After my former fellow student Henriette complained about me not publishing a new chapter on my blog - about which she was absolutely right, as I have not written anything here for more than a month - I should like to dedicate this post to her.
Let me give you a short update about what I have done within these past 6 weeks. I have read the following primary books:
- Homer's Iliad
- Shakespeare's The Tempest
- Shakespeare's Hamlet
- Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew
- (Shakespeare's Julius Caesar - not on any of my reading lists but a great play nonetheless)
- Conrad's Heart of Darkness
- Eliot's The Waste Land
I started reading:
- Dickens's Hard Times (2/3 so far)
- Milton's Paradise Lost
- Beckett's Endgame (1/2)
- Plato's Republic (1st chapter)
- Jonson's Eastward Ho! (1/2)
Then I have digitalized almost all my notes. With Apple's Pages this not only is easily done but also looks pretty! I have watched several online lectures that I found through iTunes, one lecture on Shakespeare, one on Early Modern England and one on Literary Theory.
As for secondary literature I have not really devoted myself to it too much, but for some background reading on playhouses in Shakespeare's and Jonson's times and some of the texts for approaches to text.
One thing that I enjoy quite a lot is watching film adaptions of books. There are many different film versions of the Shakespeare plays, which usually means that I can watch more than just one film. This helps me to understand the contents of the plays better and memorize them more easily. Sometimes these movies are exceptionally well done, such as the 2010 adaption of The Tempest with Helen Mirren as Prospera, Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, Chris Cooper and Ben Whishaw. And then again, sometimes the movies in regard to the books could not be worse, like Troy of 2004 with Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Brendan Gleeson, Eric Bana and Diane Kruger. I did not expect much of the film before watching it, though! What made me laugh almost hysterically, however, was the way in which they introduced Aeneas into the film to ensure the survival of Troy's heritage. Thanks to the vast possibilities offered by the internet, I can watch most of the film adaptions online. One highly entertaining and recommendable series of adaptions is Shakespeare Retold by the BBC. Modern adaptions of the plays with brilliant actors, not using the original verse though. I especially loved Shirley Henderson (probably best known for her portrayal of Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter movies) as Kate Minola, the Shrew - just bloody brilliant!
Another internet resource that helps me immensely with my studies is Librivox, where 'volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and publish the audio files on the internet.' As all of these recordings are done by volunteers you can get across some recordings that are not the best, by experience, however, I can say that a lot of them are done extraordinarily well. The plays are usually read by various readers (here I can definitely recommend the Shakespeare plays) some of which soon become familiar voices as many volunteers devote their time to recording many books. Some of the novels are even turned into these dramatic readings, which makes the listening experience more interesting than just hearing everything from monotonous narrator. Some of the best known books are usually provided in 2-5 different versions by different readers, for example Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is available in 6 different versions, including one dramatic reading. Some of my favorite Librivox readers are Elizabeth Klett, Arielle Lipshaw and Bob Neufeld, as the readings by these people are usually done very well.
I tend to listen to the audio recordings while having the text in front of me. This helps me immensely to focus on what I read/listen to. If I only read a text my mind starts to wander off. If I only listen to a text my mind starts to wander off. Getting both visual and audio input I can focus. Listening to Charles Dickens's Hard Times I do not necessarily have to have the text in front of me, as the dramatic reading is easy to listen to and I can crochet while listening. :-)
One more thing that I would like to mention here is something that has kept me busy over the last weeks: Finding a teaching position abroad. I have started writing about my experiences in my blog A Whole New World.
These days the studies-accompanying e-seminars by the UoL are starting. I will write about my experiences with these soon.
Yours sincerely,
Kris
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