Monday, 13 September 2021

the bildungsroman in english literature

In Czech literature we famously have a story about someone who makes it through the system - from war's beginning to the end:

The Good Soldier Švejk - Wikipedia

There are similar stories in English literature:

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, often known simply as Tom Jones, is a comic novel by English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. It is a Bildungsroman and a picaresque novel. It was first published on 28 February 1749 in London and is among the earliest English works to be classified as a novel.[1] It is the earliest novel mentioned by W. Somerset Maugham in his 1948 book Great Novelists and Their Novels among the ten best novels of the world.[2]

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling - Wikipedia

Vanity Fair is an English novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, which follows the lives of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley amid their friends and families during and after the Napoleonic Wars. It was first published as a 19-volume monthly serial from 1847 to 1848, carrying the subtitle Pen and Pencil Sketches of English Society, which reflects both its satirisation of early 19th-century British society and the many illustrations drawn by Thackeray to accompany the text. It was published as a single volume in 1848 with the subtitle A Novel without a Hero, reflecting Thackeray's interest in deconstructing his era's conventions regarding literary heroism.[1] It is sometimes considered the "principal founder" of the Victorian domestic novel.[2]

Vanity Fair (novel) - Wikipedia

The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account), commonly known as David Copperfield,[N 1] is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to maturity. It was first published as a serial in 1849–50, and as a book in 1850.

David Copperfield is also an autobiographical novel:[2] "a very complicated weaving of truth and invention",[3] with events following Dickens's own life.[4] Of the books he wrote, it was his favourite.[5] Called "the triumph of the art of Dickens",[6][7] it marks a turning point in his work, separating the novels of youth and those of maturity.[8]

David Copperfield - Wikipedia

Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (the book is a bildungsroman, a coming-of-age story). It is Dickens's second novel, after David Copperfield, to be fully narrated in the first person.[N 1] The novel was first published as a serial in Dickens's weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861.[1] 

Great Expectations - Wikipedia

Kim is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author Rudyard Kipling. It was first published serially in McClure's Magazine from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in Cassell's Magazine from January to November 1901, and first published in book form by Macmillan & Co. Ltd in October 1901. The story unfolds against the backdrop of The Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. The novel popularized the phrase and idea of the Great Game.[1]

Kim (novel) - Wikipedia

With more here:

What Is a Bildungsroman? Definition and Examples of Bildungsroman in Literature - 2021 - MasterClass

What Is Bildungsroman | Its Origin & Plot Outline | Literary Term ( English Literature ) - YouTube

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Sunday, 12 September 2021

everyman in literature

Czech literature has its everyman:

The Good Soldier Švejk - Wikipedia

It started in English literature with morality plays in the Middle Ages:

Everyman (play) - Wikipedia

This Wikipedia article

Everyman - Wikipedia

... gives some good examples:

Winston Smith (Nineteen Eighty-Four) - Wikipedia

Dr. Watson - Wikipedia

Sherlock and John's First Meeting | A Study In Pink | Sherlock | BBC - YouTube

Arthur Dent - Wikipedia

MARTIN FREEMAN Funny Scene of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy🤣 - YouTube

Arthur meets Trillian - YouTube

Martin Freeman is the English Everyman | Comparative Geeks

Leopold Bloom - Wikipedia

BLOOM FILM - EXTRACT 05 - YouTube

The Narrator (Fight Club) - Wikipedia

Fight Club: Narrator's Weekdays (1999) [HD] - YouTube

Again:

The Everyman

Summary: The everyman character archetype often acts as the stand-in for the audience. This character archetype is just a normal person, but for some reason, he or she must face extraordinary circumstances. The everyman can be the protagonist or a supporting figure. Unlike the hero, the everyman does not feel a moral obligation to his or her task; instead, these characters often find themselves in the middle of something they have barely any control over. Unlike the hero, the everyman archetype isn't trying to make a great change or work for the common good: these characters are just trying to get through a difficult situation.

Examples of everyman archetypes in literature: Dr. John Watson is the epitome of the everyman archetype. Sidekick to the infamous Sherlock Holmes, Watson is perfectly content being Holmes' right-hand man. His plainness contrasts Holmes's eccentricities, and he is assumed to be on the same average level as the reader. Another example of the everyman archetype in literature is Arthur Dent of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He's just a regular guy minding his own business when he's suddenly saved from the destruction of his entire planet. Normal dude, extraordinary circumstances.

5 Common Character Archetypes in Literature | Scribendi

Back to Czech literature:

Franz Kafka - Wikipedia

Here's a lesson plan:

Everyman Hero Definition | Everyman Examples

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Friday, 3 September 2021

gerald hüther

Gerald Hüther is not well-known in the English-speaking world, but According to German magazin Manager Magazin, Hüther is 'the most famous neuroscientist in Germany'[10]

Gerald Hüther - Wikipedia

More than that:

Hüther is a sharp critic of the current school system in Germany, thinking the schools there treat children like objects.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] He is of the opinion that schools in Germany are deliberately so bad that they produce as minor voters as possible and thus the needs of as many people as possible are disregarded, whereby they seek as many substitute satisfactions as possible, ("[...] so that we have enough customers for the rubbish that we want to sell them here [...]").[19] He thinks that schools are a waste of money because they are too inefficient.[23]

Hüther is also against the Schulpflicht (a German law forcing young people to go to a school) because it is 'the most terrible thing that can ever happen to you'; if you ask young people why they go to school and their only answer is "Because I have to".[19] He thinks that children want to learn[24] and supported the 2019 feature film CaRabA #LebenohneSchule, initiated by Bertrand Stern, which introduces unschooled, free-educated people.[25][26]

Gerald Hüther - Wikipedia

His ideas as a neuroscientist and as an educationalist come together:

Gerald Hüther is neuroscientist at the University of Göttingen and strongly believes that our brains need some other input than straw. He is member of the expert group for the future of learning in the Federal Chancellor's Office and the council for cultural education in Germany.

