Scribble Issue 4

S C R I B B L E Shrewsbury High School Literary Magazine, Issue 4 (December, 2019)

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NOTE FROM THE

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EDITOR

verywarmwelcometothenextchapter of Scribble, and one which I am so thrilledtobeintroducing,asit’smyfirst opportunityeditingthissplendidliterary magazine.Iwilladmit,itwasquiteanundertakingto keepthehighstandardsmaintainedbyMollyforthe threepreviouseditions.However,Ineverrealisedand anticipatedhowenjoyableitwouldbe,nottomention howmanyskillswererequired,whenputtingmyself forward for the role. As a team we have been so busy forthelast2termscelebratingthe incredible array of literaryformsexploredbyeverymemberofScribble.

BothMaddyandDivyahavealwaysbeencommitted and very talented contributors to Scribble, and are influential members of the team who demonstrate their passion for literature, and in this edition they have not disappointed! Maddy has explored the alienation of characters in Thomas Hardy’s work includinghismotivesbehindthis.Alsointhisedition is the publication of Maddy’s story entitled ‘Decent’ which won her the GDST creative writing prize.

Divya’s article, ‘The Sylvia Plath Effect and Mental Illness in Poetry’, explores female poets being more likelytoexperiencementalhealthillnessesthanother writers,whichwasespeciallyinterestingformesinceI amstudyingpsychology.Poetryisobviouslyapopular theme and I have also briefly touched upon the new appointmentofSimonArmitageasPoetLaureatefor the next decade taking over from Carol Ann Duffy.

Also in this edition is Mr Aldridge’s article about the thrillingcrimebookseriesfeaturingdetectiveHelen Grace by M. J. Arlidge, one book of this series being Eeny Meeny.

This edition has been an exciting start for the Year 12s who have joined Scribble after starting English Literature at A Level in September, and this has given them the opportunity to share their favourite novels and genres as well as demonstrating their creative flair. Next year's editor, Grace, takes you

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through the story of ‘Call me by your Name’ whilst Holly chose to journey back in time to Mary Shelley’s Frankensteinillustratinghowthisisstillrelevanttoday.

Lily brilliantly introduced us to the minorities of the fantasy genre and Dani continues to enthral us with her captivating creative writing.

A new element of Scribble is the glimpse into ShrewsburyHighSchool’spastthroughtheuncovering of the archives. Miss Hale, the school Librarian, has beeninfluentialindiscoveringthememoriesfrompast yearsattheschoolandthefocusforthiseditionhasbeen the1941schoolmagazine.MrJones,HeadofDrama, haswrittenabouttheHamletproductionwhichwas theschoolplayin1941.Theamazingillustrationsand scholarlyreportoftheplaygoestoshowtheimportance of this in the school calendar. This edition not only involves the subject of drama but also draws in the Modern Foreign Language Department in Sophie Callear’sessayaspartoftheOxfordGermanNetwork which is about the German classic E. T. A Hoffman’s

Der Sandmann.

We hope to fully introduce the Scribble subscription in the next issue meaning you don’t miss a single edition of this amazing literary magazine. However fornow,keepaneyeonoursocialmediaaswewillbe facilitatingthisasaplatformforpromotingScribbleas awholeaswellasanyexcitingnewsandinformation abouttheteam. Ihopeyouenjoyreadingthisedition as much as myself and the team enjoyed creating it, celebrating literature and members of our school community alike.

Kirsty Eades Editor 2019/20

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Contents

Editor Kirsty Eades

Deputy Editor

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Robin Aldridge

The Sylvia Plath Effect and Mental Illness by Divya Balain.

Editorial Contributions Q Divya Balain R Q Madeline Williams R

Madeline Williams explores Thomas Hardy on the theme of Alienation.

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Q Kirsty Eades R Q Robin Aldridge R Q Alex Hale R

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Q Nick Jones R

New contributor Lily Harding discusses Minotiries in Fantasy Fiction.

Q Lily Harding R Q Holly Lovett R Q Dani Hales R

20 Frankenstein - How is this 200

Q Grace Turner R

year novel still relevant today?

Q Sophie Callear R

Editoral Design & Production 2 Welcome from the Editor 3

Tiffany Pardoe

Front Page Artwork

Contents

Hamlet Frontipiece c.1941

7 Simon Armitage, The New Poet Laureate

Printed in the UK by Badger Print & Design Published by Scribble, Shrewsbury High School

11 I love Hamlet 14 From the Archives, Hamlet 1941 18 In praise of A J Arlidge 22 Descent, Creative Writing Winner 24 Pier Jumping, Creative Writing 26 Call me by your Name, book review 27 A German Classic, Der Sandmann 30 Miss Hales Recommended Reads 27 Quiz

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The Sylvia Plath Effect and Mental Illness

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he ‘Sylvia Plath effect’, coined by James C. Kaufman in 2001, is the theory that female poets are more likely to experience mental illness than other writers. The hypothesis is named after Sylvia Plath (1932 – 1963) who was clinically depressed and treated with electroconvulsive therapy multiple times in her life. On February 11, 1963, Plath committed suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning and died tragically aged 30. Anne Sexton (1928-1974) was another poet of the same time whose works detailed her battles with depression and suicidal tendencies. Sexton herself suffered from bipolar disorder and committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning on October 4, 1973, aged 45. Comparisons between the two have been made, and Sexton is often seen as a poet who was affected by ‘The Sylvia Plath effect’. Much can be said of their similar influences, Sexton wrote that “Sylvia and I would talk at length about our first suicide…”, moreover she encouraged Plath to write from a female perspective, they both also studied under the same mentor – Robert Lowell – who is seen as influential in the development of the ‘confessional poem’.

By Divya Balain

personal nature of the poem as however narcissistic the use of such imagery may come across, it leaves the poem being more authentic and gives the reader the feeling of uncensored, imperfect thoughts. Also a more personal feeling emerges as the intensity seems more honest and thus more ‘confessional’ in nature as Plath portrays herself as a more human, flawed poet focused on overwhelming emotion.

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nother example of a confessional poem is Sexton’s ‘45 Mercy Street', again dealing with personal issues such as her battle with mental illness, childhood memories and adulthood – the poem has the feeling of being extremely personal which is inherent of a confessional poem, with a strong sense of emotion coming out of the intense imagery.

