Personal Blogs

11 August 2025

I’ve just come back from a couple of weeks of much needed leave.

A few days before heading away I was stuck down by a nasty stomach bug which meant that I couldn’t travel. Whilst recovering, I listened to a couple of audio books: a selection of stories by Katherine Mansfield (but not the exact same selection that have been selected from the module), and a listen to Under Milk Wood by Thomas, as narrated by Richard Burton. I liked Mansfield, but I loved the Thomas text. I remembered fragments from seeing a production of it in the 1990s at the national theatre.

I was planning on taking a lot of texts on holiday with me, but I culled the collection down to a practical core. Plus, I was told I might be getting a couple of the texts for my birthday.

When I finally got stuck into my holiday, I began with Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys, which I adored. It felt quite contextually topical, since I was going to be travelling via Paris on the way back (and I had been drinking a bit of wine to celebrate my break). Next up was Between the Acts by Woolf, which I hated. I found the introduction of the text really helpful, which attuned me to her prose style, but I felt the it was artificial and detracted from what was going on. Perhaps I’ll change my views when I get into the module materials.

Next up was Playboy of the Western World by Synge. Interestingly, there’s a production of this which is going to take place at the national theatre in the new year (I was tipped off about this by some chat in the Facebook group). Tickets have been booked. I have no idea whether it will coincide with the TMA schedule (the module website isn’t open yet). I quite liked it, and I started to think about the meaning of the various characters, and how much there was to decode. I’m sure we’ll get onto this when we get into the module materials.

I followed this by The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford. I really liked this one. Due to the focus on ‘the soldier’ I was reminded of the film The Talented Mr Ripley, which is probably a spurious comparison. I also though of The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which I read when it came out. One of the names of the characters is shared between these two texts.

Two of the birthday texts I received were The Mill on The Floss by George Eliot, and the Norton edition of Walden by Thoreau, which is (of course) different than the version that I had downloaded for my Kindle. I tore through The Mill on The Floss in about three days. I really like Eliot’s writing style; her very considered descriptions. I was really interested to learn that the novel is set in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. I’m guessing that the river Floss might have been inspired by the river Trent.

In the final couple of days, I managed to start the Thoreau text beginning with his essay Civil Disobedience, which has striking resonance today. I then found my way to the start of Walden, reading his chapter on the economics of living by a lake. I was then drawn to the biography section, asking myself the question: ‘who is this chap?’ I was also struck by how young he died.

I should also mention that I got the A334 result I was hoping for, which is a relief. I felt that the EMA assessment was very fair, and I can clearly see where I could have done better and gained a higher mark. There is always learning to be had.

I’m now back to my day, job triaging my inbox. I’m going to try to keep up the reading momentum and shall try to find some time to read some Thoreau every day; I feel it’s important to get ahead. I want to move onto Season of Migration to the North by Salh, which looks like an interesting read.

16 August 2025

The module website is open. It’s taken a few days to get there, but I’m starting to have a look around. I’ve read the introduction, and I’ve skim read the assessment guide. There are specific bits about TMAs 1 and 3. I think I’m going to enjoy TMA 3, even though it looks like it is going to be group work. Relating to the module website, a further task is to identify whether there are some resources that I can send to the Kindle. Before getting to this, I was directed to a short series of YouTube videos about Women Writers: Voices in Transition beginning with Katherine Mansfield.

A final note on this entry is that I’ve become an A335 WhatApp group co-moderator. There are already a number of messages. To answer a question, I need to look at what the A335 GenAI policy is. I’m sure it will be somewhere on the module website.

29 August 2025

Over the last week or so I’ve been trying to snatch a few moments here and there to read Walden. Just before a long drive, I downloaded a Walden audio book on Audible. It turns out there are quite a few of them, and one was even included in my Audible subscription. The audiobook ran to ten hours, but I realised that I had the equivalent of four hours of audiobook remaining, which was pretty much the length of my drive.

I’m going to have to go over it again if I use this text for any of my assignments, but I have concluded that Thoreau writes really well about squirrels.

I’ve downloaded his essay Walking which runs to an hour and three quarters, which I’m going to have to listen to whilst going on some walks. After this, I’ll continue my pre-reading with Salih. Then there’s the sci-fi novel, but I’m in no rush to read that one.