Monday, September 11, 2006

Horrendously Busy!

These last three weeks have been a challenge in many senses, since I seem to have bitten off more than I thought I could chew! First of all, there were the pressing needs of getting the kids back to school, which were compounded by the taking on of a new job.

The job in itself is simply a means to an end - cash - so I won't go on about it.

But the real sticking point was trying to tie up late course essays, which in effect are a form of revision. On the nineteenth century course, the emphasis was on comparing and contrasting an earlyish text with a later nineteenth century text in terms of context and how that could add greater meaning to the text. At least that is how I interpreted the essay choice! I can now say that I have revised Jane Eyre and Dracula to the point of distraction and hope that either of those novels might prove useful in the exaxm.

On the twentieth century course, I am in the process of judging two novels (Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah, and Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig), for an imagined literary prize and am still working out which one should win. I am notoriously indecisive and keep wavering between one novel over another. The problem is that the more I look at them the more I like them both!

Once this prevaricating is out of the way, it only remains for me to do a lot of revision and the exam for the nineteenth century course on the 11th October. Which brings me up short at the realisation of today's date.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Faith - you'll do it!

David Todd said...

Go for Abdulrazak Gurnah with a surname like that how could he/she not win. Also wouldn't a book by Abdulrazak Gurnah be eye level in a bookshop and more likely to sell.

Anonymous said...

You certainly do have your work cut out for you! Thanks for keeping us informed. Wouldn't it be nice if there were more than 24 hours in a day?

apprentice said...

Yes it sounds like a lot of work, even just getting the kids booted and spurred and back to school and then working as well is no mean feat. Studying on top of that is just amazing.

BTW I really like your tattie poem.