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here is a sense of emotional complexity to the poem as feelings of nostalgia and happiness that come from her memories of ‘Mercy Street’ (repetition of the phrase “I know…” highlights the sense of memory whilst the focus on the “stained-glass window” and “parquet floors” emphasises the idea of familiarity and a location that is so meaningful it has lasted in her memory), are juxtaposed with feelings of anger and frustration that build as the poem continues – nearer the end she moves from asking “where did [the house] go?” to “I don’t care!”. She uses harsh verbs like “bolt” “rip” and “erase” to further craft a sense of resentment at her current situation, they all aid the imagery of destruction that Sexton is establishing, perhaps mirroring the descent of her own mental health and life into tragedy through the loss of her childhood home – she can no longer find it as it is “Not there”. Sexton also writes “I am walking and looking/and this is no dream/just my oily life". This idea of isolation not only conveys the sense of tragedy in her own life at the moment but also perhaps the loss of her ability to view her childhood memories as innocent and joyful as they once were – this is also hinted at in the poem as she writes “and in a generation/the third she will beget/me”, this change in tense further signifying a re-examination of childhood memories, perhaps finding a different meaning in them than before as in the last stanza she states “I pull the dream off/ and slam into the cement wall”.

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onfessional poetry emerged in the 1950s – 1960s and is associated with both Plath and Sexton. It is described as highly personal and deals with more private experiences often in an autobiographical way. For example, Plath’s poem ‘Daddy’ is an example of this type of poetry; it directly addresses her own father (supposedly) and deals with particularly intimate, personal feelings and private relationships.

The personal nature of this poem is emphasised by the controversial and perhaps even distasteful use of Holocaust imagery that is prevalent throughout (“An engine, an engine/chuffing me off like a Jew”, “Not God but a swastika/so black no sky could squeak through”). The imagery heightens the idea that her relationship with her father was painful and raw, however the seemingly overwhelming references can be seen as insensitive due to the aligning of a tragic historical mass genocide to a single father/daughter relationship. Despite this, the use of the imagery succeeds in increasing the

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One of the most renowned poets, novelists and short story writers of the 20th century, Sylvia Plath had battled her inner demons for much of her adult life and tragically committed suicide on February 11, 1963.

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ue to both Plath and Sexton’s work being ‘confessional’ in nature, as well as ‘similar’ lives/deaths, comparisons are often drawn between the two, their mental health issues cited as an explanation for the themes and ideas explored in their poetry. Both poets explore ideas of death and depression in their poetry. For example, in Plath’s 1961 poem ‘Tulips’, death is portrayed by Plath as desirable – she states “…I only wanted/to lie with my hands turned up and be utterly empty”. By establishing the tulips that the poem’s narrator is given as a symbol of life through the personification of the flowers – e.g. “I could hear them breathe” – Plath crafts death as desired, as the tulips (and by extension life) are portrayed by Plath as almost parasitic – the last 4 stanzas focus in on the tulips, however as the stanzas go on, Plath focuses on different aspects of their influence – i.e. from describing their appearance as “a dozen red lead sinkers around my neck” to the influence they have on her (“now I am watched”), to the way they seem to infect the air (“the air snags and eddies around them”) to finally their impact on the walls of the room (which “seem to be warming themselves”). This

sense of progression in the stanzas through the gradual focus shift as well as the aggressive characterisation of the tulips (they “eat [her] oxygen”) crafts this idea of the tulips being parasitic and draining to her, just as she views life to be. This is similar to Sexton’s 1964 poem ‘Wanting to Die’ as death is also portrayed as desirable, however in Plath’s poem this idea is more subtle, illustrated through the metaphor of the tulips, whereas in Sexton’s poem (as the title shows) this idea is much more explicit – in Sexton’s poem suicide itself is personified – “she waits for me” – this makes Sexton’s ‘longing’ for death more jarring as it is more pronounced and less interpretive, succeeding in making the poem more startling for the reader.

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oth poems have a sense of self/identity that is established as being lost/fading due to their conditions, however, both poets explore this in separate ways. For instance, in Plath's poem this idea is established through the fact that even though there is a strong sense of self through the constant uses of “I” and “my”, she crafts the idea of losing this

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using words like “numbness” and “sleep”, as well as explicitly stating “I am nobody”. Moreover, Plath portrays this through the idea of loss of memories – she describes the memories of her husband and child as “little smiling hooks” that “catch onto [her] skin”, this imagery of the memories being outside her body and detached further manufactures a sense of loss of self as they “hook” onto her, almost like they are catching onto her - despite her being willing to let them go, they cling to her in a way that is described in a painful way through the words “hook” and “catch” – this idea is reinforced as she states “I am sick of baggage”. To contrast, in Sexton’s poem the loss of self is portrayed by the overtaking by the ‘suicide’ of the body – it is stated that she has “possessed the enemy”, and is taking his “magic”, this idea of the suicide encompassing the person emphasises a lack of personal self through the overwhelming nature of the suicidal feelings. Moreover, Sexton describes this sense of loss through the idea of detachment from the body, as the way Sexton is writing about her body is disjointed; she describes her body in a very foreign, disconnected way through the technical references to the “cornea” and “leftover urine”, furthermore she describes having “rested, drooling at the mouth-hole”, further creating a sense of detachment from the body due to the unusual, external description of her own body through words that seem technical and practical rather than those which convey a sense of emotion, thus establishing a ‘loss’ of self in a loss of connection associated with her body.

Remains

By Simon Armitage

On another occasion, we got sent out to tackle looters raiding a bank.

And one of them legs it up the road, probably armed, possibly not.

Well myself and somebody else and somebody else are all of the same mind, so all three of us open fire.

Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear I see every round as it rips through his life – I see broad daylight on the other side.

So we’ve hit this looter a dozen times and he’s there on the ground, sort of inside out, pain itself, the image of agony.

One of my mates goes by and tosses his guts back into his body.

Then he’s carted off in the back of a lorry.

End of story, except not really.

His blood-shadow stays on the street, and out on patrol I walk right over it week after week.

Then I’m home on leave. But I blink and he bursts again through the doors of the bank.

Sleep, and he’s probably armed, and possibly not.

Dream, and he’s torn apart by a dozen rounds.

And the drink and the drugs won’t flush him out – he’s here in my head when I close my eyes, dug in behind enemy lines, not left for dead in some distant, sun-stunned, sandsmothered land or six-feet-under in desert sand, but near to the knuckle, here and now, his bloody life in my bloody hands.

Anne Sexton

Simon Armitage The New Poet Laureate!

