I have printed out the Marxist Theory information from the OWL Purdue site and am ready to thrash this.  My main annoyance is that a few days ago, I had a lot of boxed stuff brought to our cottage and it is all sitting in my office straight in front of my wipe board - so planning anything will be impossible until it is shifted. To add to my annoyance, hot on the heels of the last batch of bug, I now have a throat infection.  I am swilling fruit smoothies and echinacea to combat the worst of it.  I have a feeling that most of this will shift when I finish the lot in June.

Back to the grindstone :-/

16:34
Something has cropped up and things have not gone well - cannot reveal exactly why, suffice to say that on top of everything else our finances maybe screwed.  Heart and motivation in my boots - because of other personal matters, it has been a horrible, horrible week. I need to get back on track.

20:46
Because of unforeseen setbacks, I have decided to organise a more structured plan for the latter half of this assignment.  Right now, I can't concentrate on anything else.  I think I have over done it somewhat and need to recover with an early night :-(((

I have blasted through Brave New World, annotating, theorising and now I am ready to begin. I am to use 1,000 words each theory and will start with Psychoanalytical as it will specifically feed into the Marxist.  I have already planned the first half as to why the citizens are kept in a perpetual state of pseudo happiness and link it to Freud's theories etc. I would love to say more, but as most of it should end up in my essay, I don't want the problem of having to cite my LJ account when they run my stuff through a system check.

Onward :-)

11:58
Well, I have cranked out about 362 words and unsurprisingly, I have all of my old 'A' level books in front of me (lucky really - I was going to give them to a first year BSc Psychology student, but forgot to drop them off.  Just as well, considering).  Obviously, I have to use Freud's stages of childhood development, but I think I can use Jung's archetypes which is fascinating. You can story board absolutely ALL of the figures in your own life.  I think it will be VERY interesting when I move towards creative writing full time post BA.

13:27
493 but with a lot of research going on. Desk is awash with paper and stuck on side of PC tower, the book stand is crammed with 2 books and propping up another. I am really driven to do this because it is Brave New World AND Psychoanalytical.  Later might be difficult when I tackle Marxism, but I think it will be OK if i deal with it as a social/economic project, with Marxist theory thrown in.

19:52
I have topped a thousand, but have saved off the brief Marxist observations and pasted them into Plan 2 (because when I have two parts to an essay, I couldn't see the wood for the trees).  I am not down to 748 and I am nowhere near finished entering the quotes let alone expand on them.  I have a feeling I will have to cherry-pick the best and kick the rest to the kerb.

21:54
I am stuck into Freud's Psychosexual Stages and the Id/Ego/Superego. Messy, or what?

I am back up to 898 words and I haven't touched Jung's archetypes yet (and would he complain if I did? :-P).  I think I am about 50% done on the Psychoanalytical, need to concentrate on the rest of it, then pare back to 1,000 before I move onto Plan 2 (Marxist).

Back tomorrow :-)

Well, this is the possibility - I have read most of Brave New World and I have some notes on it.  If I am to pull this off, I WILL have to lock myself in.  None of the reading list titles appealed to me (Virginia Woolf The Waves = too complicated for theory at this level; D.H Lawrence Sons and Lovers = read this back in September - interesting, but doesn't hold me; Margaret Attwood The Handmaid's Tale = want to read it, haven't had time). Nothing doing with the printer at the moment, jammed again and it needs Hubby to fix it, so this afternoon, I might just read through it and annotate as I go.  Plus I need to plunder OWL/Purdue site for Theory definitions.

Literary Theories - https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

I am concerned at this late stage that I have bitten off rather more than I can chew, however it does interest me and I like a challenge (like a hole in the head).

Bank Holiday Monday - it is cold, grey and windy also as previously written, I don't have my car. I have no other choice but to hammer out what is left of this essay. The plus side is, today I have an empty house - Hubby is working at a friend's house and Prodigal 2 is earning part of his crust on the local caravan site.  I have had to weed out a massive chunk of the essay as it doesn't fit in with the rest of it (not just William Blake either - the political message behind nursery rhymes was another).  Thing is, this is a comparatively short essay and I didn't have elbow room for some of it.

13:51
It is done (well at least for now - I am sick of looking at it); I just have to lose 134 words.

15:04
'Tis done, woohoo!! Will peruse through possible texts for TH3 - l'ultimo :-D

I am fairly bored with this essay already, probably because all of the writers I want to use in it are off the list.  I think I will omit the older writers and will just have to just wriggle through the rest and retrace my steps. Couldn't have picked a better day, as they weather is a cold bucket of crap and my car is STILL in dock. Therefore the need to run away find displacement activity has shriveled to nought.  Until yesterday - when I kick-started my old Blog Spot page.

I have it since 2007, but only used it sporadically - I preferred LJ as was familiar with its set up.  Yet I am looking increasingly elsewhere to develop some ideas.  Alas, it also takes up too much time and I need to crack on.  I have just over 4 weeks to write 2 essays, turn round 12 essays and write various commentaries justifying my work. May is my lock-in month.  I am already so sensory deprived, that I actually felt elation when I went for a trip to the supermarket.  I can tell you this much - I can't get my car back soon enough o___O

Anyway 677 word count from yesterday - best crack on.

16:49
I have managed to squeeze Swift in by making a small reference to A Modest Proposal, then I dragged William Blake into the mix, using the Chimney Sweeper/Experience poem.  However, I have moved onto the sixties and The Frost Report class sketch and onward to the eighties, Spitting Image and beyond. Feel happier now - have 869 words with a maximum of 231 words left.  I would say that 50% of it is well-written and the remaining is about collating the more modern-day stuff and using various conjunctions and modifiers throughout.

