My personal SUISS and SCSSSF experience

UPDATE (2013-Feb-27): Notice - for those who read this because of the E-Learning and Digital Cultures course on Coursera: I have decided to revisit this older text of mine as an example of the possibility of sharing and revisiting, reconstructing old experiences (particularly this Edinburgh one) while reflecting the new - a practice which I maintain quite a lot both on- and offline

When I have a noticed a small advertisement at our noticeboard at the University of Presov in Slovakia, where I was in the middle of my Master's at the time, I did not realize at first that it would stir an eye-opening experience, that would later directly lead to me creating a course on English Literature from a blank slate and being in a process of creating a set of tools which could work both as a real text-books and set of online tools (such as this blog, and the EdModo site, which we currently use at our Centre of Continuing Education of the Comenius University in Bratislava)


I have always been interested in English Literature and academic environment in the UK. I have also wondered how do the classes on literature compare to some uninspiring classes we had in Slovakia and Poland. Therefore I have looked up the SCSSS Fund website, where I have found out about the Scottish Universities International Summer School (SUISS or “The School” as it is nicknamed) based at Edinburgh University.


There was little time left on both applications but I have decided to ask for my letters of reference and give it a good chance. Getting reference was most time-consuming in the process, given that I have asked not only our Literature department head from Prešov Doctor Tomášik but also e-mailed our Institute Professor Fabiny, a Shakespearean scholar residing in Budapest. I am grateful to both of them for their exceptional classes and support. I am also grateful to both the SCSSS Fund and SUISS for accepting my last moment digital application (thanks to the Icelandic volcano which name I cannot pronounce to this day) and guiding me through the process of administration.

Course Administrator Nan (left) with Directors Julia and Konstantina and their loyal student host Goran

I should also voice my gratitude to Ms Linhartova who forwarded me a contact on a Czech IT student with an accommodation offer I could not refuse. It was a modestly priced room in a flat located in perfect midpoint between the School and the Pollock Halls where the rest of students and cultural part of the programme resided. Another advantage was that I could get to Edinburgh few days earlier, meet the Administrators for guidance, register at the University Library and IT system and pick up few books I have ordered before my arrival on Aug 6.

Pollock Halls. Course students at an evening reading by fellow Creative Writing students

Equipped with books and several days dedicated to study and exploring the surrounding area (magnificient Arthur’s Seat) I have entered my first lecture. The schedule at the Contemporary Literature course was intensive. Lectures were closely followed by seminars. It was all I could wish for, with heated and fruitful discussions. Renowned lecturers, tutors and fellow students gave insights and truly international perspective on most subjects on our reading list. Even during the coffee breaks, afternoons and evenings everyone was eager for conversation. This was intensified by the atmosphere of the festivals and cultural events we took part in. With our student host Goran we have even managed to spend a sunny day at the seaside in North Berwick. I will also remember the deeply moving conversation we had on charity and support with Ms. Beloff from SCSSS Fund.







By the second week of the School I have decided to explore my interest in JG Ballard in presentation and essay in pursuit of credits. During the writing of the essay I used help of the extraordinary National Library of Scotland collection, my tutor Karin Sellberg and especially the inspiration of three of Shakespeare’s plays I had seen at the Globe in London midway home during the week following the course. I am proud to say I have managed to successfully complete the course, and transfer the credits for the essay, books and experience safely to my home University and later to the Centre of Continuing  Education of the Comenius University in Bratislava where I curate the English Literature and Translation Course at the moment (late Feb 2013)





Reflecting Violence by Ondrej Koscik, SUISS 2010

C1 Literary Mayhem No.16 Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

before you read this: don't forget the gorilla case translation and, we have new books in the library, I will inform you tomorrow ;)

Hello, my name is Joseph Heller 

"Everyone in my book accuses everyone else of being crazy. Frankly, I think the whole society is nuts — and the question is: What does a sane man do in an insane society?"

We will find out in The Catch-22's chapter 1, The Texan:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4iDA8dEogrHSnlqOG5PZ29SbWUyUlN3aVVaMlZiQQ

you can read the rest of the book online 

more

Catch-22 (Best Scene) - YouTube youtube.com5. jún 2010 - 4 min. - Odovzdal(-a) Pauliet2 This scene truly captures the surreal comic horror of Heller's novel. Nothing else in the movie does.

