Personal Blogs

3 January 2026

Happy new year!

My previous TMA result has finally come in. I’ve had a look through the comments, and they are helpful. The big takeaway point is to work harder to integrate everything together – secondary sources, the text that is the focus of the analysis, and my opinions about everything. Also, it is important to make my opinions clear – do I agree or disagree with other critics? All this is good academic practice which I was never formally taught in my study of computing. With this in mind, I do feel as if I’m getting some useful additional academic training from studying English.

I’m looking forward to the next TMA. Over the winter break, I had a short break of a couple of days. During that time, I managed to choose and then read three articles for next TMA. When I got back, I’ve had a go to summarise them for when the TMA 3 discussion forum opens. What I need to do is to go through my chosen set text with a fine toothed comb, whilst thinking about the main essay question.

I managed to get a bit of extra ‘study’ done first thing this morning. Whilst lying in bed, I listed to a podcast by Emma Smith, a fabulous Shakespeare scholar from Oxford University I thought there might be a connection between a topic she raised and the forthcoming EMA question. Without too much messing about, I managed to track down the source, which I’ve now sent to my Kindle.

My final action of this morning is to eyeball the TMA 4 question, which is due in April. I have two immediate thoughts. The first is that it appears to be quite open, i.e. for a couple of the options we get to choose our own texts (if we wish to do so). The second is that there’s a group of texts that I’ve not yet read. I need to restart reading Salih and then move onto Calvino, but I’m a bit intimidated by its length. I have, however, booked time off in leave for the beginning of March, so I might be okay.

5 January 2026

I tried to download a version of the Salih text, but it isn’t available on the Kindle, so I downloaded a copy of Cosmicomics. I have a paper version, but I don’t have it with me at the moment. I don’t like it. I’m nearly through the first 12 stories. I’m not, yet, at the point of wanting to throw it across the room (which I wanted to do with a Woolf text), but I’m not too far from it. I appreciate what it’s trying to do, but from my reading, I don’t think it works. It feels overly contrived. This is the extent of my literary analysis.

The TMA 3 wiki should open soon. I’ve asked my tutor a question, and has kindly responded. My next task is to read over what I’ve prepared and then post my text to the collaborative area. I then have a couple of weeks until I need to put my thoughts in order for the penultimate TMA. In the meantime, my day job is going to dominate.

This is my first day back. I think I need another holiday.

13 January 2026

My contribution to the collaborative literature review has been done. I’m quite pleased when what I managed to put together.

Over the last week or so I’ve been jumping around between different texts. I’ve abandoned Cosmicomics. I really don’t like it. This said, I have got part way through an audiobook version of Between the Acts, which isn’t as bad as I remembered. I got through a few chapters whilst on a long drive. I’ll try to start it again when I have another long drive in a couple of weeks.

After seeing a fabulous play, I was inspired to read Stuff Happens by Hare, another of our set texts. I tore through it in under a day and found it thoroughly enjoyable. Given all the current political insanity, it came across as being unexpectedly quaint.

I’ve just finished listening to a cluster tutorial that was about another drama, The Playboy of the Western World. The tutor was fabulous, and packed in a whole lot of detail that either had passed me by, or I hadn’t known about. I might well go back and give it another listen. We were also given a link to a video recording of the play which I’m going to watch. I’ve already listened to an audio recording of it, which I found through Drama Online, but I haven’t (yet) got the entire sense of the play. I’ll really know what is what when I get to see it at The National at the end of next month – I just wish that I had booked in to see it earlier.

My next steps: I’ve downloaded another secondary source – a paper about modernism, and The Aran Islands by Synge and have sent these to my Kindle. I’m going to take myself off to a coffee shop, get out my virtual highlighter, and perform the role of an English student. (I would enjoy it more if I wasn’t so stressed about editing and writing materials for my day job!)

14 January 2026

I’ve started the modernism paper, but I got distracted. I recently found a copy of Reading and Criticism by Raymond Williams, published in 1955. Williams is mentioned in the module materials.

I have about 3 chapters to go: a chapter on reading drama, a chapter on bringing criticism all together, and a chapter about the role of literature in society. I read one first thing this morning. I’m hoping to get another one read by the end of the day.

16 January 2026

I’ve been to a few more tutorials. I was at the guest lecture about Ford last night, and ended up getting a bit confused. A lot of words were used. Just when I think I’m ‘getting’ modernism, a whole bunch of other ideas about it are thrown my way. I now have the job of picking through them all, and figuring out how the relate to my chosen text.

I’ve downloaded a bunch of papers from a Cambridge Companion, and have downloaded a couple of papers recommended by students. What I’ve got to do now is to read (and understand) everything, which is a whole lot easier said than done.

