7 October 2011
Twenty three Lower Sixth pupils accompanied Mr Carson and Miss Yarrow to the Cheltenham Literature Festival to attend a series of talks on writers' methods and ideas by a range of high-profile authors and critics.
We heard Emma Donoghue, author of the bestselling Room, and Orange prize shortlisted writer Ellen Feldman discuss their concern with narrative voice and structure in their writing. BBC4 presenter Henry Hitchings offered an entertaining history of language change that included a convincing explanation of why it is perfectly acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition in English. Eminent critics John Sutherland and David Lodge (also an author) then discussed the significance of writers' lives on their novels, before the day ended with a provocative visual history of postmodernism chaired by Rachel Campbell-Johnston, chief art critic for The Times.
The lectures wonderfully supported pupils' study of "Aspects of Narrative", the examined unit of their AS English Literature course. Pupils' comments at the end of the day included "A truly enlightening experience" and "I had never realised before that I am post-post-modern!"
Kevin Carson
