174: Orbiting. October. Othello.

Samantha Harvey, Sylvia Plath, Jeremy Cooper, Cillian Murphy, Carol Atherton & Geoff Barton, Fintan O'Toole, Additional Assessment Components and much more.

Oct 12, 2024

Starting this time with two short novels.

This time next week I’ll be at the annual conference of INOTE, the English teachers’ association in Ireland. Always good to spend a day with your tribe.

I read Orbital

by Samantha Harvey, which is on the Booker shortlist, just as satellite photos were coming in of Hurricane Milton. In Harvey’s short novel, six astronauts orbit the earth many times each day, often looking down on similarly dramatic weather systems 250 miles below them, including typhoons. Their craft is a tiny world in itself.

A dreamy, meditative narrative which loops like the space station’s movements, it seems a little unlikely that this will win the Booker, but it was worth reading as a story from a unique perspective.

October poetry:

Sylvia Plath’s ferocious ‘Poppies in October’, probably written on her 30th birthday in 1962. I often teach ‘Poppies in July.’

Brian

by Jeremy Cooper from the ever-excellent Fitzcarraldo Editions is a really touching novel about a middle-aged man with a ‘small’ life who fends off loneliness by becoming an obsessive attender at the British Film Institute. What is particularly impressive is the author’s tenderness with his character: there is no condescension. It is also just the thing for film buffs. Cinema becomes a consolation, an enrichment, indeed a friend for over 30 years.

A good review from JacquiWine:

Cooper has written a very tender book here, a gentle meditation on the transformative, enriching power of cinema and its potential to foster a sense of togetherness and belonging in a lonely world. As a fully paid-up member of the BFI myself, I can vouch for the sentiments the novel captures in its quiet, understated prose. Highly recommended, particularly for anyone with even a passing interest in world cinema.

An early interview with Cillian Murphy about the film of Small Things Like These, opening here in early November.

Booking link for free King Lear webinar next week on Wednesday October 16th.

Fintan O’Toole on Shakespeare:

Here, he revisits his book No More Heroes (1990), now republished as Shakespeare is Hard, but so is Life, with an introduction about Shakespeare’s contemporary relevance. As always with O’Toole there are lots of insights (though the presumption about how the plays are taught seems off-kilter now).

Another English-y podcast

English teacher Carol Atherton talks about her book Reading Lessons, one of the highlights of my reading year, to Geoff Barton, chair of the Oracy Education Commission across the water, which has just released its report.

It opens with an anecdote about Ireland, the seed of the book having been planted after a visit to the Country Life museum in Mayo and a display featuring our old poetry anthology Soundings.

Othello resources:

The fourth and final in a series directing you to things I’ve produced on the 4 great tragedies. Next time, some book recommendations on Shakespeare.

Quizlets for using as revision/retrieval practice. Think of the missing word or phrase, and then think about the quotation’s significance in the play, before flipping the flashcard.
10 key quotations revision exercises: to generate thinking and debate about the play. Can be used in class in pair-work, or for individual study.
Essays/reflections for revision purposes: 1) On the first scene (‘Knowing and Satisfaction’). 2) On the Duke and the Turks in Act I scene iii (‘Judgment’).
Laurie Maguire’s book Othello: language and writing is an excellent refresher for teachers (originally directed at students). Graham Bradshaw’s short Connell Guide poses interesting and provocative questions about the play. Othello’s Secret: the Cyprus Problem by R.M. Christofides is a fascinating personal as well as academic account, rebalancing the play towards the island most of it is actually set in. Kiernan Ryan’s essay on the play in his Shakespearean Tragedy: notes here.
My comments on Toni Morrison’s play Desdemona.

Typically terrible AI-generated illustration

‘Additional Assessment Components’

is the dismal TLA for the 40% component of Leaving Certificate grades under Senior Cycle reform outside the exam hall (starting next September with some science and other subjects, with English from September 2026).

It’s plain that there is no plan for the very large elephant in the room - Generative AI. Are we walking into serious problems?

I wrote about this situation, including citations for Áine Hyland, Conor Murphy, Daisy Christodoulou and Bradley Bush

Teaching and Learning Things:

I went to researchED Belfast two weekends ago. As is always the case with researchED conferences, it was a stimulating and friendly experience. My notes.
Handy for teachers: a Dyslexia Friendly Style Guide from the British Dyslexia Assocation (via Amjad Ali).
And interesting for teachers: Claire Cain Miller on The Daily podcast considers the impact of ‘intense parenting’ on the parents rather than the usual focus, the children. Teachers will often have to deal with the fallout. Gift link.
A long time ago I noted the generous work of Ian Johnston, and am drawing attention to it again now. Retired from Vancouver Island University, he continues to offer for free use by teachers his clear translations of classical texts. He has previously given us permission to distribute his Antigone and Oedipus Rex texts to pupils. He does this in memory of his son Geoffrey. Second link.

Et Cetera

Audrey Watters on writing a book:
I read. A lot. I read stuff online, sure, sure. I already lament not having access to academic journal articles. So for now, I'm reading books – books in print and out-of-print. I read. I underline. I make notes in the margins. I have started an annotated bibliography of everything I've read for this project: it contains the book's thesis; my reaction to it – not just "loved it" or "hated it" but what it made me think, what questions it raised/answered, where I need to go next; and I compile a list of good, meaty quotations that I might want to include or reference.
In the NYT, Dwight Garner spent his 30th wedding anniversary with his wife in literary Dublin. A cheeringly positive experience. Gift link. Nothing like seeing your city in a startlingly surprising light:
The city’s battery-powered double-decker buses are slim and silent and colorful and quick. They swim around corners like giant angelfish.
The ubiquity of Times New Roman -
When Times New Roman appears in a book, document, or advertisement, it connotes apathy. It says, ‘I submitted to the font of least resistance.’ Times New Roman is not a font choice so much as the absence of a font choice, like the blackness of deep space is not a color. To look at Times New Roman is to gaze into the void.
Good news: the TCD Library is being named after Eavan Boland. My piece on Boland’s poem ‘This Moment’ and my talk when she died just after the start of the pandemic.
A terrific use of your spare time: exploring a collection of 1930s aerial photos of England.
Beautiful libraries. Though as I wrote, to me all libraries are beautiful.
Our staff book club this week discussed J.L. Carr’s perfect short novel A Month in the Country: my brief comments. Do read it if you haven’t already.
Eleanor Morton: If Jane Austen characters had phones.