Wednesday, 31 October 2012
All Saints' Day vs. Halloween
It's the time of year when we turn to the supernatural, whether in a more serious and traditional manner (All Saints' Day) or more entertaining one (Halloween). Do you have any opinions about the introduction of the Anglo-Saxon tradition of Halloween to Polish cultural life? Does it upset you or do you enjoy it? I would like you to write about this on your blogs. If you are totally neutral about the issue, you can choose to write about your own way of celebrating those of your loved ones who are no longer around, at this time of year. Do you travel a lot? Do you meet your family? Another option is to write about the ways the French celebrate their deceased friends and family. All ideas and contributions related to the topic are welcome.
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Welcome back!
Here we are, back to work! I hope you reach all your goals and achieve whatever you've planned to achieve this year. I also hope that you will find time to write your blogs and share your opinions, discoveries and observations with your readers here. Please do not neglect the reading part of the project. The major task is to write a post every week, but it is equally important that you read what others have written, and place your comments. Only then will your blogs be truly alive.
Our first topic is holiday reading. I asked you to write something about a book you read during the holidays. I have read quite a few actually, some of them really good, but I've decided to tell you about the one that was a big disappointment. Joanne Harris's books have been my holiday "guilty pleasures" for quite some time, so when I saw her new novel (a thick one!) on the book stall in Collegium Novum in May, I knew it would take some of my reading time in the summer. Well, it did, but midway through the book I began to suspect that it would not fulfil my expectations. Inspired by virtual reality and Internet writing, the author attempted a rather risky literary device of several unreliable narrators. The effect is that the reader is left totally confused, nothing holds together and when you find out what really happened (or you think you have), it doesn't make much sense. I do like experimental narration, like Zadie Smith's NW, for example, but somehow this went badly wrong. I read the whole thing with the hope that things would become clear in the end, but they never did. In short, a rather upsetting reading experience. I hope the author of Chocolat and many other wonderful books will get it right next time!
Our first topic is holiday reading. I asked you to write something about a book you read during the holidays. I have read quite a few actually, some of them really good, but I've decided to tell you about the one that was a big disappointment. Joanne Harris's books have been my holiday "guilty pleasures" for quite some time, so when I saw her new novel (a thick one!) on the book stall in Collegium Novum in May, I knew it would take some of my reading time in the summer. Well, it did, but midway through the book I began to suspect that it would not fulfil my expectations. Inspired by virtual reality and Internet writing, the author attempted a rather risky literary device of several unreliable narrators. The effect is that the reader is left totally confused, nothing holds together and when you find out what really happened (or you think you have), it doesn't make much sense. I do like experimental narration, like Zadie Smith's NW, for example, but somehow this went badly wrong. I read the whole thing with the hope that things would become clear in the end, but they never did. In short, a rather upsetting reading experience. I hope the author of Chocolat and many other wonderful books will get it right next time!
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