Our user figures show that term has definitely re-started, perhaps with a groan if not with a bang, after all the indulgence of Christmas.
The big events in the UK this coming year are rare:
- For only the second time in our history we have a monarch who has clocked up sixty years on the throne – the previous time it was Queen Victoria in 1897. Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee will be celebrated in June
- The Olympic Games come to London – last seen 64 years ago in austerity Britain in 1948, and before that in 1908.
In the literary world, having just completed had the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible in 2011, 2012 sees the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. As with the Bible, the characters and tales which flowed from Dicken’s fevered imagination have proved indelible within British cultural consciousness. Even recently they have inspired related novels such as Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones and Jack Maggs by Peter Carey.
A visual imagination
Dickens’ typically vivid detail in scene setting and characterisation has always inspired film and progamme makers – more screen versions of his stories have been made than of any other novelist. The anniversary means that there is a plethora of adaptations coming to screens big and small, as well as lots of discussion programmes.
Over Christmas, there was the dark-toned version of Great Expectations, run over three successive hour-long episodes. It omitted much of the humour and domestic intimacy associated with Joe and Biddy, the Pockets and Wemmick’s castle in Walworth. Instead it focused on the desperate machinations of Miss Havisham and Orlick. It will be interesting to compare it with the film of Great Expectations being released later in the year.
Speaking of films
Crossref-it.info is still on the look out for A Level teachers (active or retired) to submit their resource ideas to accompany short film clips of particular exam text extracts which draw on biblical allusions (all supplied). If you need help there is a sample worksheet based on one of the extracts. However, we are also looking for any interesting ways of handling this material appropriate for English A Level teaching.
Key facts
- The deadline for new submissions has been extended to Monday 30th January
- The successful resource selected for each extract will earn its creator £50
- We are looking for resources on the following texts:
- Elizabethan / Jacobean: Donne - Death be not proud, Hymn to God in my sicknesse / Measure for Measure
- Romantic Lit.: Wordsworth - Intimations of Immortality
- Victorian Lit.: Jane Eyre / Great Expectations / Our Mutual Friend / Tess of the d’Urbervilles
- Modern Lit.: The Handmaid’s Tale / Clough – The Latest Decalogue (not a set text – but a fun introductory tool if you are looking at intertextuality).
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