The aim of this blog is to serve as a meeting point to those who study or have studied English philology and, more broadly, to all those who love literature and language.

31 Dec 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Looking for something to mark the end of the year in a blog post, I've come across this video clip. As I have not seen the film summarised in it before, I've found it amazing the way in wich a story can be told in less than five minutes and with no words.

I'd like to wish a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all the regular or occasional readers of this blog.

22 Dec 2009

COSMOLEMA

A través de esta entrada del blog de Leer.es, tengo noticia de Cosmolema, una utilidad para explorar, aprender y jugar con el léxico del castellano. Cito a continuación el listado de posibilidades que ofrece:

"Cosmolema permite explorar las relaciones entre las palabras por medio de estos operadores:

- Bifronte. Cuando una palabra es igual a la otra leída en sentido contrario: raza-azar.
- Anagrama. Cuando dos palabras usan las mismas letras en diferente orden: bestializar- estabilizar
- Letra cambiada. Cuando dos palabras se diferencian en una única letra: casar-cantar.
- Añade letra: casar-cansar.
- Elimina letra: cansar casar.
- Contenedor: norma-paranormal.
- Contenido: paranormal-norma."

11 Dec 2009

JONATHAN LITTELL WINS THE BAD SEX IN FICTION PRIZE

Author Jonathan Littell has won the 17th annual Bad Sex In Fiction Award, for his novel The Kindly Ones.
The book, which was originally published in French, won the Prix Goncourt in 2006 and has sold over a million copies in Europe.
Judges at The Literary Review gave him the bad sex prize for a passage that begins: "This sex was watching at me, spying on me, like a Gorgon's head".
In one excerpt, the author describes a sexual encounter as "a jolt that emptied my head like a spoon scraping the inside of a soft-boiled egg".
The Literary Review said Littell's book was "in part a work of genius", adding they hoped the author would take their dishonour "in good humour".
The shortlist for the prize also included works by Paul Theroux and musician Nick Cave

4 Dec 2009

RAP, HIP-HOP AND CLASSICS

The other day I read this post by David Crystal in which he commented a project led by hip-hop artist Akala to work on Shakespeare with young people.

After watching the video below, I also think that the activity can be really positive to approach classic literature to the youth apart from the opportunity to practise reading, pronunciation, rhythm... in a fun way.




By chance, I have also come across a video recording where two Secondary students recite "Lo que puede el dinero" written by Juan Ruiz, Arcipreste de Hita. The video can be watched from the bottom of Leer.es website.