As Christmas approaches, so Charles Dickens begins to seep once again
into TV and theatre schedules. I have my own theory about the reason
for his cultural longevity. Listen to this:
"There was a man who, though not more than thirty, had seen
the world in divers irreconcilable capacities - had been an officer in a
South American regiment among other odd things - but had not achieved
much in any way of life, and was in debt, and in hiding. He occupied
chambers of the dreariest nature in Lyons Inn; his name, however, was
not up on the door, or door-post, but in lieu of it stood the name of a
friend who had died in the chambers, and had given him the furniture.
The story arose out of the furniture… "
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25347787
Monday, 16 December 2013
Friday, 18 October 2013
Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming
It's important for people to tell you what side they are on and why,
and whether they might be biased. A declaration of members' interests,
of a sort. So, I am going to be talking to you about reading. I'm going
to tell you that libraries are important. I'm going to suggest that reading fiction,
that reading for pleasure, is one of the most important things one can
do. I'm going to make an impassioned plea for people to understand what
libraries and librarians are, and to preserve both of these things.
And
I am biased, obviously and enormously: I'm an author, often an author
of fiction. I write for children and for adults. For about 30 years I
have been earning my living though my words, mostly by making things up
and writing them down. It is obviously in my interest for people to
read, for them to read fiction, for libraries and librarians to exist
and help foster a love of reading and places in which reading can occur.
So I'm biased as a writer. But I am much, much more biased as a reader. And I am even more biased as a British citizen.
Teaching Thoreau In a Hyper-Connected World
Nashville English teacher Elizabeth Smith introduced Thoreau’s Walden by asking her AP juniors if they were ever truly alone in a hyper-connected world — even without a smartphone. In doing so, she wanted to emphasize how Thoreau’s Transcendentalist
experiment living alone in the woods might be nearly impossible to
replicate in modern, plugged-in lives — at least not without some
effort.
“One student said that he gets panicked if he goes an hour
without a text message,” she said, “and he has to blow up his friends’
phones with messages to make sure they are still out there.” Other
students, she said, bristled at the idea they were sheep in the digital
herd, and liked to think of themselves as being able to manage a healthy
balance between solitude and digital connection.
But for both adults and kids — parents, teachers, and
students — because we have the luxury of being instantly and constantly
connected, “Being alone feels like a problem to be solved,” said MIT
Professor Sherry Turkle in the moving TED Talk based on her book, Alone, Together.
Based on her research, Turkle argued that relationships maintained
through texting and social media might make kids feel connected, but
because the phone is always buzzing, they may miss valuable
opportunities to experience real solitude, which is vital for
self-reflection. “If we don’t teach our children how to be alone,” she
said, “they will only know how to be lonely.”
Monday, 23 September 2013
Literaturkurs im Martinushaus: "Zeitsprünge"
Zeitsprünge
Island: Herbjörg Maria Björnsson, Jahrgang 1929, lebt in einer Garage und
lässt ihr Leben in Zeitsprüngen Revue passieren.
Wir bearbeiten Hallgrímur Helgasons Roman Eine Frau bei 1000º, der
2011 auf der Frankfurter Buchmesse vorgestellt wurde. 'Skurill', 'fulminante Sprache', 'ein gelungener, bissiger Roman'
- ein Meisterwerk der besonderen Art erwartet uns.
Kursmaterial: Helgason, Hallgrímur: Eine Frau bei
1000º
DTV, 2013
ISBN-13:
9783423214490
9,95 €
Referentin: Ellenruth
Molz, M.A., Alzenau
Zeit: Mittwoch,
10.15 – 11.45 Uhr, 5x
Anmeldung: Martinushaus
Aschaffenburg
http://www.martinushaus.de/index.php?id=27
Literaturkurs Herbst 2013 - "Umwelt * Eigenwelt * Mitwelt" - Kursinfo
Umwelt * Eigenwelt * Mitwelt
Literaturkurs Herbst 2013
63741 Aschaffenburg
10 Termine montags, 17.00 - 18.30 Uhr
Kursgebühr 200,00 EuroAnmeldung: mail@creativzeit.com
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
What's the worst book on your bookshelves?
Contributors to our regular Tips, Links and Suggestions
threads usually enjoy a debate about good reads. This week, however,
thoughts turned to terrible ones. We've all struggled with poorly
written books; ironically, they're often the ones we can't get rid of,
gathering dust on our shelves.
MsCarey kick-started the debate with these thoughts:
What's the worst book on your bookshelves? I was just browsing my shelves and came upon Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie. It's an absolute stinker. Unreadably bad.
Surprising
words, perhaps, from a self-confessed "big Christie fan". Sadly, for
MsCarey, "the book's turgidity, ludicrous pomposity and a literally
nonsensical plot which clearly hadn't been edited properly by author or
editor" are the book's only legacy.
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