By Kirsty Eades

From Charles II's appointment of the first Laureate, John Dryden, in 1688, the role has been awarded to many worthy candidates including the likes of Ted Hughes and William Wordsworth. The Poet Laureate is an expectation more than a requirement, of a contribution of verses for worthy and significant occasions in the United Kingdom. the position?’. Armitage also even admitted that he thought there had been ‘a lot of discussion behind the scenes’ due to the position going to a white man. However, he has stressed of his aims to ‘amplify the voices of writers from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds’. Armitage also said when interviewed by the BBC upon the announcement of his position ‘poetry should respond to climate change’. The environment influencing his work and climate change being such a topical discussion demonstrates his ambition to include relevant subjects and communicate with more people through his poetry.

The Poet Laureate is paid £5,750 annually as well as a ‘butt of sack’ which equates to 600 bottles of Sherry a year to keep them occupied along with the high standard of poetry they are expected to write. Carol Ann Duffy who held the role for 10 years prior to 2019 was the first Scottish woman to be awarded the position demonstrating the huge significant meaning her appointment held.

Years ago the role was previously held for very long periods of time however in recent years it has become a fixed ten year period. In 2019, Simon Armitage has been awarded the role after months of deciding! He will therefore take the reigns for the next ten years and will bring his own stamp to the position of Poet Laureate.

Most people will know of Simon Armitage due to his poem “Remains” in the GCSE Poetry anthology which touches upon the theme of guilt and being haunted by taking another man’s life. This disgust and discomfort of killing somebody innocent I think is a moving poem which is hard to forget.

Therefore there are high hopes for what Simon Armitage can achieve in his position including his notable aim of creating a National Centre for Poetry and said "I want to celebrate what's best in poetry and build on the work Andrew Motion and Carol Ann Duffy have done over the last two decades in terms of encouraging and identifying talent, particularly among young people, among whom poetry might be a way forward, an outlet.".

Born in 1963, Simon Armitage is an Alumni of Portsmouth University and studied Geography which led to him becoming a Probation Officer in Greater Manchester in 1994; he was appointed Professor of Poetry at Sheffield University. It is due to his range of experiences in many different fields which has enabled Armitage to write about such a range of subjects. Armitage was described as ‘witty and profound' whose work spans sharp observations about modern life and classical myths’ which is accurate as he also told BBC News that poetry is ‘more valuable and more relevant than it’s ever been’.

We look forward to the poetry he releases in the next ten years as Poet Laureate!

However, one question many people are asking is ‘will the position return to the archetype of Poet Laureate or will Armitage make a difference to

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in the Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) appears isolated due to his own personality “happiness [is] but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain” which appears abound with pessimism and an inability to adapt to the evolving modernity in Victorian society and changing values. Similarly, this echoes the character of Boldwood, in 'Far from the Madding Crowd' (1875) whose decision to separate himself from the village community and his insecurities leads to his imprisonment for murder.

While these two characters in contrast to the majority of Hardy’s alienated figures aim to augment the traditional patriarchal values within society of inequality in class and gender and thereby they are villainised through their alienation, rejected for their stubbornness. This in itself can be seen as a paradox as despite the physical changes such as urbanisation and industrialisation in the Victorian era, the moral and societal beliefs appear to remain static and unchallenged.

uch in contrast to the idyllic pastoral landscape of Wessex which provides the backdrop for the majority of Hardy’s novels, his protagonists often experience tragic narratives, filled with isolation. While rural village communities are somewhat celebrated in the cohesion of the workforce on Bathsheba’s farm in 'Far from the Madding Crowd', others appear neglected and ostracised as isolated figures due to their misfortunes.

This is particularly explored through the deterioration of relationships, specifically with regard to that of marriage which Hardy treats with much nihilism.

Hardy often presents the alienation of characters due to their failure to adhere to Victorian society’s restrictions and particularly the well-established patriarchal values.

Although whilst alienation is frequent in Hardy’s narratives it appears to be a symptom when compared to the dominance of fate which often establishes the demise of his tragic protagonists, that poetry is ‘more valuable and more relevant than it’s ever been’.

Henchard also experiences isolation in his marriages, as there is an inherent deterioration of affection, echoing that within Hardy’s own marital relationships, which may have established Hardy’s contempt for the

Although characters in Hardy’s work are mainly alienated in order to evoke the empathy of the reader, this is not always they case. The character of Henchard

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institution of marriage. Hardy’s first marriage to his wife Emma was tumultuous and after his wife's death following mental illness, he remarried to Florence in old age. During the period restrictive divorce laws were in place which were unequal for women and the excessive costs were so expensive that only the wealthy could afford a divorce that is if they could withstand the moral condemnation due to divorce being at conflict with Christian values. Thereby, Hardy’s critique of his perceived over-regulation of marriage through the consequences of unhappy marriages is explored frequently in his novels. Nowhere is this more explicitly observed than in 'Jude the Obscure' (1895) who is perhaps the most explicit depiction of ambitious modern man ostracised from society. Jude’s character had been honed through the proceeding figure of Clym, in 'Return of the Native' (1878) who similarly appears to be an isolated young man with aspirations and belief which are in advance of their Victorian setting. Jude experiences life’s futility and alienation as his aspirations of an education ail, initially having a destructive marriage with Arabella and then followed by the doomed relationship with Sue, with which he is forced to live

separated from his family, due to societal taboo as Sue and himself are unmarried. While Hardy makes it clear that Sue cites the tragic murder-suicide of their children and the ultimate tragic demise of their relationship as a result of God’s punishment and his judgement of their relationship; it is society’s expectations that leads to Jude’s separation from his family which allows fate to lead to his children’s death. Jude’s first marriage to Arabella is a youthful error which society is unable to forgive, drawing direct parallels with Tess’s actions while working at Trantridge in 'Tess of the D’Urbervilles' (1891) which haunts her for the rest of the novel, ultimately leading to the inevitability of her hanging. Though such actions occur as a result of fate, Hardy critiques the inevitable consequences of organised religion and restrictive values against the individual.

Both Tess and Fanny Robin in 'Far from the Madding Crowd' are outcast by society as unmarried mothers due to their failure to adhere to the idealised view of women as innocent and pure, yet both characters have a natural kindness which is brutalised by the worlds judgements upon them. It is particularly significant

Thomas Hardy onthethemeofAlienation 9

By Maddie Williams

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Tess experiences in her marriage to Angel, due to her family’s poverty, which causes her initially to reject his love, significantly isolating herself from the others on the farm. The use of class as a defining feature in the fate of Hardy’s characters, links significantly to the Marxist ideology, particularly as the conflict is established between the past and background of the individual being at conflict with the restrictive views of society which Hardy rebels against, which appears to perpetuate the struggle of inequality between classes.

