Posted in Short Stories, Tasks on May 29, 2008 | 30 Comments »
The short story we are going to discuss today was written by an author who is famous all around the world, whose name is familiar even to people who have never read a single line of his works: Salman Rushdie.
As there is a lot of good material about him available online, I’ve decided to [...]
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Posted in Short Stories, Tasks on May 26, 2008 | 31 Comments »
Have you ever watched a film with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, called “The remains of the day?” If so, then you have already been in contact with the work of Kazuo Ishiguro, the author of the short story we are going to discuss today, “A family supper”. The film was based on his [...]
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Posted in Short Stories, Tasks on May 19, 2008 | 30 Comments »
Our discussion today will focus on the short story “Weekend”, written by Fay Weldon and first published in Cosmopolitan in 1978.
According to a short text available at the British Council Teaching Resources website,
It concerns a middle class family from London with three children spending a weekend in their country cottage. Although the story deals with [...]
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Posted in Short Stories, Tasks on May 15, 2008 | 39 Comments »
Maybe the name Ian McEwan sounds familiar to some of you as the author of the novel Atonement…
… on which the 2007 film by the same name was based (in Brazil, it was horribly translated as “Desejo e Reparação”)…
Maybe others will remember he was one of the guests in Paraty for FLIP in 2004. Still others will remember his name as [...]
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Posted in Announcements, Tasks on May 12, 2008 | 32 Comments »
Hi, everybody!
I know it’s still a little early to think about the end of the semester, but as we’re having a different kind of class this term, I’d like to make everything clear to you in advance, so you have time to plan ahead.
1. Posts
According to our course syllabus, our last activity will be posted [...]
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Posted in Short Stories, Tasks on May 12, 2008 | 42 Comments »
In private desperation, Raymond Carver’s characters struggle through their lives, knowing, with occasional clarity, that the good life they once hoped would be achieved through hard work will not come about. (Philip Carson – unfortunately, the link where I found this sentence is outdated…)
In a great number of his stories, including those used by [...]
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Humor has always been a very powerful tool when it comes to criticism. With this (sort of) obvious sentence in mind, today we are going to discuss the short story “Nine needles”, by James Thurber.
To learn more about Thurber, one of the most celebrated humorists and cartoonists of contemporary American Literature, consult the following links:
- Thurber [...]
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I’ve been noticing that most of you never go back to a post after you have commented on it. This is not the way it should be.
I have made some comments on “A Rose for Emily”, “Good Country People” and “Miriam”, asking some extra questions and expecting feedback. The most recent comments are always listed [...]
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Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile!
One of the few good things about modern times: if you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.
I think that novels that leave out technology misrepresent [...]
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Posted in Announcements, Tasks on May 5, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Hello everybody!
Maybe I’ll be a little late in posting your task for today, as I didn’t have time to prepare it in advance… Sorry for that.
In the meantime, I’d like to remind you to go back to the older posts where I have already inserted my comments (check the list of recent comments on the right), so [...]
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