I keep thinking about the final TMA. I would like to pair Rhys with another text. That text must have been published between the years of 1932 and 1946, but I have no idea which text to choose. I have, however, found two useful resources (albeit a resource that is also trying to sell us books). Both are lists from Penguin. The first is 20 books that defined the 1930s. The second is, perhaps unsurprisingly, Books that shaped the 1940s. There are quite a few I’ve not heard of, and there are quite a few that I fancy reading. I’m sure we’ll be offered quite a bit of guidance when it comes to TMA 4.

19 January 2026

I think I’ve decided what to pair the Rhys text with (spoiler alert: it isn’t Woolf). I’ve ordered a cheap second hand copy of my chosen text from a popular second hand marketplace. If I hate the text, I have a lot of time to choose something else. I hope to have a good look at it next week.

I’m continuing with my reading of criticism of The Playboy of the Western World. To try to make more sense of it, I managed to spend a couple of hours watching something called the Druid production. I watched it whilst reading the Project Gutenberg edition on my Kindle whilst making the occasional set of notes. I now have a lot more of a sense of the play. It is a curious piece. It is completely over the top, and patently ridiculous, but I quite like it.

I have two other things to do. Look up both Synge and modernism in two reference books I have at home. There’s also a tutorial about Synge this evening. I’ll then consolidate my secondary reading. I should be able to start writing either at the end of this week, or the start of next week.

Something else. My tutor has shared an additional resource which relates to modernism and a bit of the forthcoming TMA. I’ve downloaded it and have sent it to my Kindle.

There’s always more stuff to read.

22 January 2026

I’m very nearly ready to get stuck in with my essay. I thought I would have a good old go at it this morning. Before I got cracking, I noticed that a tutor had shared some slides from their Synge tutorial. I downloaded them, opened them, and had a quick browse through. I don’t (yet) think my critical eye is as refined as it could be. I need to sit down with the text, and the PowerPoint slides, and go through them both carefully.

Whilst on a break, I jumped ahead to a bit of the final TMA; I started to re-read the opening of Good morning, Midnight. I really like this text. In the same morning, I received delivery of a text that I think I might pair it with. I’ll have to see if it’ll work.

Here’s my plan: quickly review the additional resource (which I said I would do) that tutors have been sharing, eyeball all the critical articles I’ve downloaded, and then start to pick apart passages from Playboy.

27 January 2026

This TMA 3 essay is doing my head in. I’m finding it really slippery. I’ve finished making loads of notes, but I’m worried that in the process of trying to distil everything down, my chosen argument might be way too complicated. There is a simple reason for this: the more that I have read, the more I see the different ways that the play can be understood. I have some thoughts about the passages that I’ve chosen, but I feel I need to write them down to see if they may any sense. I’m at a point where I feel I need to get this done.

I also feel as if I’m at a similar point in the module as I was last year with A334 - feeling a bit tired and confused. I’ll be really glad when this one is out of the way. I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with all the sources I’ve tried to make sense of.

30 January 2026

My TMA has gone in. I think it is as best as it can be. It has gone in way early, simply because I need to manage my workload.

Last night I started to listen to the Rhys audio materials, which I really liked and finished listening to them this morning. I tried to find a recording of the BBC radio play that was mentioned. I wasn’t successful, but I did find a radio programme about Good Morning, Midnight by comedian Josie Long. Her episode of The Exploding Library is really worth a listen. I even found a few minutes to look in the library, and have already downloaded a couple of critical articles which might be useful later. My next step is to go back to re-reading Good Morning, Midnight.

7 March 2024

This is a cheeky retrospective post, but I’m adding it to mark a date. In my spare time (of which, I don’t have too much!) I run a comedy night. Inspired by the TMA question, I have a go at writing a satirical and political fairy tale, called (unimaginatively) A Fairy Tale of Lewisham. After a bit of editing, and a poorly timed practice session, I read it out. It got a couple of laughs, and a round of applause. I’m glad I have done it, but I have no idea whether I can use the basis of what I’ve done in my TMA. To answer this question, I ask my tutor. 

15 March 2024

I’ve been a bit rubbish updating this study log recently, since I’ve been in what you might call a ‘valley of marking’; I’ve had to turn around the marking for two different important modules reasonably quickly. I also know that my new A233 tutor has been in a similar situation; she has since has returned my TMA 2 and TMA 3, and has provided some really helpful feedback which really got me thinking.

After what has become a mild study hiatus, I have returned to my books again. Today I’ve been working through understanding what is needed from the week 20 and week 21 online materials. I’ve nearly finished working through all the video and audio materials, which has helped me to understand what reading I’ve got to do.

I have, however, read the first couple of chapters of the module materials, but I need to go over them again, and then find my way to chapter 3 if I have any chance of keeping on track.

I think I know what TMA 4 option I’m going to do. As it happened, I had a go of writing something before I had thoroughly had a look at the TMA question.

I have four things to do. The first is to listen (and make notes about) the final audio recording in week 21. Next up (I think) is to return to the block text and return to where I was reading, and then to read a whole long list of tales I had noted down from the week 21 online materials. The final activity is to try to catch up on some of the tutorials, since I’ve missed a couple of them. I feel that my current study approach isn’t very systematic, but I feel as if I’m continuing to learn from everything.