Hardy often portrays the divide particularly in the depiction of Fanny Robin in destitute poverty before her death which starkly contrasts the wealth of Bathsheba’s home, identifying the injustices and consequence of such inequality.

Within his writing Hardy alienates characters in order to depict the flaws which he perceives within the society within which he is writing, establishing the often unintended and brutal consequence on innocent and often admirable characters as a result of Christian beliefs and moral taboos. 'Jude the Obscure' and 'Tess of the D’Urbervilles' provides the most significant evidence of this. Often most frequent depictions are within failing marriages such as Henchard, which heavily draws parallels to Hardy’s own. However, the theme of alienation explores the deviation of individuals from established beliefs. This is heavily nihilist and acts as an avenue through which Hardy can further explore the futility of life when compared with the cosmic enormity of fate, which appears masterful in the outcome of all characters within Hardy’s work.

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Quiz Answers

It is perhaps most telling of Hardy’s beliefs in which characters he rewards in his novels, through apparent successful relationships and happiness and acceptance within society. Hardy appears to believe that class is significant in the cohesion of the marriage, and that both husband and wife should be from similar backgrounds. Although the marriage between Gabriel Oak and Bathsheba in 'Far From the Madding Crowd' appears a happy and well matched couple by which can be deemed to appear successful, meanwhile there is a significant divide between the working class background of Gabriel and the wealth of Bathsheba.

However, Hardy appears to negotiate this contradiction though the hard work and success of Gabriel raises him out of his poverty, and is so justly rewarded for his struggles with functional relationships and “a happy ending.” This is starkly in contrast to the difficulty

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1. George Orwell 2. Don Quixote (500 million sold) 3. Vanity Fair by W.M. Thackeray 4. Big Sky 5. Daniel Defoe 6. Wessex 7. Oscar Wilde 8. Imtiaz Dharker 9. Mansfield Park 10. Ian Flemming

with regards to the story of Fanny Robin that she conceals herself, deviating in her anonymity; “I am rather poor, and I don't want people to know anything about me” as she is too proud to rely on others to support her, as it is clear she is well liked but it is her pride that makes her distance herself from others. In some ways it could be perceived that Fanny’s self-imposed alienation offers her escapism from the constraints of Weatherbury and appears initially to enjoy her liberation from societal expectations of poorer women and that it is only fate, the misfortune of missing her wedding, which condemns her to death. It establishes a conflict between an individual’s history and the moral and spiritual values of society. Hardy’s most explicit critique of Christian judgement of Tess’s past comes in her reaction to the religious signs painted “The grotesque phrase of a creed which had served mankind well in its time.” Hardy’s belief of the backwardness of society’s values, is the flaw which constricts Jude’s ambitions for education as well as Tess’s inability to be happy within relationships. While Tess and Angel’s marriage result in both existing within tragic isolation, ironically parting on their wedding night starkly juxtaposing the intended unification. While Angel’s decision alienates himself in Brazil away from his wife and unable to forgive her past, he also psychologically suffers as a result of his own adherence to traditional values and pressure from his family and his father as a reverend, only later realising the foolishness of such fears but as always with Hardy such realisations are fatefully too late. The inevitability of fate is the overarching theme for Hardy is to create such tragic protagonists in his nihilistic portrayal of such a toxic society (which so starkly contrasts the sublime beauty of the surrounding landscapes,) makes the establishments rejections of such figures appear predictable and so as if their demise is the result of fate.

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Shakespeare’s

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There are so many reasons why I love Shakespeare’s Hamlet. When I first saw the play at the RSC in Stratford in the 1970s I was completely taken with the wonderfully driven narrative and the play’s central theme (as Laurence Olivier puts it) about a man who ‘can’t make up his mind’. I was also amazed how many everyday phrases come from a play that is over 400 years old.

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Frailty, thy name is woman! - Neither a borrower nor a lender be; - This above all: to thine ownself be true - to the manner born - There are more things in heaven and earth - brevity is the soul of wit - What a piece of work is a man! - The play’s the thing - The lady doth protest too much, methinks - I must be cruel, only to be kind - How all occasions do inform against me - The cat will mew and dog will have his day – and Hamlet’s last words, The rest is silence.

There are other reasons. In the 1980s I held the position of senior course tutor for a performing arts course in Southend on Sea. At the time, WH Smith had an arrangement with The National Theatre that allowed schools and colleges to hire props, bring in directors and (for £100!!!) have a performance of a play performed by National Theatre actors at your school. That particular January it was Hamlet! I wasted no time making a booking and arranged a ‘one off’ performance in a dull, empty hall by the seaside. When the bus with the actors turned up the first person who stepped off was Tim McInnerny (well before his Blackadder fame) who was playing Hamlet, and followed by Kate Buffery who played Gertrude with around another 10 or so other amazing actors in the cast. The Director was Cicely Berry, the renowned voice coach who gave Margaret Thatcher her deep, aggressive parliamentary voice. The production was on the flat of the hall, had a few simple props, no entrances or exits and was lit by the hall’s neon strip lighting. It was sheer theatrical magic. They created such an intense atmosphere that, at times, I could hardly breathe and performed the final fight scene with a strength and vigour that was amazing. The cast stayed to speak to us at the end of the play for about an hour which was incredibly generous considering they had just performed Shakespeare’s longest play.

Hamlet, performed at Southend College of Arts and Technology on a rainy January afternoon was an experience I will treasure and never forget.

By the time I saw that production, I was a ‘fresh out of the box’ drama teacher. So, the scene when Hamlet gives advice to the actors I saw it in a new light. The moment that meant so when Hamlet tells the actors….

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…… to hold, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.

…… and I have tried to impart this advice to students I have taught ever since. Everyone who understands acting knows what it means. Acting should be natural, unforced, heartfelt and reflect the culture and world around you.

Who’s up for an all-female Hamlet, then?

Nick Jones, Head of Drama.

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Minorities in Fantasy Fiction

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he fantasy genre is one that has been present since before written fiction was even conceived. It is one grown out of our individual folklore and myth, rooted in oral tradition, and cultivated by some of the most wellrenowned authors in literature. It is also home to some of my favourite books that have left a massive impression on me and influence my writing and worldview to this day.

