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The Forum > Article Comments > Shakespeare versus the bus ticket > Comments

Shakespeare versus the bus ticket : Comments

By Brian Moon, published 2/4/2007

'Postmodern theory' and the teaching of English, Literary Criticism v Cultural Studies - what's the difference?

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer – what a fantastic show! I was lucky enough to develop and teach an English elective to year 10 based on it. I’ll give Shakespeare the edge over Buffy - and the bus ticket – but the point is that modern works can have depth and insight in them. We do not have to go back to a past era for everything we teach. We can find not immediate relevance, which is a superficial aspect in education, but a deeper relevance to humanity in works of all eras. Some would be aghast that students studied Buffy, but it is one of the best productions of the TV era, and it can be profitably “read” and “re-read” for its take on teenage angst, loyalty, justice, the notion of us and them and friendship. Of course, Giles, the librarian in a library, not a curriculum resource centre, with books not texts, was my second favourite character.
Posted by Chris C, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 11:18:08 PM
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Keith, "Really is Shakespeare dead? Not in my house he isn't." I nearly choked on my tofu, reading that. Of course Shakespeare is dead. How do I know? Because, as Roland Barthes told me THE AUTHOR IS DEAD!

I'm a bit cross at you Keith for flaunting your lifestyle. I've just come in from my 20km bicycle commute, from my job as a stress counsellor. I've only just had time to change my hairshirt and now I have to pedal the generator to power the laptop while writing this post. At least I've got some holidays coming up, so don't be surprised if you see me chained to the gate of the local power station. After all, someone's got to save the world, AND IT OBVIOUSLY ISN"T YOU KEITH.
Posted by Johnj, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 11:59:54 PM
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Choke you bastard, choke!

It is a source of constant astonishment to me that people need to be counselled to gain stress.

Real men don't have occassional holidays...they have them all the time.

There are no power stations at sea, so us crossing paths is, though unfortunate, extremely unlikely. Though if we did I'd give your back a good wallop with my paddles and save you from choking. I'd also give you some decent food ... you poor wretch ... torfu ... what sort of mom did you have
Posted by keith, Thursday, 5 April 2007 2:08:42 PM
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I’m mystified Keith, I didn’t know you needed paddles to move a yacht. Use your sails man. That’s what I was shown to do in the Whitsundays during a most memorable holiday, recovering from the stresses of humdrum life, with my family on a Rent-a-Yacht. Otherwise we used the engine to moor. The tender (that’s the dinghy for you non yachties) also had a little outboard motor.

We’re ‘Cat’ people I’ve discovered. I like the extra space. What are you? Probably a monohull person. They’d read Sheakespeare to relax. I know some nice people who prefer monohulls, so I’m not prejudiced.

Did I read Sheakespeare or bus tickets to relax? No, I was going through an African Authors phase. Isn’t language and the use of it the most wonderful reason for being a human animal?

Johnj, you pay no mind to Keith’s remark. Tofu is great if you know what to do with it. A bit like language really.
Posted by yvonne, Friday, 6 April 2007 8:57:13 PM
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YVOMME

Ha ha paddling my yacht off into the wide blue yonder. I can just see it.
I'm not wealthy and dislike any sort of 'stink' boat anyway and my pathetic little tender, which appears older than me, has only paddles.

I bet you didn't get a homily on the back of your contract when you rented that yacht. But if you did then it wouldn't have been written by a lawyer but by a yachtie, and then would have made a huge impact on your life.

There is tons of space for one or two hermit types and a little privacy with my forward and aft cabins.

My bookshelves contain a sizeable chunk of 'foreign' authors, American and Russian mostly, but I've a preference to the classic Westerners ... hmmmm maybe I've had a discrimitory approach to reading?

Reading is the best ... after sailing. Combining the two ...well what could be better in a gentle breeze in the tropics.

You'd not feed your kids tofu? Would you? You're surely not like Johnj's mum?
Posted by keith, Saturday, 7 April 2007 11:31:28 AM
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Keith, sorry to hear about your motorless tender. It's so handy to zoom off for necessities (a bottle of Shiraz).

If you like reading, try some South American authors. Especially Gabriel Garcia Marquez. For a taste, try a collection of short stories: “Collected Stories” I generally dislike short stories, but this one, each is like an entire book. Beautiful writing, he could teach many on editing. Even his explanation how the book came into being is interesting.

Mario Vargas Llosa is also interesting. But only what he wrote before he had aspirations to become a president of Peru.

If you can read Shakespeare and ‘get’ the meaning, you just might like authors from South America and West Africa.

Re: tofu. Yes, I cook tofu. I have a 13 year old daughter who decided age 7 after reading the biography on the Buddha she wasn’t going to be part in the killing of living things. After 5 years I’m still waiting for her to grow out of this phase. The rest of the family likes and eats steak. Sending a prayer of gratitude to an animal a la American Indians isn’t good enough for her!

My husband reckons she reads too many books. As if that is possible. Not the fault of her school I might add. Even the bus tickets here are boring.
Posted by yvonne, Monday, 9 April 2007 7:13:05 PM
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