“Sylvia” (2004)

  I watched this partly out of HSC-related duty, but also out of interest. I have to say I was very impressed by its accuracy and fairness. The lead review (at the moment) on IMDb pretty much sums up my reaction.
In 1998, "Hilary and Jackie" explored alleged episodes in the short life of cellist [...]

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Someone has posted on Ted Hughes (HSC Module C)

And I am very grateful, for one. See Fulbright Scholars some notes. Thanks to Mel McGuinness, who has in turn kindly referred students to this blog for Frankenstein and Blade Runner.

I propose to say something about Module C myself shortly.
Update 24 June
Some references I have found.

Sylvia Plath Info – a blog. See especially posts [...]

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Reading “Jane Eyre”

For someone I am helping I found these:
On this site this post on Wuthering Heights gives some ideas on genre and background. There is heaps on The Victorian Web. See also this City University of New York site – it includes a chapter by chapter analysis.
Do you have doubts about Mr Rochester? See this insightful [...]

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NSW Module A English HSC Advanced: on not seeing the wood for the trees…

My coachee was unfamiliar with the expression “can’t see the wood for the trees”, so I explained that it means losing sight of the whole pattern because details grow and grow at an alarming rate. This is a state many HSC students find themselves in. So how to guard against it?

Photo by Neil Whitfield [...]

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Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein” — and “Blade Runner”

There is no lack of material on the Internet about this famous novel. Those of you doing the 2009-2012 HSC in NSW must compare it with Scott Ridley’s 1982 movie Blade Runner, which you will also find on this site. You must attend especially to the context in which each work emerged, issues of genre, [...]

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Blogging beyond the grave?

This will appeal to many teachers of English or History, as it did in this case:

That comes from a comment blog connected to:

See also on this blog: War Poetry.

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Revenge Tragedy

One of the options in NSW English Extension 1 for the HSC is Revenge Tragedy; you will see an outline of the course there. From Euripides to High Noon is quite a jump, isn’t it, but I am glad to see that students have the chance to look at all those texts listed.
Revenge tragedy usually [...]

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Studying the Gothic, or Emily Bronte?

I have had coachees doing this interesting genre, and I know others are. So here are a few good sites, once you have been sensible and checked Answers.com or Wikipedia.

Online Edgar Allan Poe Exhibition from Cornell University: Nevermore: The Edgar Allan Poe Collection of Susan Jaffe Tane, source of the picture above.
The Literary [...]

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Now what do I know about Malouf and Wordsworth…?

In 2005 I had two students who were reading David Malouf — Answers.com or Wikipedia are both good places to start looking. One student was studying An Imaginary Life in the context of an “In the Wild” module also featuring Wordsworth. (He got Band 6 in the end.) Nature in Answers.com is worth a visit. [...]

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In search of Yeats

[July 2007 check: Some of the sites listed here when Ben and I were studying Yeats two years ago have gone, sadly. That's the way of the Internet. I have deleted/replaced them.]
All my coachees are from HK or Chinese background, some more recently arrived than others. Two last year, Erwin and Ben, were both studying [...]

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