Many will argue that these descriptions are, in effect, harmless because, as Tolkiengateway.net describes;

“Orcs however, are not men. Unlike the wicked men who serve the Enemy, who might have been enslaved or beguiled, orcs are portrayed as irredeemably evil, or at least having a redemption outside the scope of the narrative. The origin of orcs is not clear, but they may be products of Morgoth's sorcery, or the descendants of tortured and ruined elves or men. Regardless of their origins they are not presented as a natural race.” Tolkien himself even spoke about his views on allegory, saying “But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.”

Artist's impression of an Orc of Mordor with the Eye of Sauron on its shield. Source: Wikipedia The Uruk-hai by JohnHowe. Source: Tolkein Gateway

Despite this rich history and acclaim, much criticism has been levelled at the genre in recent years about ignorance towards marginalised groups, even in the genre’s most recent iteration of urban fantasy. These claims are not unfounded, the history of the treatment of people of colour, women, and the LGBTQIA+ community is well chronicled.

For example, in the works of JRR Tolkien, possibly the most seminal figure influencing modern fantasy.

It is in his work that we find the first widely discussed examples of racializing a foreign species in fiction, a common phenomenon when considering identities of colour within the category of fantasy. Tolkien’s Orcs and Uruk-Hai are described as “black” and “black-skinned”, all orcs are often described as "slant-eyed", and in one of his letters Tolkien described Orcs as "...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."

by Lily Harding

This would remove any suspected intent from Tolkien to have the Orcs serve as a negative representation of a particular real-life ethnic group.

However, whether this is intended as harmless or not it does exist within the text, it serves both as a representation of the poor treatment of minority groups present in the genre as it began to gain popularity during the mid-20th century and creates a trend of attributing racial characteristics to fictional species that has a legacy throughout fantasy post-Tolkien. This is a problem, as it not only ohters people with those racial characteristics but then also becomes the only form of representation those races get within fantasy.

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he urban fantasy subgenre is one that immediately concerns itself with the issue of race; “urban” being a term with immediate connotations of black culture. This is generally thought to be due to the phenomenon of “white flight” from cities to the suburbs in the 1950’s, resulting in urban areas containing a much higher level of diverse ethnic culture. And here we find the definition of urban fantasy: fantasy which operates within an urban setting.

This as a concept represents a shift in the potential of fantasy fiction; no longer are the stories relegated to worlds and allegories that must be mapped onto our own, now they have the chance to make direct and effective social commentary, and with the added connotations of “urban” culture, there is real possibility for potent meditations on all aspects of life from race to class to sexuality.

However, in practise urban fantasy does not so much concern itself with it’s urban-ness, instead being used to describe any story that contains magical worlds within our own. Here we have what journalist Daniel José Older calls “literary gentrification” where “the American city becomes either a goofy whitewashed playground, girls with werewolves and vampires, or an abysmal urban nightmare. And like most dystopias, neither fictionalized versions of this city have much to say about the real-world conflicts threatening urban communities of colour like police violence and gentrification.”

And thus, we come to Harry Potter, perhaps the prime example of what Older is describing. Harry Potter is possibly the most successful fantasy series of all time, specifically urban fantasy, taking its place in our cultural zeitgeist as the culmination of modern fantasy. The series famously takes place at Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardry, a boarding school in the far rural reaches of Scotland, immediately distancing itself from the urban environment and making it harder for the series to have any relevance to our world.

It is also what has been referred to as “bourgeois fantasy” for its perceived voice of privilege, clumsy handling of minority characters, and ignorance of real-world struggle.

An example of this ignorance is the character of Albus Dumbledore. In 2007 author JK Rowling revealed that the beloved Hogwarts headmaster was gay via a speech at Carnegie Hall, despite no evidence of that being

This is again seen in the series’ problems with the few characters of colour it has; primarily Cho Chang, Dean Thomas, Blaise Zabini and Padma and Parvati Patil. All of these characters are routinely side-lined in favour of their white colleagues, not receiving nearly as much development. A particularly egregious instance of this is the plot line of Cho Chang, where her admirable qualities are chipped away in order to make Harry’s love story with Ginny more believable. Cho is essentially put down for the sake of a white woman’s development before all but vanishing from the series completely.

Through these examples it is easy to see how the fantasy genre has been dominated by voices of privilege throughout time and in the modern day. Marginalised groups are either harmfully or lazily represented, or just wholesale ignored. My point, however, is not to dismiss the value of works like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, both of which deserve their places in genre history for setting a precedent and being a milestone in children’s fantasy fiction respectively. Instead I want to stress that this is a learning opportunity, to look at the history of popular works within this genre and make a conscious effort to add to the discourse and change that fantasy is capable of. Fantasy is something so rife with opportunities for interesting voices and stories to come forward and offer growth and change, it is something hewn out of every culture’s myths and legends, and so it belongs to everybody. It’s a genre that I love, including the works I have criticised here, and above all else I want to see it become something diverse, and something that I can be proud of.

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Cho Chang was a witch whom attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Source: www. harryalbuspotter.fandom.com

Urban Myths

present throughout the series. Many voices from within the LGBTQIA+ community have since decried this as lazy representation, that scores Rowling points with liberal fans of the series but allows more conservative ones to simply ignore the statement and go on reading the books and watching the films freely. It is clear here that Rowling was either not willing or ignorant of the work required to include a minority character within her work.

From the Archives Shrewsbury High School’s Archives contain an extensive collection of photographs, documents and artefacts offering a wealth of history about our School, its students and staff and managed by Librarian Miss Hale. As proud stewards of such rich history since 1885, Scribble will be publishing poems, stories from this period to the present date.

Our first glimpse into the past, is taken from the School Magazine in 1941.

“Since I wrote the introduction to our last school magazine, we have lived through nearly two years of war, and the form which this issue takes is proof of some of the difficulties that have had to be faced. As there is need for great economy of paper, we decided to have one hand-made copy of the magazine instead of the usual printed issues. This decision has meant that there is a splendid opportunity of emphasizing the literary and artistic side of the contributions, and of including original photographs of school life, although the last mentioned effort has been hampered by the difficulty of getting films.”

