Berenice Bobs her Hair

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American writer of novels and short stories, whose works are evocative of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. Fitzgerald is considered together with Gertrude Stein and Enrnest Hemingway, a member of the "Lost Generation" of the Twenties. He finished four novels, including The Great Gatsby and wrote dozens of short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age.

The 1920s proved the most influential decade of Fitzgerald's development.The Great Gatsby, considered his masterpiece, was published in 1925. Fitzgerald made several excursions to Europe, notably Paris and the French Riviera, and became friends with many members of the American expatriate community in Paris, notably Ernest Hemingway.

Hemingway looked up to Fitzgerald as an experienced professional writer. Hemingway greatly admired The Great Gatsby and wrote in his A Moveable Feast "If he could write a book as fine as The Great Gatsby I was sure that he could write an even better one" .

Although Fitzgerald's passion lay in writing novels, only his first novel sold well enough to support the opulent lifestyle that he and his wife Zelda adopted as New York celebrities. As did most professional authors at the time, Fitzgerald supplemented his income by writing short stories for such magazines as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire, and sold movie rights of his stories and novels to Hollywood studios. Many of these stories act as testing grounds for his novels.

Fitzgerald wrote frequently for The Saturday Evening Post. This issue from May 1, 1920, containing the short story "Bernice Bobs Her Hair", was the first with Fitzgerald's name on the cover.
And this is the story by Scott Fitzgerald we are going to read in our course. So click HERE and download it....Good reading!!!



A big thanks to Bárbara Bezuch who found the link!!!

source:www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/bernice/

World War I

Here are some interesting Power Point Presentations that we dealt with in class:

The Road to WW1: http://rapidshare.com/files/233802830/TheRoadToWW1__1_.ppt

WW1: http://rapidshare.com/files/233807838/WW1_2_.ppt

WW1: Territorial changes:http://rapidshare.com/files/233809107/WWITerritorialChanges_4_.ppt

WW1: Summary:http://rapidshare.com/files/233814700/WWW1_summary.ppt

"Soldier´s Home" by Ernest Hemingway

"Soldier's Home" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway, first collected in In Our Time (1925).
The story opens when the protagonist, Harold Krebs, has just come back from World War I.

Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 — July 2, 1961) was an American writer and journalist. He was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, and one of the veterans of World War I later known as "the Lost Generation." He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea, and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

Hemingway's distinctive writing style is characterized by economy and understatement, and had a significant influence on the development of twentieth-century fiction writing. His protagonists are typically stoical men who exhibit an ideal described as "grace under pressure." Many of his works are now considered classics of American literature.

During the First World War, against his father's wishes,he tried to join the United States Army to see action in World War I. He failed the medical examination due to poor vision, and instead joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corps. On his route to the Italian front, he stopped in Paris, which was under constant bombardment from German artillery. Instead of staying in the relative safety of the Hotel Florida, Hemingway tried to get as close to combat as possible.
Soon after arriving on the Italian Front Hemingway witnessed the brutalities of war. On his first day on duty an ammunition factory near Milan blew up. Hemingway had to pick up the human—primarily female—remains. Hemingway wrote about this experience in his short story "A Natural History of the Dead". This first encounter with death left him shaken.
On July 8, 1918, Hemingway was wounded while delivering supplies to soldiers, which ended his career as an ambulance driver. He was later awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor (medaglia d'argento) from the Italian government for dragging a wounded Italian soldier to safety in spite of his own injuries. He was credited as the first American wounded in Italy during WWI by newspapers at the time but there is debate surrounding the veracity of this claim.
This left an indelible mark on his psyche and provided inspiration for, and was fictionalized in, one of his early novels, A Farewell to Arms and other stories.

Hemingway in WWI

The set test from Hemingway is "Soldier´s Home". You can download it here

The War Poets

Our first topic related to literature is about the so-called "War Poets" ,there are several good sites to consult. Click here and you´ll find some of W. Owen´s work and reviews. Another English War Poet was R.Brooke ,if you go here you´ll find some of his poems that we´ll deal with in class.
Finally, here you´ll find the work of S.Sassoon, another English war poet.

Good poem hunting!!!

Poems we´ll read by Owen: "Dulce et DecorumEst"; "Futility"; "Exposure".
by Sassoon:"Survivors";"Does it Matter?"
by Brooke: "The Dead";"Safety"

Recommendation

Watching TV is sometimes fun, sometimes educational but very seldom both. I have found a very interesting series broadcasted by Sony channel called "American Dreams". The series deals with a typical American family in the 60´s and follows all the important events of the decade as the assassination of President Kennedy (the episode I watched)
As you will see in our syllabus that is very improtant decade in America and in the world, so this is a unique opportunity to have fun and entertainment at the same time we watch something that can help us study or reflect on what we have studied.

Saturdays 1 pm, Sony Channel.

WELCOME!!!

Welcome 2009 students!! This blog will help us be in contact and it can help you study and find material for your subject.I also expect that some of your productions alongside the year will be here.

Our first topic is World War I and the English War Poets; try this site:(click here)


And for maps, this(click here) is very good!!!

David Lodge: Nice Work

In our syllabus of Language & Culture II, one of the set novels is Nice Work by David Lodge.
The BBC World Service has a site called "World Book Club" where you can hear authors talking about their work.
Among others like Hanif Kureishi talking about The Buddha of Suburbia, or Doris Lessing The Grass is Singing, there´s an audio of David Lodge reading and talking about his novel, Nice Work.Interesting for those who are preparing their final exam or for the ones who are going to attend the subject in 2009, but also for literature lovers in general. this is the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/133_wbc_archive_new/page4.shtm


Thanks to Claudia Girod.