Joseph Heller: Catch 22 - YouTube youtube.com21. júl 2010 - 27 min. - Odovzdal(-a) AllanGregg Joseph Heller, author of "Catch 22" joins Allan Gregg to discuss 40 years of one of the most used phrases in ...

Catch-22 50th Anniversary Animation on Vimeo vimeo.com17. okt. 2011 - 3 min. Illustrated/Animated by Ian Higginbotham Narration by William Rycroft Produced by Alan Trotter.

Jerry Mosey/APAuthor Joseph Heller in his publisher's office in New York 

Translation Excercise

Court blocks book about Gorilla case

13 Feb 2012Beata BalogováPolitics & Society

A SLOVAK court’s decision to block publication of an unfinished book about alleged high-level political corruption being written by investigative journalist Tom Nicholson, a former editor-in-chief of this newspaper, has been described by critics as censorship.

The presiding judge, Branislav Král, argued that he had weighed only two rights in reaching his judgement: the plaintiff’s right to protection of his person; and Nicholson’s right to free expression.

Prime Minister Iveta Radičová called the court’s decision a violation of the right to free speech. “It [the book] is not Mein Kampf,” Radičová said.

“I strongly object to [the ruling], but I cannot do anything more so as not to interfere in the independence of the courts.”

Petit Press director Alexej Fulmek and the head of the International Press Institute’s Slovak branch, Pavol Múdry, both described the court’s decision as censorship.

Múdry told The Slovak Spectator that the court’s decision in fact represented “preventive censorship, since the book has not yet been published and no one except the author knows what is in it”.

“This is how totalitarian regimes proceed,” Múdry continued. “Suspicions of large-scale corruption are in question and public funds are involved. In such a case the public interest must be placed above the protection of the reputation of an individual, whoever that person is.”

C1 Literary Mayhem No. 15 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

before you read this: please don't forget your answers/quotes on The Great Gatsby by Thursday. We'll start from those and have some fun with translation.

Hello fellow humans,

they call me Ray Bradbury and my job is to help you fall in love. "A life's work should be based on love," is what I say..

In the course of my life (I was born in 1920), I have written over ten novels and innumerable collections of short stories. 

But the one I value the most is called Fahrenheit 451. It is a dystopian novel, and 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which book paper burns.

Here's what we're going to read together:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4iDA8dEogrHM1BsNzd5ak1TbVM2andDMXo0emMzdw

if you're interested, you can also read the whole book online or borrow it from me

Enjoy!

p.s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVzc67YuRQE

Iconic author Ray Bradbury and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner talk with LATimes.com blogger Geoff Boucher (Hero Complex) about how TV and radio inspired Fahrenheit 451, the connection between the novel and Playboy magazine and why Bradbury thinks of himself as a "pomegranate."

C1/B2 Library Mayhem

Fellow friends, here is the list of new books in the library, donated from the SCSSS Fund Book Club

If you click at the book title, an Amazon.co.uk page will open for the edition that we have

Wilde,Oscar: Dorian Grey
 Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby 
 Stevenson, Robert Louis: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and other stories
 Amis, Martin: Time's Arrow
 Kelman, James: Selected  Stories
Hendry, J.F(ed):  The Penguin Book of Scottish Short Stories
 Greene, Graham: Brighton Rock
 Maguire, Susie: Furthermore


Defoe, Daniel: Robinson Crusoe
Collins, Wilkie: Moonstone
Dickens, Charles: The Tale of Two Cities
Bradbury, Ray: Fahrenheit 451


Dylan et Matlin (prod.): The Caedmon Short Story Collection 
James, Henry: Washington Square
Kerouac, Jack: Dharma Bums
Defoe Daniel: Moll Flanders
Twain, Mark: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Grisham, John: The Pelican Brief
Huxley, Aldous: Brave New World
Davies, David Stuart (ed.): Short Stories from the 19th Century
Salinger, JD: The Catcher in the Rye
James, Henry: Daisy Miller
Green, Graham: Under the Garden
Wharton, Edith: Madame of Treymes
Wells, H.G.: The Red Room and other Stories
Lawrence, D.H.: Sons and Lovers
Stevenson, Robert Louis: Treasure Island
Tolkien, J.R.R: The Hobbit
Orwell, George: Nineteen Eighty Four
Wellsh, Irvine: Trainspotting

And here's an new list of ALL books in our small literary library

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoiDA8dEogrHdEVwNWM4cjZVNXVSZW5SM0FMN0NJWGc

and a little experimental feature where you can order them according to the year published, author, title, level...

https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?snapid=S4073883oZF

If you want to borrow the books, or have any questions, contact me here or in class.