Miss Hudson (SHS Headmistress) 17th July 1941 This was Miss Hudson’s introduction to the School Magazine of 1941 which, due to the many difficulties faced during World War II, is the only hand-written and drawn school magazine in the High School’s history. As with the more traditional print editions of the school magazines from other years, the 1941 issue includes details of major school events throughout the year, results of sporting fixtures, examination successes, creative writing and a review complete with photographs and drawings of the 1941 school production of Hamlet, written by former Shrewsbury High School pupil Hazel Price.

On 13th July 1940, a party of High School girls went to Oswestry to hear a Shakespeare Lecture Recital by John Gielgud. He is perhaps the actor of the twentieth century most closely associated with Hamlet and regarded by many as the finest Hamlet of his era, playing the role five times between 1930 and 1944. This must have been a hugely inspiring experience for the girls as later that the year the decision was made for Hamlet to be the school production in 1941, with Margaret Fairhurst taking on the lead role.

“Like matrimony, a production of Hamlet is not a thing to be “lightly or unadvisedly” undertaken. On the other hand, we must remember that a great play calls forth the best in its actors. Nevertheless, I must confess that last winter when the Producer told me that the school was going to present Hamlet the following term, I trembled with apprehension; I asked myself how could schoolgirls capture anything of that spirit?”

Seeing an all-female production of Hamlet, in terms of cast and behind the scenes, in 1941 would have been an extremely rare occurrence. The influential French actress, Sara Bernhardt, performed as Hamlet in 1899 and was the first ever Hamlet to appear on film in 1900. Danish actress Asta Nielsen played the lead role in her 1921 silent film Hamlet, in which she played the Prince as a girl who had been raised as a boy in order to preserve her family’s lineage. The film was a phenomenal box-office success but the gender-crossing possibilities that Nielsen’s Hamlet had awoken remained largely unexplored for decades, except perhaps in Shrewsbury.

“The Hamlet of Margaret Fairhurst needed to be seen to be believed. It was quite remarkable. Physically and intellectually she had the part well in hand. This was not the result of accident. It was accomplished through unsparing and unremitting hard work done for the love of acting, love of the play itself, loyalty to the cast and loyalty to the Producer.”

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The High School performed Hamlet on 1st and 6th February 1941 at Shrewsbury Technical College. The seating capacity was 360 which was filled on both nights with people having to be turned away at the door. A total of £55 was raised from ticket sales which was donated to the Royal Salop Infirmary. Hazel Price, a Shrewsbury High School pupil in the early 1900s, was in the audience and penned a review for the school magazine: “Yes, Hamlet was an ambitious undertaking; but did ambition “o’erleap itself”? Let me say at once that Shrewsbury High School gave the best amateur performance of Hamlet that I have seen: a performance which was as far ahead of a “school play” as the professional player is ahead of the amateur.

The production was excellent. The Producer had realised that nothing is so attractive as complete unpretension. She had placed no trivial tricks of production between the audience and Shakespeare’s verse. The costumes were beautiful, and one could hardly believe that they had all been made by the staff and the girls themselves. The grouping was extremely well arranged, continuously changing, but never becoming a muddle of movement. The duel would not have disgraced any professional performance.

Finally, the Producer is to be congratulated on a magnificent effort, the true extent of which can only be understood by those of us who have produced a play ourselves and only the Producer herself can fully appreciate the value of the willing and unstinting help given to Miss Blackburn by Miss Davis, Miss Russell, Miss Hopp, Miss Berry and her assistant stage manager, Pauline Tucker, doing the many jobs expected and unexpected which individually crop up.”

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The Cast

From the Archives, we have gleaned that Miss Margaret Fairhurst played the part of Hamlet. Margaret would have been seventeen years old.

The 1941 School Magazine was beautifully illustrated. Unfortunately, we do not know who the artist(s) were.

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To celebrate the success of the play, Form IV A hosted a Shakespearean Tea Party for the cast on 14th February 1941. As Nick Jones comments in his article for this issue of Scribble, the central theme of Hamlet, as put by Laurence Olivier, is about a man who ‘can’t make up his mind’. This must also have been recognised by IV A as during the tea party they acted out a 1901 play

by St John Hankin entitled The New Wing at Elsinore. A comic sequel to Hamlet, the play relates how Hamlet continues his indecisiveness even as a ghost. In addition, Horatio has seized the throne at Elsinore but is being plagued by so many ghosts that all his servants are giving notice en masse and he has to build a new wing at the castle to avoid the numerous apparitions.

From The New Wing at Elsinore: It’s not as if we only had one ghost.

They simply swarm! There’s Hamlet’s father; He walks the battlements from ten to five: You’ll see him in half an hour or so.

Claudius, the late King, haunts the State apartments; The Queen the keep, Ophelia the moat, And Rosencrantz and Guildenstern the hall.

Polonius you will usually find Behind the arras murmuring platitudes, And Hamlet stalking in the corridors.

Alas, poor ghost! His fatal indecision Pursues him still. He can’t make up his mind Which rooms to take – you’re never safe from him!

If you would like to see the 1941 School Magazine or any other material in the school archives, then please make an appointment with Miss Hale, The School Librarian.

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In praise of M.J. Arlidge In this edition, Head of English, Mr Aldridge, celebrates the work of a contemporary crime writer, M.J. Arlidge

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he excitement of discovering a new author is one of literature’s great pleasures, especially when there is a good body of work you can delve into as a reader; just like getting a great recommendation for a TV boxset and binge-watching it, I have recently devoured the seven D.I. Helen Grace novels by contemporary British writer M.J. Arlidge, and cannot wait to begin the latest instalment in the series Down to the Woods.

In my case, the recommendation for Arlidge’s works came from a former student, who studied English Literature at A-level at Shrewsbury Hight School; she so regularly drew links in her study of crime fiction to the first Helen Grace novel Eeny Meeney that she gave it to me as a parting gift in 2017. I must admit to leaving it about a year until I began reading, but became instantly hooked by Arlidge’s style, his central character and the criminal world of Southampton that he so masterfully constructs; the next six novels were very quickly purchased and read almost back to back.

“There are countless moments in the average life when you have to decide whether to open yourself up or bury yourself deep. In love, at work, among your family, with friends, there are moments when you have to decide whether you are ready to reveal your true self.”

