/05)

Well this week we introduced ourselves, with the help of our seminar leader of course, to the wacky world of the postmodern. This meant not only looking at things in terms of literature and performance et cetera but also the wonders of contemporary living - we are apparently living in postmodernity. I find it all of a sudden rather crazy and talk changed from the subjects of Globalisation, homogenisation of cultures, Americanisation, McDonaldisation and indeed fashion.

If anything it gave me an excuse to go around for the next two weeks pointed out (politely) to people examples of 'accelerated recontextualisation' - which is great fun if you think you know what it means - indeed I found my jeans may have been an example of said postmodern phenomena!

In the less theoretical world of Romantics and the Visual Arts we looked at lots of pictures shown to us by a rather knowledgeable guy, who's name escapes me completely, that all the older members of the opposite sex in our seminar seemed to love. It was very much a visual feast which involved the taking of many notes - a rare commodity at MA level and a large difference from the seminars that had preceded where every nugget of information was invaluable!

Still tired though after each seminar, and getting more ill at this point - weird abdominal pains - which is beginning to drag me down a little. Oh well - I'm sure I'll survive.

Snowflame

A small comment on the deep freeze setting in here in Cambridge. Meaning may go deeper but then again 'a poem should not mean, it should be.'

Snow is falling round,
The fire that once danced - now
One fears the end.

MA English Studies Week in Review (24/10/05)

Well, what the hell just happened? Someone told me I'd just read a Virginia Woolf book, but its not this that leaves me puzzled - it would appear that the book superficially is quite obvious but all the subliminal thematic goings on throughout the book make for a very complex book. Luckily I was prepared a little for this (as I read the introduction) and the seminar could only really help to clarify things.

I knew nothing Virginia Woolf until I'd read Between the Acts - most people by my age, it would appear, have already read the likes of Mrs Dalloway and To The Lighthouse. In fairness it makes the book a little sad when you think of the looming threat of war throughout and the profound effect it had upon her mental state - a state that led ultimately to her demise. I suppose it's similar to listening to music by someone that is dead, it leaves you wondering what may have been but also respecting what is.

This week in the Romantics, our last with the legend that is JG Sr., we looked at Volcanoes in what was ultimately one of the highlights of the year so far, textually and visually. John always puts on a show that is for sure, he is the most animated of all the lecturers I have had the pleasure of being taught by. This, coupled with the manner in which these Romanticism and the Visual Arts seminars are put together, make for an interesting new approach to studying the period - especially when you have only really studied the texts and their contexts at undergrad level.

So in the words of the man himself "All good things must come to an end and this is no exception".