I've just gotten back from Stratford-Upon-Avon, but hey, that's a story for later. Until then, it's time for one last academic rant, because last week was my final week of classes.
Gender Identities in Medieval Literature: In this class, we discussed how children were involved with and represented in medieval literature. There's supposedly an argument that children's literature existed in the middle ages, but I'm skeptical about that because the evidence seems thin. Additionally, we compared the lives of medieval women to renaissance women and concluded that neither era was decisively worse. The quality of living for women fluctuated during both eras, which just goes to show that progress is not linear.
Fantasies of Youth: We finished discussing The Lie Tree by Francis Hardinge (which, again, is fantastic) and ate way too many cookies. To be completely honest, I'm pretty glad to be done analyzing children's literature for this class. I love children's literature, but literary analysis? Not so much.
Writing for Children: Remember how I mentioned in my last post that I hate writing historical fiction? Well, I hate writing romance even more, and I was asked to write it as part of an in-class exercise. Needless to say, it was extremely awkward and left me feeling very uncomfortable, though thankfully I wasn't asked to read my piece aloud. On the bright side, before the writing exercise, we talked about the process of getting children's novels published, which I suspect will be very useful information later in my career.
Advanced Creative Writing Tutorial: For the final session of this course, my tutor and I went over some of my writing and discussed journal entries that I wrote for a couple of my characters. In addition, we analyzed the short story Two Hearts by Peter Beagle and talked about the next steps I need to take with my novel. This class has fundamentally changed the way I look at my novel and my writing in general and I am going to miss it very, very much. My tutor has been absolutely wonderful and I have truly loved working with her.
Outside of my classes, my week was relatively relaxed. On Wednesday, I went with my friends to the opening night of the Bath Christmas Market, which will be occupying most of central Bath until December 15th. The market is ridiculously huge and incredibly gorgeous. Between the festive lights overhead, the performers on every corner, and the rows upon rows of quirky booths, there's so much to discover. My friends and I only got a glimpse of all the market had to offer, but it was enough to put me firmly in the Christmas spirit.
The Chaotic Beauty of the Christmas Market
Thursday, as my American readers know, was Thanksgiving, and the ASE program was kind enough to put on a dinner for my peers and me. It was...interesting, to say the least. For one thing, it was in the evening, instead of in the afternoon like I'm used to. For another, the "stuffing" they served was not American stuffing--it was served in slices and tasted a bit like sausage. That being said, the meal was very good overall, and the pumpkin pie was especially delicious. The evening was filled with friendship and laughter, and though it wasn't quite the same as Thanksgiving back home, it was an excellent substitute. It made me realize that I'm really going to miss the friends I've made here.
Waiting for Dinner...
An English Thanksgiving Feast
Christmas is on its way, folks!
A few days after that, I went and had a fantastic adventure in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare's Birthplace. But like I said earlier, that's a story for another time--so tune in next week if you want to hear about it!
Thanks for reading!
Abby
Artsy Picture of the Day: The Gorgeous Streets of Bath
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