M.J. Arlidge, Eeny Meeny

Arlidge’s background is as a writer for television, including work on Silent Witness, and you can really tell this in his novels; the narratives are phenomenally fast-paced, offering the reader constant mini-climaxes during the over-arching narrative trajectory, as well as twists and turns that would clearly punctuate the endings of television episodes extremely successfully. Like many successful writers of crime, Arlidge has a number of constants; the location remains the same in all of the novels, using Southampton as the basis for a criminal world which simply does not stop; the lead character is DI Helen Grace, who grows in complexity and depth as the series of novels progress; there are also a number of subsidiary characters on the Southampton force and also ffrom local press who also become ‘rounder’ and more developed from novel to novel – an uneasy relationship between the police force and regional news journalists is particularly pointed and crafted. The recipe is a classic one, but Arlidge executes it with a sense of panache and playfulness that makes his prose electric and the very definition of ‘page-turners’.

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The premise of the first novel, Eeny Meeny, is an original one – a serial killer who doesn’t actually murder anyone; instead, two individuals are abducted and locked in a space until one of them kills the other.

The narratology is original as a result – how does a detective gather clues to find a killer when the killer is not present at the death? The puppet-master killer lurks in the shadows and gaps of the text, but Arlidge skilfully uses the novel’s denoument for a conventional pursuit and reveal, but with a very clever twist regarding Grace’s adversary’s true identity. The second novel, Pop goes the Weasel, explores a much darker crime-world, where a killer preys on men who cheat on their partner, whilst the third instalment, The Doll’s House, is much more psychological in nature, centring on a killer who abducts young women and keeps them imprisoned in an underground ‘doll’s house’. I think it’s in the fourth novel, Liar Liar, that Arlidge reaches another level; here, an arsonist is wreaking havoc across Southampton, setting multiple fires simultaneously to deflect attention from the use of fire as a lethal weapon; the killer here verges on genius throughout the narrative, often so many steps ahead of the police that it seems impossible that justice will ever prevail. The ending is largely conventional, however, with the twists, red herrings and revelations that we have come to expect of the genre, but the beautiful vulnerability and fragility of the killer that is constructed in the denouement is striking; although

brutal, immoral and unforgiveable, the motive behind the crimes is fully understandable, and arguably the true criminals of the text are not adequately recognised. The ending is problematic in this regard, but nonetheless a provocative and original one. Book 5, Hide and Seek, is possibly my favourite of the series – if only because it is so artfully playful and subversive in its use of generic features. The narrative takes place in a prison; often the punishment of criminals at the end of a novel, HMP Holloway serves as a classic ‘locked room’ setting, where a serial killer uses confinement to their advantage, but DI Grace finds herself thrust, very uncomfortably, into the world of the criminal where she can find no escape or respite, and instead of functioning as a pursuer of justice and the law, she often finds herself in the narrative territory of victim or the pursued. 2017’s Love me not, is book 7 of the series, and sees Arlidge approach narrative in yet another different way, following just a day in the life of a spree killer; unlike previous novels, we have a dual perspective afforded from the beginning and the identity of the killer is not hidden from us. Instead, Arlidge allows extended and regular insights into the psyche of a killer marauding around Southampton, exploring the complexities of a cat and mouse game with the police, the effects of over-bearing authority figures and, like Liar Liar, an often sympathetic villain.

It is Arlidge’s short chapters, relentless pace, multi-perspectivity and detailed, provocative explorations into the criminal psyche that makes the series, for me, a triumph. Many generic features are employed without much diversion from archetypes – particularly the flawed, emotionally inept, socially awkward, dysfunctional core detective, Helen Grace. We have seen her type countless times before, and maybe to saturation point, and yet she remains endearing, admirable and the glue the holds Arlidge’s narrative together. Will Lavender describes her as ‘fiendishly awesome’ and I would second this assertion, but I think that she is only a part of what Lavender goes on to describe as ‘a full cast of realistically drawn, interesting characters that make the thing read like a bullet’ (fantasticfiction.com).

The binge-read, ‘boxset’ approach is one that Arlidge has clearly deliberately taken, and one that is fully appropriate for a c.21st reader who is used to everything that is download, on-command. Eight novels in four years is prolific by anyone’s standards, so maybe these novels have been written to be read with the pace of a television series. The immersion that a series offers a reader is one of the most enjoyable aspects of opening a book for the first time, stepping over that threshold of reality into an imagined world and diving headlong into a story with characters whom you recognise and care about; the sense of bereavement and feeling of being bereft when there is not another episode left, or when the series has come to an end, is the modern holy grail because it a writer leaves his reader screaming for more, more, more, then surely another best seller is just around the corner. I am waiting until the Christmas break to begin book 8, Down to the Woods, but I am already uneasy that this is the final Helen Grace book (for the time) and I cannot simply move on to the next one.

If you enjoy crime writing, I urge you to have a go at reading Eeny Meeny and confidently predict that you won’t be able to put it, or the ensuing seven novels, down soon! Bravo M.J. Arlidge!

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Frankenstein

By Holly Lovett

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) is a novel that focuses on a theme of self-destruction, isolation and alienation from society, so how can a piece of literature that was written over two-hundred years ago still have relevance in the modern day?

Mary Shelley wrote the famous novel Frankenstein, and it was published in the early nineteenth century. She was born in London, but lived in Italy for most of her adult life. Being only eighteen when she completed the tale, it could be assumed that Shelley had a realist view of what life was like for young women in this era, as her father was a journalist, and this may have influenced her opinion on society. Shelley was also known for being intellectual and this can be seen in her writing. Frankenstein is one of the most loved pieces of gothic literature.

Summary- Robert Walton is the captain of a ship headed for the North Pole; and in the form of letters that are sent home to his sister, he conveys the progress of his perilous pursuit. Success is awarded early on; however, his mission quickly becomes disrupted. A sea of impassable ice means that he becomes trapped, it is here that he acquainted Victor Frankenstein, who had been travelling across the ice via a

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dog-drawn sledge. Walton takes Frankenstein aboard as he appears to be unwell, with the intentions to aid him back to health. It is then that he hears the tale of what Frankenstein has created.

Victor Frankenstein has a fire burning within him; the idea of a scientific status, power and glory fuels him into constructing a creature made from dead human body parts. And to bring it to life. He wants his new being to be beautiful, but in reality, the creation is more of a monster. Immediately, he runs away in horror. Throughout the course of the narrative, the ‘monster’ becomes murderous, even killing members of Frankenstein’s own family. The monster requests that Victor makes him a companion as he feels alone in the world, however Victor ends up destroying the new monster after having second thoughts. After the monster kills Victor’s fiancé on the eve of their wedding a chase begins and this leads to the ending of both Frankenstein and his creation.