Thank you.

C1 Literary Mayhem No. 14 The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald

"Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known."

My name is Nick Carraway and I am telling you a story of my friend, Jay Gatsby:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4iDA8dEogrHNTdmYmRlNGYtOWQ0Ni00MDA4LWEzOGYtZTZkMWVhMjUzZDdk

I want you to read the story before the class and see if you can answer the questions here:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4iDA8dEogrHeUpXemhBb1FTQTJ3LVo0Ujlwc3IxUQ

The Great Gatsby (1925) is one of the greatest American classics. The novel was written in Paris by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and it has come to be seen as a representation of the Jazz Age (or Roaring Twenties).  Read the whole novel here  or borrow it from me ;)

more interesting Gatsbys

Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2E6F5B966E25A447

Great Gatsby explained in 60 seconds (tm)

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL926BEC0C4BBF2F64

Great Gatsby Adventure!

http://greatgatsbygame.com/

Could You Survive 1920s?

http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/games/game_0_1920s/

Fitzgerald Crossword Puzzle Contest - Puzzle Entry Form and Clues

 How much do you know about Fitzgerald's works and life? Print out the puzzle, complete it, and compare your answers to the solution.

C1 Literary Mayhem No.13/2 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Friends,

A writer should write what he has to say and not speak it. So, here's what I've got to say:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4iDA8dEogrHNzQ0ODU5NWQtMjQ5NS00NTg1LTk2ZTctNDdkNjMyMDcwZWJi

"For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed." (Ernest Hemingway's Nobel Prize Acceptance speech)

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1954 was awarded to Ernest Hemingway "for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC_ZksjsnRQ

Words from Ernest Hemingway and music from Fugazi. 
A Come Up, Kinch production.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LWb6_vPMN0

Gil (Owen Wilson) is introduced to Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll) in Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5ih1IRIRxI

Aleksandr Petrov, the one man Army behind this classic adaptation, has achieved so many well deserved prestigious awards for this once in a life time movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKeGQNxjNOA

readings from the novella, plus interviews with folks from Cuba who knew Papa back in the day, including Ernesto Garcia Gutierrez.

Ernest Miller Hemingway

Born: 21 July 1899, Oak Park, IL, USA

Died: 2 July 1961, Ketchum, ID, USA

Residence at the time of the award: USA

Prize motivation: "for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style"

Language: English

Biography

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), born in Oak Park, Illinois, started his career as a writer in a newspaper office in Kansas City at the age of seventeen. After the United States entered the First World War, he joined a volunteer ambulance unit in the Italian army. Serving at the front, he was wounded, was decorated by the Italian Government, and spent considerable time in hospitals. After his return to the United States, he became a reporter for Canadian and American newspapers and was soon sent back to Europe to cover such events as the Greek Revolution.

During the twenties, Hemingway became a member of the group of expatriate Americans in Paris, which he described in his first important work, The Sun Also Rises (1926). Equally successful was A Farewell to Arms (1929), the study of an American ambulance officer's disillusionment in the war and his role as a deserter. Hemingway used his experiences as a reporter during the civil war in Spain as the background for his most ambitious novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Among his later works, the most outstanding is the short novel,The Old Man and the Sea (1952), the story of an old fisherman's journey, his long and lonely struggle with a fish and the sea, and his victory in defeat.

Hemingway - himself a great sportsman - liked to portray soldiers, hunters, bullfighters - tough, at times primitive people whose courage and honesty are set against the brutal ways of modern society, and who in this confrontation lose hope and faith. His straightforward prose, his spare dialogue, and his predilection for understatement are particularly effective in his short stories, some of which are collected in Men Without Women (1927) and The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories (1938). Hemingway died in Idaho in 1961.

From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901-1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1969