Edited by Christopher Douce, Wednesday 30 September 2026 at 18:22
1 September 2026
I’ve had a reasonably successful study weekend over the bank holiday.
I’ve found another BBC programme about Conrad: Heart of Darkness: Fear and Loathing in the Congo which is a part of The Rest is History podcast series. The Fear and Loathing episode is presented in two parts, but in a single recording. It also happens to speak to some of the resources that are featured in our Norton Critical Edition.
There are three other podcasts which relate to the history of the Congo. I’ve listened to the first one (and fell asleep during the second), which also mentions Conrad. Just so I can find them relatively easily again, here are direct links to the recordings:
The first time I heard of Conrad was over thirty years ago, when chatting with a contemporary who was studying English Lit. I remember being shown a copy of the text, and being told that the writer was some sort of Polish genius. My contemporary had just started his degree, which also meant that The Heart of Darkness was one of the first texts that he was studying.
Whilst listening to these podcasts, I did question why this text wasn’t featured in the OU undergraduate degree. The only reason that I’ve arrived at is that it might be ‘too much’. This said, it is important to never shy away from the topics that are hard to discuss. I’m also assuming that postgrad students are more equipped with technical skill and knowledge to be able to make sense of the text.
Keeping with the Conrad theme, and being aware of it being a modernist text, I started to read Berman’s All That is Solid Melts into Air, but I didn’t get very far. Instead, I turned to An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory by Bennett and Royle, which is very readable. I found my way to chapters entitled ‘The Colony’ and ‘Racial Difference’, and look forward to reading ‘Migrant’. I like Bennett and Royle.
Before the weekend was out, and with one on the next module, I watched a production of Ben Jonson’s Volpone from Drama Online. It was an impressive production, and an impressive play (that is the extent of my current literary criticism). Like a lot of the reading, listening and watching, I have to let it all sit with me for a while.
There was another resource I noticed from Drama Online that I will probably watch: Shakespeare Uncovered Series 2, Episode 6 - King Lear with Christopher Plummer. I’ll probably browse through all the other episodes.
2 September 2026
The dates of all the tutorials are out.
Following what I did as an undergraduate. I booked myself onto all of them.
4 September 2026
All the books I’ve recently ordered have turned up.
I now have Thlong’o’s A Grain of Wheat, Henri Barbusse’s Under Fire, and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. I read the intro to Things Fall Apart, which was written by Biyi Bandele. The cover page inside the text mentioned that he had written an adaptation of Behn’s Oroonoko, which immediately piqued my interest. I looked him up, and I was shocked and saddened by what I found out.
My next step: to return to the module materials, and then to find the time to read Things Fall Apart.
10 September 2026
I’ve managed to read Things Fall Apart, which I really liked. I’ve started Thiong'o’s A Grain of Wheat, but I’ve had to put a pause on reading it (for now), since I have some other work I need to do.
I’ve just finished listening to the introductory module wide tutorial that was recorded by the module chair, Anthony Howell. It was really good. Here are some useful points that I noted down:
We can choose any path through the three module strands; it is up to us, and we can change our minds if we need to. All the resources for all strands are in the resources section of the VLE.
AI: avoid using it. Tutors will reward idiosyncratic writing. They often notice boring machine generated writing. ‘AI cannot understand, appreciate or bear witness on your behalf’. When it comes to ‘bearing witness’; it cannot experience the wonder of what is read or shared through literature.
‘Note taking is your superpower’.
Enjoy the pain of writing your first draft of your assignment (which sounds weirdly masochistic, but I appreciate the point).
Keep going; maintain momentum.
11 September 2026
An email came in about something called OU Students Connect which I’ve never heard of before. A year or so ago, the student’s union was changed from OUSA to Open SU. I’m aware that Open SU has all these groups, but I’ve never looked into them. I’m saving this link so I can have a browse at some point.
I missed a tutorial, but I’ve caught up with the recording.
I picked up the following points, which struck me as being particularly helpful:
The MA degree classification is entirely dependent on the result of the dissertation module. Students need to only pass A893.
Your dissertation for the next module is 14k words. A893 is all about your writing and research skills.
The dissertation module will be mostly one-to-one sessions, which will focus on your individual project (whatever it might be).
In A893, there is a choice of questions in some TMAs. Before you start, It is a good idea to contact your tutor about your question choice, just to check to make sure it is okay.
Be aware of the critical debates that surround a text.
In this tutorial, we covered some of the principles of close reading, which is a topic that will be explored within the next tutorial.
13 September 2026
A productive day. I’ve managed to read through units 4, 5 and 6. In unit 5, which is all about translation, I enjoyed a video of a talk entitled The myths and mysteries of literary translation by David Bellos. This is a part of the Sebald Lecture series (YouTube) produced by the British Centre for Literary Translation. I was really intrigued to hear of a translator called Tatiana Gnedich (Wikipedia) who has a really remarkable story.
