This essay is part of a series on Atonement. Please follow the links below to see the previous posts: Please note that this essay contains spoilers. In Part III and Part IV, we finally hurtle towards laying much to rest – Robbie and Cecilia’s love, Briony’s guilt, the possibility of Robbie’s acquittal, and their perfect…
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This post is part of a series where I revisit a book from my A-level readings, ‘Atonement’ by Ian McEwan, after five years. You can find the previous posts linked below. Part Two is a radically different context from Part One. We transition from the idyllic country house to the wide-open, international stage of conflict.…
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This is part of a series where I revisit one of my A-level readings, ‘Atonement’ by Ian McEwan. You can find the first post linked here. A summary of the book is available on Goodreads: Atonement by Ian McEwan summary These chapters of Atonement are best understood as a magic trick, or I think this…
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I chanced upon my blog viewing statistics, and discovered that a post I made way long ago during my A-levels about studying the novel Atonement by Ian McEwan is one of my most popular. I was surprised but pleased, because this was by far my favourite novel during my A-level years. The intrigue of the…
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Recently, I’ve been participating in a massive online open course by the name of ModPo – short for Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. This course is the holy grail for all avid poetry lovers around the world who want to learn from none other than Professor Al Filreis of the University of Pennsylvania, the brilliant…
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Hello again fellow prose-lovers, play enthusiasts and partners in rhyme (sorry, I had to use that pun once it came to mind). Since I last posted, the weeks have flown by and I am already in the penultimate week of my first term. Surreal! Those that have followed my journey to the University of Oxford…
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I’m back! I missed writing on this blog, but over these first few weeks of university I’ve gotten up to plenty of (essay) writing for my course tutors which will make my writing here much more worth reading. So, you might know that one of the things that makes the English course at Oxford stand…
Read MoreReading Literature is more than just a question of books; it’s a question of our worldview, our endless mental assumptions. This post is an attempt at becoming conscious of my own Achilles heel – black and white thinking.
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Why should I be spending my summer holidays reading Terry Eagleton’s ‘Introduction to Literary Theory’? The unglamorous reason, of course, is to acclimatise myself to the looming rigours of studying English at university. Another reason is anxiety: count yourself lucky if you can sit in one place without your mind running wild. Mine, meanwhile, needs…
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One more exam, and then the freedom to write blog posts beckons! (can you tell that I snatched some time for this one between French revision sessions?). So, let’s talk ‘Vile Bodies’ by Evelyn Waugh. It sounds like an apt name for secondary examination organisations. It is in fact a comedy, and the satirical type.…
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Paradise Prose 