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Author Topic: English Extension July Lecture Thread  (Read 1057 times)

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niamh.brazil

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English Extension July Lecture Thread
« on: July 14, 2020, 09:32:21 am »
+8
Hello friends!

This is the thread for the English Extension Lecture July 2020

Are you eager to get feedback on your Trials thesis? Do you want to see how seamlessly you can integrate critical theory into your essay? Are you bursting with hot takes on The Secret History? This is the thread for you!

Submit your responses to the question in the slides here and I will be providing feedback throughout the lecture.

charlieadam

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Re: English Extension July Lecture Thread
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2020, 02:35:03 pm »
+2
Hi Niamh! I just wanted to dump my thing from the essay-ish question here (and also to say how epic your lecture has been so far!)

The construction and dissemination of one's own literary world is an intensely personal machination. It is paradoxically both introspective and performative, within which the author interpolates the foundations, ethics, and abstract experiences of their fictitious landscape and transforms it into an interactive experience between both composer and responder. In the above excerpt, Donna Tart ponders on the literary "fatal flaw"- that Achilles' heel of all good characters, pertaining to her own romanticised imagining of her childhood. By separating and reworking her personal narrative into one that engages both herself and her audience, the writer examines her fear of betraying a perceived duty to the integrity of her memories. (I ran out of time but I was getting to the point that its not a bad thing to do that!)

ellie.engel

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Re: English Extension July Lecture Thread
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2020, 02:47:56 pm »
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The composition profoundly resonates with the facet of purpose for the construction of literary worlds that revolves around portraying raw human experience to evoke ethos among the audience and provoke reflection but an individual's own personal experience. Tartt utilises lexical passages of childhood nostalgia "swimming pools and orange groves... sneakers I wore year round" to expose a visceral facet of private experience which urges the audience to reflect on their own individual experiences as a child. The use of extended sentence structure to craft a calming flow of narrative arc which encaptures the audience in a raw depiction of a private world "but also to watch television, which I did plenty of, lying on the carpet of our empty living room in the long dull afternoons after school" exposing the necessity of a private world in order for audiences to reflect.

Thank you :))

hemisha.lal

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Re: English Extension July Lecture Thread
« Reply #3 on: July 14, 2020, 04:50:47 pm »
+1
I had a question, what should we do if our related texts does not have any critics that we can integrate and respond to enhance our responses?


niamh.brazil

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Re: English Extension July Lecture Thread
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2020, 07:02:36 pm »
+3
    Hi Niamh! I just wanted to dump my thing from the essay-ish question here (and also to say how epic your lecture has been so far!)

    The construction and dissemination of one's own literary world is an intensely personal machination. It is paradoxically both introspective and performative, within which the author interpolates the foundations, ethics, and abstract experiences of their fictitious landscape and transforms it into an interactive experience between both composer and responder. In the above excerpt, Donna Tart ponders on the literary "fatal flaw"- that Achilles' heel of all good characters, pertaining to her own romanticised imagining of her childhood. By separating and reworking her personal narrative into one that engages both herself and her audience, the writer examines her fear of betraying a perceived duty to the integrity of her memories. (I ran out of time but I was getting to the point that its not a bad thing to do that!)

    Wow! This is excellent and so eloquently phrased. You do a good job of identifying the purpose of the literary world in the extract and also a good job at drawing out the nuances in that portrayal. I would make two suggestions:
      • Link to your personal perspective on the purpose of a literary world (which you have pointed out that you ran out of time to do so you're on the right track!)
      • Make more explicit connections between the argument you are trying to prove and the evidence in the text - in what ways does the character's fatal flaw play into the idea of an idealised past?

    [/list]

    niamh.brazil

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    Re: English Extension July Lecture Thread
    « Reply #5 on: July 14, 2020, 07:18:35 pm »
    +3
    The composition profoundly resonates with the facet of purpose for the construction of literary worlds that revolves around portraying raw human experience to evoke ethos among the audience and provoke reflection but an individual's own personal experience. Tartt utilises lexical passages of childhood nostalgia "swimming pools and orange groves... sneakers I wore year round" to expose a visceral facet of private experience which urges the audience to reflect on their own individual experiences as a child. The use of extended sentence structure to craft a calming flow of narrative arc which encaptures the audience in a raw depiction of a private world "but also to watch television, which I did plenty of, lying on the carpet of our empty living room in the long dull afternoons after school" exposing the necessity of a private world in order for audiences to reflect.

    Thank you :))

    Thanks for submitting! This response effectively identifies the purpose of literary worlds in the extract which is a crucial first step in responding to any Section I question. I think overall, there is a little bit of wordiness that needs to be cut down - we as extension students are often the worst offenders in that regard! Try and phrase your ideas in simple and short sentences.

    Two other pieces of feedback:
    • As you've chosen to go down the analytical path, make sure to include techniques, effect and lin to purpose in each quote
    • While you've done a good job pinpointing Tartt's perspective on "Literary Worlds" remember to make sure your own perspective is integrated too! The question asks for what you think so make sure to differentiate yourself from Tartt (and feel free to use first person in Section I)

    niamh.brazil

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    Re: English Extension July Lecture Thread
    « Reply #6 on: July 14, 2020, 07:34:14 pm »
    +4
    I had a question, what should we do if our related texts does not have any critics that we can integrate and respond to enhance our responses?

    Hi!

    Great question. This is often the case with related texts since we can pick what we want to study based on our own interests and preferences.

    Firstly, I would double check to make sure that there really are no critics. You can uncover a lot of new resources on Google Scholar, Sydney Studies in English, JSTOR, Informit. Get yourself a free State Library card and the world (well at least the academic world) is your oyster!

    If you can't find any resources there, then check if there have been reviews in literary or film magazines for your text. These are also fair game to be integrated in your essay.

    In the case that there are either no critics (or no useful critics) then what I would suggest is to quote from the theories of scholars in literature and film studies. What do I mean by this? Often scholars don't write in relation to a particular text, but to the cultural trends and genres that texts exist in. You can then apply those more abstract ideas to your text.

    For example, my related text in Extension was the 2017 historical biopic Jackie. I applied the idea of the 'historical imagination' in film from writers like Hayden White and Robert Rosenstone to analyse why the film chose to depict history inaccurately on purpose to convey an 'emotional truth' about Jackie's interiority. Similarly, you can find more broad theories that apply to the text you are studying and quote those to prove your points.

    Tl;dr exhaust all avenues you have to find critics and when you reach that point apply more general theories to the specific text you are studying