There has been some various chats on one of the A233 Facebook groups: some fellow students are clearly enjoying this bit of the module. There are also some interesting opinions about Angela Carter. I don’t quite ‘get’ her stories yet, but other students and tutors really like her work. I’ve yet to work through the materials about Freud (which I’m a bit sceptical about, to say the least) but I’m hoping to get onto that today.

So, all in all, some progress. I am looking forward to the Shakespeare bit of the module when I get there.

30 March 2023

I think I’m getting behind since I have remained in my valley of marking for longer than expected.

I needed to decide how to spend my time. Rather than working towards writing TMAs, I needed to focus on marking TMAs. This said, a couple of weeks back, aware that thing were running away from me, I have read through a couple of chapters from the module materials – I just need to reassess where I am.

In addition to the work, I’ve had to drop everything to help my parents with a few things. This led me to ask myself another question: to help me keep on track, what can I practically do to keep on track, or to take a strategic approach with my studies? 

Knowing that I had a long car journey, I managed to listen to the audio version of Simon Armitage’s translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This gave me a very good idea of what the text was all about. Completing this, I also managed to find an episode of In Our Time which covered the same text and also featured an appearance by Armitage. I this programme to be really helpful, adding a bit more context.

Aware that The Tempest is going to be featured in the EMA, I had a thought: could I adopt a similar approach? I found a Royal Shakespeare Company production in an online service called Drama Online, which all students can access. I watched the performance and tried to follow the text at the same time. Although useful, my immediate and full blown exposure to the play did cause me to miss some of the important details, such as who the characters were. My excuse being that I kept getting distracted, to view the play in a number of episodes,

There was a curious resource that was helpful: the CBeebies production of The Tempest. There also appears to be a CBeebies Radio version, which I’m mentioning here, just in case I get the time to have a listen! These links may, of course, stop working at any point.

1 November 2023

I went to a tutorial about Wharton that was led by a member of the module team and a tutor. It was fabulous! We looked at some close reading skills, which I sense is something that I need to get better at. I asked some questions about the TMA, and got quite a few tips. What I need to do is to edit my TMA template, and get started with reading, and re-reading the passages that we have to analyse.

The presenters mentioned that it is a good idea to complete the module team’s version of the study log, which offers some guidance about reading, and gives us spaces to make some notes. I need to look at this. I also need to look at the activity for week 6, which I think is coming up soon. I’m not adhering to the study calendar as closely as I feel as I ought to; I’m in a situation where I’m trying to get ahead, but ‘life’ and ‘work’ things keep setting me back.

Another comment I’ll make is that I’m nearly through reading the Blunden text for the first time. There was an interesting comment in the tutorial that Wharton also wrote about WW1.

Just to remind myself: I need to edit up a TMA template, get my coloured pens out, and complete those Week 6 activities.

Back to the day job… 

11 November 2023

I’ve done quite a bit of reading. I’ve finished reading Blunden, which I found quite heavy going, and I’ve nearly found my way through The God of Small Things. 

This is my second time reading The God of Small Things. I first read it when it came out. I only got about a third of the way through before completely losing my way. Although I’m finding it quite a difficult read, I am getting into it, and its description. Since we have a choice in the next bit of the module, I think I’m still drawn to Blunden, but I will, of course, make my way through the module materials, just in case I change my mind at the very last minute.

It's time to prep for the writing of my TMA. 

I’ve already created a blank document with the title. My next step is to transcribe some of the headings from my tutorial notes onto the TMA document, so I remember what is important. When I’ve finished doing that, I’m going to go onto the close reading. My approach is to scribble on a printout of samples of text, with different colours of pen. I am to do my best to get a feel for the text, and hopefully come to a view about similarities and differences.

In between doing all of this, I’m going to go to the gym!

I did have a quick look at the study log files, which have been produced by the module team. I’m a bit worried that my study approach at the moment is predominantly strategic, rather than systematic. I have a lot on in my day job, and outside of my day job, which is why I’m a bit time poor at the moment. 

I need to follow my own advice, which is: “make an appointment with your own studies”.

16 November 2023

It’s TMA submission day!

After proof-reading a printout of my assignment, I make some last minute changes, and make a submission. 

My TMA is slightly under the word count, but I’m pretty happy with what I’ve submitted. I guess I’ll find out how I’ve done in a couple of weeks.

22 November 2023

Almost a week has passed and I’ve hardly done anything!

The last thing I’ve done, which was a couple of days ago, was to look at a book club activity, which was to listen to interviews with various academics about their favourite text, and why they should choose it.

Amongst all the options, I remain drawn to The Age of Innocence, for the simple reason that I really enjoyed The Custom of the Country. I don’t know whether comparing the book club text with a book by a different author would be a good idea. I guess this is a question for one of the tutorials, or to go directly to my tutor. Either way, I need to find some time to do some serious reading of The Age of Innocence.