20:29
I have stumbled upon various academic documents in regards to Orwell's 1984, but some of it is so convoluted not to mention too impossibly high brow to use in a mere 1,000 essay, where he only has a cameo appearance.  Don't get me wrong - if I was writing a mini or full-sized dissertation, I will know where to go.  Right now, I am finding myself on the socialist side of the track and maybe wading a little too deep at this conjecture. I am writing something that needs to be sorted by this Tuesday at the latest.

21:48
1,053.  Truthfully? It looks a frick'n mess.  It has happened many times before and I dread it.  I can kinda see a way forward, but the last 40% I need to fill in BEFORE the conclusion - looks very, very messy.  At wits end, but I have three days (I can hear a Time Team metaphor spilling out here) to nail this sucker.  Then it's the finale, the mega-beast: 1 text (of my choice); 2 Theories (can use any but Feminist). 2,000 words go go go.

Right now, I just want to see the end of this :-(

I am really dragging my backside on this one.  Too many days staring at a computer - I remember I was like this this time last year.  When you get a whiff of freedom, you just want to make a bolt for the door. Well, I can't go anywhere at the moment, as my car is languishing at the mechanics (been there over a week now - hard to source bits for a car over 20 years old) and I am praying that I get her back, rather than say the death rites over her. Especially since I really don't have a sizable chunk of change to hand over for another knackered-but-running car.

Can Literature have a political purpose? Yes. Discuss. No thanks :-(

17;25
Brain has gone into shut down. 269 words, most of that is the basic planner and from what the dictionary definition is for the terms 'literature' and 'political' actually mean.  I know some of what I want to say, but somehow the words won't flow and then I draw a blank.

Later
It all went to the wall for me a bit.  I have the most massive block on this and I already know why.  I just need to talk myself around it.  I already have a sketchy plan.  Just have to rethink a few things.

The English Review (which had been down all Easter on our Moodle site) is miraculously up-and-running and not before time.  Whereas I lost out a bit in regards to A Passage to India (hopefully to recoup later), I am pleased to see that it is reaping wonderful essays on both Eliot's Waste Land and Wordsworth's Westminster Bridge. Not only can I cite these essays, I can also use Eliot's observations with Blake as well (just have to sneak my boy in there somewhere - we have a whole section on Romantic poets next academic year).

Anyway, must get on.  Under the cuts are the poems spoken.

( Wordsworth: Composed Upon Westminster Bridge )

( T.S. Eliot: Unreal City (extract from The Wasteland) )

13:20
Not for the first time, I realise just how easy the Blake/Wordsworth comparison is - I could run for miles with that.  Alas, Blake is six years the wrong side of the 19th century, god damn him.  Even then, I wouldn't be able to use him with Wordsworth as I have to have someone from the 20th century and WW is 98 years too early.

*grinds teeth*

I had emailed the lecturer, who said that it looks good to her and that it was an "interesting contrast."  That is enough to strike fear into a Lit student's heart. If it was a terrible idea, she would have told me....I hope.

16:06
1,219 - I am almost at the end of my grid and have gone through overview/discourse/grammar/lexis and I am now onto the phonic features, tone/effect of both and onward to the conclusion.  However, I must down tools and go jumper shopping for my brother-in-laws 40th birthday.  Will either resume this later or tomorrow. Plus, I have had a reminder that there aren't any lectures on Friday. Woo hoo! Every little helps :-D

21:52
1,466. I have finished and at the pre meshing stage. I have saved another copy, so if it all goes wrong, I can restart.  Plus, I need to get hold of other critics point of view. tomorrow is another day :-)

Ok, so I am down to my last three assignment.  Have shelved the 'One Text/Two Theories' one, as i think I will have to research a bit more. I am looking at IL3 which is the following:

IL3: Using one example from each, contrast the writing of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. (1000 – 2000 words)

I think I will use the following:

( William Wordsworth - Composed Upon Westminster Bridge )
( T.S. Eliot - The Unreal City )

I will at least start - may search for other alternatives.

Later

Haven't progressed much further as pc playing up a bit.  Plus I have just found out that self, P1 & 2 are on Google maps.

*blush*

21:47
266 words - but I think I will be better tomorrow :-)

Back at college and today has been a good day - peppered with coughs and sniffs, but infinitely better. Bit thin on the ground with students (including self - four narrowed down to three), but we managed. I have three assignments to think of - think I might go with a poem for TH3 (Grace Nichols - The Fat, Black Woman goes Shopping). I was going to read Monica Ali's Brick Lane, but fear I will run out of time and I need to use two new theories.  Whereas, I can use Post Colonial and Marxism for this.

( Grace Nichols - The Fat, Black Woman Goes Shopping )

Anyway, reasons for my happy day:

1) Poet specialist likes my stuff and says a) I shouldn't ever give up, as this is my thing b) Is surprised that I haven't really done it before (I did some about 12 years ago, but it was therapy rather than poetry).

2) My photo of of Claire has made The H.E. Bulletin.

3) More of our class stuff will be taken on board by the archaeology bigwig from the BSc course for their bicentennial project.

4) Lecturer is thinking of using my Fal Building poetry as part of their further education blurb.


Get me!!! :-DDD

Really not well again, this bug brings you down, lets you recover then comes back around for another try. I have broken through the 3,000 pain barrier (absolute maximum should be 3,300) and I am about 80% done i.e. need to rewrite/ look for academic essays to quote from. Drinking herb tea, because anything with milk in it tastes like cheese and makes me cough more.  I need to have an extension on a couple of things, so I will be getting a sick note on Tuesday if possible.  The weather outside has turned cold and rainy and actually all I want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep.

18:37
3,085 - will expand on some, pare back on others.  Can't get on Lit Online as it won't let me in and The English Review has a Shibboleth error (internal internet forum problem).  So much for sprinkles, they will have to be added at a later date.