Every child begins his life like a hero's journey: brave and confident, open-minded and capable of building relationships, with an urge to discover and to create, equipped with a brain in which we find as many networking options as are needed to learn anything relevant to a healthy and fulfilled life at any place of the world. And then, we send them to school, where their desire to learn rapidly changes into witless frustration. Neither genetic dispositions, nor their brain, but the inopportune learning experiences at school, cause this significant change. Instead of searching for their hidden talents and strengths, teachers would teach, test and select them, as if their brains were barrels meant to be stuffed with knowledge. Instead of reminding of encouraging eyries, most schools equal crammed hen coops. That must change!

How schools can be changed to base camps for heroes' journeys: Gerald Huether at TEDxKoeln 2013 - YouTube

Some of his books have been translated into English:

Monday, 23 August 2021

green propaganda

If you google 'green propaganda':

green propaganda - Google Suche

your list might include:

Green propaganda continues to spread | Fraser Institute

Jay Doubleyou: the story of stuff

and this:

Greenwashing - Wikipedia

Jay Doubleyou: greenwashing fashion

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Then there is climate change:

Jay Doubleyou: story telling: creating narratives around climate change

Climate change denial - Wikipedia

Follow the (Climate Change) Money | The Heritage Foundation

The Baseless Claim That Climate Scientists Are ‘Driven’ by Money - The New York Times

And plastic pollution:

Jay Doubleyou: the plastics industry is "incredibly supportive of recycling legislation over a more long-term… reduction of disposable culture."

The Good, The Bad and The Spudly - YouTube

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research skills

Where are you from? Where would you go to find anything about it to share with others?

Rousnam – Boarische Wikipedia

Stadt Rosenheim: Willkommen

Rosenheim | Bavarian towns and cities

Touristinfo :: Touristinfo Rosenheim

rosenheim skandal - Google Search

If you're looking up stuff online, do you go to Wikipedia as the starting point?

Jay Doubleyou: wikipedia and bias

Or would you go to RT?

rt.com/search?q=wikipedia

Or others:

Jay Doubleyou: english-language news media

Jay Doubleyou: english-language news media - part two

Of course, with conspiracy theories, you can't really do any 'research' as such:

Jay Doubleyou: conspiracy theories

And if you don't like the results of any research, you can always cry 'fake news':

But it's been around a long time:

Jay Doubleyou: how is world war one seen in different countries

Jay Doubleyou: propaganda, public relations and manufacturing consent

And it's very much alive and well today:

Jay Doubleyou: english language media as propaganda in the ukraine

Jay Doubleyou: the politics of language

But your sources might not be 'pushing' a certain point of view.

There is bias:

Wikipedia:Systemic bias - Wikipedia

And there is bias:

Confirmation bias - Wikipedia

It's where you go to 'naturally' or 'normally' for your sources:

Falkland Islands - Wikipedia

History of the Falkland Islands - Wikipedia

Historia de las islas Malvinas - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

When did WWII start:

World War II - Wikipedia

Вторая мировая война — Википедия

Великая Отечественная война — Википедия

Eastern Front (World War II) - Wikipedia

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Wednesday, 18 August 2021

the politics of language

There is clearly a lot of clever use of language in politics:

Jay Doubleyou: disinformation and Jay Doubleyou: information wars and Jay Doubleyou: fake news

Jay Doubleyou: political narratives 

Jay Doubleyou: populism and The Populist Curtain - Poland and Hungary - BBC Sounds

Jay Doubleyou: culture wars and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED Talk and BBC Radio 4 - The Briefing Room, Why Did People Vote Leave?

Jay Doubleyou: the psychology of lies and why we fall for them and Jay Doubleyou: the psychology of lies and why we fall for them 

Jay Doubleyou: education levels and voting trump and Jay Doubleyou: brexit, trump and dumbing down and Jay Doubleyou: the language of donald trump 

Donald Trump Speaks at a Fourth-Grade Level - YouTube and This linguist studied the way Trump speaks for two years. Here’s what she found. - YouTube

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On the other hand, you would think that there's nothing 'political' about 'language' - but there's a lot.

First, what defines a 'native speaker'?

Jay Doubleyou: what's a 'native speaker' of english? part two

Do you have to be white to be an English native speaker?

Jay Doubleyou: what is a 'native speaker' of english? the issue of race...

Jay Doubleyou: challenging white supremacism in australia and new zealand

Aamer Rahman (Fear of a Brown Planet) - Reverse Racism - YouTube

But with the dominance of English, local languages are in danger:

On the one hand, English has opened the doors to great job mobility in the past decade and much economic success. In a country of so many varied languages, English is the only linguistic commonality. Yet as the language increasingly becomes the de facto mother tongue in urban families, many are dismayed at the trend, contending that its rampant use will strip them of their sense of Indian-ness.
“English is unifying us with the rest of the world but alienating us from our familial and cultural roots,” says Mr. Nagaraj, who still turns to Kannada metaphors when he needs to drive home a point.

Jay Doubleyou: what is a 'native speaker' of english?

There is a project set up by National Geographic:

Saving the World's Dying and Disappearing Languages

About | National Geographic Society

Dying Languages | National Geographic - YouTube

Some countries have suppressed the non-official languages:

Language policy in France - Wikipedia

Francization - Wikipedia

Bavarian language - Wikipedia

List of endangered languages in Europe - Wikipedia

Then there is sexism in language:

Jay Doubleyou: how language shapes the way we think

And  then there is the whole are of how we teach languages - and the politics of that:

Jay Doubleyou: can children teach themselves - using technology?

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