Back to school

[fox_y]

Yes school starts again tomorrow after a nice, long and lovely Christmas break.

But I'm excitied about it especially my courses. like last semester I'm taking three which stand for thrity credits each which is a full course load.
These are

Tolkien: Tales and creations
Old Norse Religions
History of the British Historical Novel

I'm mostly excited about the first two, though the work will be immense.

Just in the religion course they grade attendance, how active you are in discussions, there will be two exams and a ten - fifteen page essay. Good thing I'm interested in that sort of stuff where the teacher will be going into the icelandic sagas, the nordic gods, but also elves, dwarves and valkyrjas.
The work load in the other two corses is similar... I think having my flækja to force me to go out and take nice long walks in the open air might save my sanity this semester, lol

[goldcreek]

Sounds very interesting! Hope all goes well.

[joanne/shads]

she will certainly give you that peace to think things through, i did my best essay planning on walks with Ben took a notepad with me, sometimes i used it others i just played and walked. hope all goes well sounds very interesting.

[Brandon M]

Good luck with the semester! Maybe you could share your essay when it's done? I would love to read it. The Tolkien class must be pretty interesting.

[jocap]

Oh, I'd have loved to have taken those subjects!
So...what counts as the first British Historical Novel? Beowulf?
Jo.

[fox_y]

Well I guess beowulf would certainly be one of the earliest, but here is a letter my professor just sent out

Quote:Dear students,

Welcome to this course that deals with the development of the historical novel in
Britain.

I am currently working on a detailed course outline (or syllabus) and will post it
here at the beginning of next week at the latest.

What we'll start doing in the first class is to take a general look at the genre of
historical fiction, its development and characteristics. We shall also ponder on
topics such as the following:

What is historical fiction?
What draws readers to historical fiction?
Why do writers choose to write historical fiction?
Can we define different types of historical fiction?
Why is historical fiction currently so popular?
Can historical fiction help in teaching history, or does it distort our perception
of historical facts?

I encourage you to give these questions some thought before Tuesday next week. A
part of the first class will be in the form of a seminar, and every student should
be prepared to take part in the discussion.

I request all registered students to attend on Tuesday.

Looking forward to seeing you next week.

As for the essay I'd be happy to share it once it's written though that won't be until sometime in april.

[jocap]

Does he teach in English?
I love historical fiction, and have learnt more history that way than in all the years of compulsory history at school. Some of it's rubbish writing, but the well researched has always helped me to picture the times.
Jo.

[fox_y]

I am taking my BA degree in English so all my courses are taught in English

[jocap]

Wow! How difficult is that?
Jo.

[fox_y]

not at all really, such a simple language.. well at least compared to Icelandic LOL.

Naw, the first year was the hardest I think because of all the linguistics and phonetics I had to take *ugh*
But after the first year I can mostly pick and choose from the classes offered which are usually either connected to language and linguistics or literature. Needless to say I've been taking the road of literature.

I have three semesters left, which means I have still two semesters to think about what I'd like to write as a BA thesis.

[jocap]

Any hints as to what you'll choose?
Jo.

[fox_y]

to write about in my BA?
ohmygosh I'm not really sure!

Few of my friends have written some interesting things. One took Peter Pan and another one wrote about batman.
Last year I heard someone say that 5 thesis's about Twilight were done! that one had me rofling

But I myself am very interested in fantasy literature so it might be fun to find something to write about in that arena. When I told my sister that people had been writing about twilight she gave me an interesting idea on how one might approach writing abot the Dead series. the books which the TV series tru blood are based on. But we'll see.