http://www.frankjfoley.com en-gb frankjfoley.com 2011-9-1T00:00:00Z frankjfoley.com http://www.frankjfoley.com/page5.htm#101298 Final class of the course Great American Writers looking at Saul Bellow John Updike and Thomas Pynchon. Second session on The Crying of Lot 49 focussed on the social and cultural significance of Pynchon style. Class members noted a marked difference in Pynchons writing compared to the previous novels studied namely Updikes Rabbit Run and Bellows Seize the Day. Whereas the Updike and Bellow books are recognisably realist in their own way Pynchons novel seems to take that reality and twist it through the prisms of science narcotics and neuroses.Two things seemed to stand out for the group. Firstly Pynchons blending of real history with its fictional counterpart i.e. Thrum and Taxis and the Tristero. Class members were aware of historical and contemporary allusion though some felt them to be distracting. For me this is exactly the effect Pynchon is trying to create a near constant stream of information most of it difficult to define as true or false but there nonetheless working on you d... 2011-8-27 17:45:22 http://www.frankjfoley.com/page5.htm#70639 This week sees the start of a series of classes on The Outsider by Camus. I ran this class last year in Whitstable and it was fascinating we had two very interesting sessions on it. Its been a pleasure to go over all the background work again and Ive managed to find some good critical essays. Issues to be discussed I hope include the absurd meaning and meaninglessness in life justice the individual and Camus narrative style. Tenterden on Wednesday 21st July. Petham on Thursday 22nd July. Folkestone on Wednesday 28th July. Updates on how these classes go to follow 2010-7-18 08:41:17 http://www.frankjfoley.com/page5.htm#68801 Had a wonderful class on Wednesday looking at Poes stories. Some great ideas about The Fall of the House of Usher as an allegory of American society with themes of incest and family breakdown noted also. Others felt that the Gothic tones of the story were overdone that perhaps Poe put too much into it. The Pit and thr Pendulum made a great impact on the clas. Poes ability to manipulate the reader to place the reader in almost the same powerless position as the narrator of the story is quite wonderful. 2010-6-25 10:18:55 http://www.frankjfoley.com/page5.htm#67700 Just back from our final class on Virginia Woolf. Today looking at A Room of Ones Own. Generally good reception for this with most of the class appreciating the impact of the text politically even though for some Woolfs style will never be one that pleases There was a varied opinion as to whether much has REALLY changed in terms of the attitudes of men regarding the question of women even though on the surface much has changed. The cleverness and beauty of some of the writing the humour were all mentioned and so too Woolfs questioning of the concept of absolute Truth. Also the way she blurs lines between fact and ficiton. All good points and a jolly good class Atonement by Ian McEwan next week 2010-6-11 14:53:51 http://www.frankjfoley.com/page5.htm#67527 Well a fabulous class yesterday studying Michael Ondaatjes The English Patient. So many interesting points were raised and not for the first time a class is split when dealing with a nonconventional narrative. Some love this disorientation and the having to work much harder as a reader and for others it is frustrating trickery and obfuscation. A main area for discussion was boundaries and how Ondaatje blurs lines between what might seem to be black and white issues. Caravaggio the criminal in normal civil society becomes a skilled utility and very employable in the context of war. The idea of history as a fixed definite thing is called into question with the introduction of Hereodotus into the narrative. The father of history is also just a man collecting stories and if were are inclined to a sense of curiosity we might follow this thread and ask ourselves What is history Is it It happen this way or This is one view of what happened. We covered so much in the session and it was a s... 2010-6-9 16:20:22 http://www.frankjfoley.com/page5.htm#66850 Yesterdays we focussed on Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness which seemed on the whole to get rather a rough ride from the class. Some felt it bleak and depressing and others I think found the symbolism of the book a kind of evasion that Conrad was indulging in a kind of trickery in suggesting some essence or inner truth without naming what it is. But surely that is the point. Weve all felt that sense of beauty or wonderment at the world a piece of music a work of art dare I say a work of literature and felt at the same time incapable of describing it in words. We feel something but expression of the feeling in language eludes us. We are swept away we catch our breath we are moved to tears or soar for a moment in pure delight. We feel these moments of Being as Woolf calls them or Joycean epiphanies at some intuitive level and we know it somehow and yet they are fleeting and once they are gone we are left with the impossible task of describing them.... Anyway. Conrads book has a force ... 2010-6-3 10:53:57 http://www.frankjfoley.com/page5.htm#66689 The first day of a new month seems a fitting time to begin a blog spot Had a particularly enjoyable class this morning in Herne Bay. In focus was Coetzees Booker prize winning Disgrace. Some excellent points were raised in regards the theme of power in the novel and how power relations play out in every aspect of society be it gender relations racial differences institutional power familial and personal ties and even the sheer weight of historical narratives pressing on the lives of individuals. As usual with my classes I leave with my mind spinning. Does the individual have any moral obligations to the historical and thus always political narratives he or she is thrown into Perhaps the question should be How far do these moral obligations go As a class I think we acknowledged the sheer brilliance of Coetzee in being able to manipulate us the reader to angle us into postions where the grounds for the judgements we have already made are shifted suddenly made quicksand where they were... 2010-6-1 15:06:59