Continuing this topic, I’ve dug out a PDF version of Benjamin’s essay The Task of the Translator, and have emailed it to my Kindle to read later.
The unit of adaptation really resonated with me. For the last year (or so), I’ve been running a background thread in my head where I’ve been idly daydreaming about what form a screenplay about the dramatic works of Aphra Behn might look like.
I’ve enjoyed this bit. These two units have solidified two subjects that I only had a very vague awareness of: translation studies, and adaptation studies. Both are tied together with unit 4, which is all about how to access archives, which is going to be useful for the dissertation module.
15 September 2026
I’ve just managed to a tutorial that was about the history surrounding Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. It was really dense, and packed filled with detail. It also covered the way in which the three strands of the MA may be used to understand the novel.
The next tutorial is next week. I think I’m going to reassess where I’ve got with my unit reading, and the move back to the Norton Critical Edition (NCE). There’s a lot of accompanying material that I need to get my head around.
24 September 2026
I’ve been in a bit of a ‘marking hole’ recently, which I’ve managed to get out of, and then I needed to catch up with my day job.
I went to a really good tutorial last night that discussed the TMA and provided broad coverage of the secondary reading that is presented within the NCE. There were a couple of papers that looked to be of interest which I’ve managed to dig out from the university library. One is an essay entitled ‘Threshold Concepts in Literary Studies’ which looks to be of particular interest. A quick glance of the abstract highlights the concept of ‘form’, which was a key topic within the EMA in the previous module that I’ve studied.
I’ve now created an empty TMA 1 file, ready for my TMA notes.
As a brief aside, I’ve been also continuing to think about dissertation ideas. I’ve created an A894 folder and I’m starting to save links to library resources, and documents. I’m probably getting ahead of myself, but it would be good to set a direction.
My next action is to see where I am in my study calendar, and then I’ll get into the NCE properly.
29 September 2026
I’ve finished re-reading Heart of Darkness whilst listening to an audio book version (just to make sure that I’ve got a proper handle on what is going on in the text). There are some bits that I’ve highlighted that are annoyingly ambiguous, which I guess is deliberate.
Last night there was a tutorial about the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) approach to referencing. It wasn’t very exciting, but it was very comprehensive, which I really appreciated. I’m a bit grumpy that we’re being asked to use something different to Harvard, but I kind of like the style.
30 September 2026
Our forum moderator has shared a set of links to some textbooks that are all about critical theory. They looks really useful! I’ve saved all the links to a folder called ‘resources’ where I keep everything else that I’ve downloaded.
I have also saved a couple of links to my TMA 1 folder, for when I begin to properly prepare for the first TMA. I’m going to a tutorial this evening. I’m then going to read articles from the NCE, get my thoughts together, and then get started on the TMA properly.
A893 Journal - September 2026
1 September 2026
I’ve had a reasonably successful study weekend over the bank holiday.
I’ve found another BBC programme about Conrad: Heart of Darkness: Fear and Loathing in the Congo which is a part of The Rest is History podcast series. The Fear and Loathing episode is presented in two parts, but in a single recording. It also happens to speak to some of the resources that are featured in our Norton Critical Edition.
There are three other podcasts which relate to the history of the Congo. I’ve listened to the first one (and fell asleep during the second), which also mentions Conrad. Just so I can find them relatively easily again, here are direct links to the recordings:
The first time I heard of Conrad was over thirty years ago, when chatting with a contemporary who was studying English Lit. I remember being shown a copy of the text, and being told that the writer was some sort of Polish genius. My contemporary had just started his degree, which also meant that The Heart of Darkness was one of the first texts that he was studying.
Whilst listening to these podcasts, I did question why this text wasn’t featured in the OU undergraduate degree. The only reason that I’ve arrived at is that it might be ‘too much’. This said, it is important to never shy away from the topics that are hard to discuss. I’m also assuming that postgrad students are more equipped with technical skill and knowledge to be able to make sense of the text.
Keeping with the Conrad theme, and being aware of it being a modernist text, I started to read Berman’s All That is Solid Melts into Air, but I didn’t get very far. Instead, I turned to An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory by Bennett and Royle, which is very readable. I found my way to chapters entitled ‘The Colony’ and ‘Racial Difference’, and look forward to reading ‘Migrant’. I like Bennett and Royle.
Before the weekend was out, and with one on the next module, I watched a production of Ben Jonson’s Volpone from Drama Online. It was an impressive production, and an impressive play (that is the extent of my current literary criticism). Like a lot of the reading, listening and watching, I have to let it all sit with me for a while.
There was another resource I noticed from Drama Online that I will probably watch: Shakespeare Uncovered Series 2, Episode 6 - King Lear with Christopher Plummer. I’ll probably browse through all the other episodes.
2 September 2026
The dates of all the tutorials are out.
Following what I did as an undergraduate. I booked myself onto all of them.
4 September 2026
All the books I’ve recently ordered have turned up.
I now have Thlong’o’s A Grain of Wheat, Henri Barbusse’s Under Fire, and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. I read the intro to Things Fall Apart, which was written by Biyi Bandele. The cover page inside the text mentioned that he had written an adaptation of Behn’s Oroonoko, which immediately piqued my interest. I looked him up, and I was shocked and saddened by what I found out.
My next step: to return to the module materials, and then to find the time to read Things Fall Apart.
10 September 2026
I’ve managed to read Things Fall Apart, which I really liked. I’ve started Thiong'o’s A Grain of Wheat, but I’ve had to put a pause on reading it (for now), since I have some other work I need to do.
I’ve just finished listening to the introductory module wide tutorial that was recorded by the module chair, Anthony Howell. It was really good. Here are some useful points that I noted down:
11 September 2026
An email came in about something called OU Students Connect which I’ve never heard of before. A year or so ago, the student’s union was changed from OUSA to Open SU. I’m aware that Open SU has all these groups, but I’ve never looked into them. I’m saving this link so I can have a browse at some point.
I missed a tutorial, but I’ve caught up with the recording.
I picked up the following points, which struck me as being particularly helpful:
In this tutorial, we covered some of the principles of close reading, which is a topic that will be explored within the next tutorial.
13 September 2026
A productive day. I’ve managed to read through units 4, 5 and 6. In unit 5, which is all about translation, I enjoyed a video of a talk entitled The myths and mysteries of literary translation by David Bellos. This is a part of the Sebald Lecture series (YouTube) produced by the British Centre for Literary Translation. I was really intrigued to hear of a translator called Tatiana Gnedich (Wikipedia) who has a really remarkable story.
Continuing this topic, I’ve dug out a PDF version of Benjamin’s essay The Task of the Translator, and have emailed it to my Kindle to read later.
The unit of adaptation really resonated with me. For the last year (or so), I’ve been running a background thread in my head where I’ve been idly daydreaming about what form a screenplay about the dramatic works of Aphra Behn might look like.
I’ve enjoyed this bit. These two units have solidified two subjects that I only had a very vague awareness of: translation studies, and adaptation studies. Both are tied together with unit 4, which is all about how to access archives, which is going to be useful for the dissertation module.
15 September 2026
I’ve just managed to a tutorial that was about the history surrounding Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. It was really dense, and packed filled with detail. It also covered the way in which the three strands of the MA may be used to understand the novel.
The next tutorial is next week. I think I’m going to reassess where I’ve got with my unit reading, and the move back to the Norton Critical Edition (NCE). There’s a lot of accompanying material that I need to get my head around.
24 September 2026
I’ve been in a bit of a ‘marking hole’ recently, which I’ve managed to get out of, and then I needed to catch up with my day job.
I went to a really good tutorial last night that discussed the TMA and provided broad coverage of the secondary reading that is presented within the NCE. There were a couple of papers that looked to be of interest which I’ve managed to dig out from the university library. One is an essay entitled ‘Threshold Concepts in Literary Studies’ which looks to be of particular interest. A quick glance of the abstract highlights the concept of ‘form’, which was a key topic within the EMA in the previous module that I’ve studied.
I’ve now created an empty TMA 1 file, ready for my TMA notes.
As a brief aside, I’ve been also continuing to think about dissertation ideas. I’ve created an A894 folder and I’m starting to save links to library resources, and documents. I’m probably getting ahead of myself, but it would be good to set a direction.
My next action is to see where I am in my study calendar, and then I’ll get into the NCE properly.
29 September 2026
I’ve finished re-reading Heart of Darkness whilst listening to an audio book version (just to make sure that I’ve got a proper handle on what is going on in the text). There are some bits that I’ve highlighted that are annoyingly ambiguous, which I guess is deliberate.
Last night there was a tutorial about the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) approach to referencing. It wasn’t very exciting, but it was very comprehensive, which I really appreciated. I’m a bit grumpy that we’re being asked to use something different to Harvard, but I kind of like the style.
30 September 2026
Our forum moderator has shared a set of links to some textbooks that are all about critical theory. They looks really useful! I’ve saved all the links to a folder called ‘resources’ where I keep everything else that I’ve downloaded.
I have also saved a couple of links to my TMA 1 folder, for when I begin to properly prepare for the first TMA. I’m going to a tutorial this evening. I’m then going to read articles from the NCE, get my thoughts together, and then get started on the TMA properly.