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Today technology is an integral part of daily life as behind a screen, people can be whoever they want to be. With this comes a sense of freedom, but also a confinement to suit the ideal, popular archetypes. Both of these different emotions are experienced within this novel, even if it is not in the context of technology, however, it does make the novel relevant today, due to its important message. The novel displays the way that humans create their own initial impression of who someone is, through their appearance, and then treat them accordingly to their thoughts. Most of the time they act without taking the time to understand someone.

Within the novel, the sense of alienation is most obviously experienced by the monster. The creature is condemned to a life of detachment from society, this is because no one could take the “breathless horror” that was presented through the monster’s appearance. As a result, it was made futile for the creature to attempt to socialise with anyone. The monster struggles to understand the reason behind people’s reaction to him. Numerous attempts are made to connect with humans until the creature finds out why they are horrified at the sight of it. By seeing the reflection of its face in the water and realising that it doesn’t look normal, the monster becomes depressed.

This process is incredibly common on social media platforms currently. Viewing a picture (or a ‘reflection’ in the monster’s case) and analysing it can lead to a feeling of not being good enough. It will then begin to build up. All that is left behind from something like this is a negative emotion that can have drastic results if it occurs regularly. Because of how hurt the monster is by people’s actions towards him, his attitude changes. The creature becomes impulsive, angry and destructive, these emotions are experienced every day in modern society and can have devastating effects on an individual’s mental health. From the moment it came to life, the monster was abhorred and abandoned.

People alienate the monster in this novel, he doesn’t fit in within society. Because of this, it is secluded and the creature experiences isolation. The monster demands that Victor creates a companion, so that it isn’t lonely. This part of the narrative has close connections with the creation Adam and Eve. It is said that God created Eve so that Adam had a companion, as he was lonely being the only human on earth.

And this is almost exactly how Frankenstein’s creation feels, alone. The monster reads a copy of ‘Paradise Lost’ and finds a comparison between himself and Adam. The life led by the monster is an unhappy one, he was constantly drowning in solitude.

century, when this novel is set. Victor Frankenstein is influenced by these scientists, for example Benjamin Franklin, who have become famous and he craves what they have, putting himself under immense pressure to make a break through discovery. He believes he can achieve this if he can bring the monster to life. A similar aspect happens in modern day life. People feel the urge to compete against what is portrayed online as amazing, and essentially they strive to become an ‘influencer’ themselves, even if it means they have to go through a huge and sometimes costly effort. The outcome of Frankenstein’s endeavour is the opposite to what he had set out to achieve. Instead of becoming a part of the hierarchy in the scientific world, he entered a stage of selfdestruction. It was the result of his obsession with discovering the principle of life, and his choice to attempt to create what turned out to be a monster. Within his scientific research, he began to neglect any possible ethical or religious issues that could potentially arise if the outcome of his work was successful. This also appears in modern day. On the journey to becoming ‘perfect’ within society, often many ethical aspects like potential environmental harm are ignored. From animal testing to mass carbon dioxide emission, it is clear that people are more obsessed with their social status, rather that the global issues they are contributing to.

Shelley’s style of narrative is used to make us as readers feel on edge. The technique of embedded narrative frequently creates foreshadow and makes readers feel that the text is unreliable.

The feeling of undependability within the narrative leaves an uneasy emotion behind, and the readers question everything they read, and this again is something that people do all the time today. They question whether they are being influenced by someone who is reliable. And it is important that the public questions what is being sold through the media, as we must to make the choice as to whether it’s true or false.

Overall, it is clear that both Victor and the creature suffer.

Fundamentally, it is the scientific desire alongside arrogance and pride that force Victor into a situation where he neglects life beyond work, becomes secluded, and potentially depressed. The monster however experiences a hatred that is born from nothing but its appearance. This also takes dominance in it’s life, as it is the only thing it can focus on. The creature feels unloved, and alone. The whole narrative stems from Victor’s narcissistic values, this leads to unhappiness within himself and others (-the monster) and it is a process that still has prevalence in the modern day through social media and portrayal of others. In order to avoid this, people should regard others as equal and not stereotype based on appearances.

The ‘archetypes’ that can be seen on social media relate to the scientists that made huge developments in the Eighteenth

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Descent GDST 2019 Creative Writing Prize Winner Madeline Williams This piece was written for the 2019 competition which had ‘fearlessness’ for its title. Madeline won £100 first prize for her entry.

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umbling, his mind dizzy and foaming through the constellations that expanded before his eyes, counting off the ancient kingdoms in his headAndromeda, Lyra, Orion... Lunacy froze his mind, berated and defeated, spreading like a ground frost, mighty as that acerbic power of the universe that he once admired. The bleak navy unfathomable space, like sleep or the borders of imagination, interrupted only by tangerine and fuscia ethereal explosions of guiding starlight. How beautiful it would be to fall through the heavens to his death? Fools craved immortality, pleaded and begged for it, little did they realise its curse- the ability to endure an eternity of suffering and disgrace.

The air whirred past his head, through his downy wings at the increasing cadence of a lamenting aria. It would be as he feared, he was going to join those creatures that lurked below, long forgotten except in the darkest

“ Fools craved immortality, pleadedandbeggedforit,little did they realise its curse - the ability to ensure an eternity of suffering and disgrace.

dreams, who followed in pursuit of Satan- the first to fall, the author of strife. As an angel, a Virtue in pursuit of enlightenment to offer the celestial majesty. Once heralded for his wisdom, he had been too outspoken on the sufferings that served as punishment to all the creatures in the universe, a ruler that reigned through fear like a tyrant emperor not a god.

Now condemned for his blasphemy, he would join the first angels who fell eternities ago.

Was he to be a slave of Azazel, or a servant of Satan in his own right? Each pitiful breath, in and out, an attempt to calm himself for the penance waiting.

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eightless, he crashed like a breath of wind. Electric pale thunderbolts and frozen rain blessed his waxy scales. Close to the ground, he inhaled the dirt beneath him, and in his temporary blindness he recognised the unique petrichor and in the darkness it bought him comfort. He felt the soggy moss seep between the cracks and chasms in his narrow feet and toes which felt like lead.

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is frail eyes brightened as he absorbed his surroundings: an exposed clifftop heath where the stark marigold broom clung tightly to the earth despite the ardent breeze whipped off the sea, which rushes through the creeks in its blossom. A plant spineless and softer than

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gorse, of which it so resembled, and yet with hardy determination to endure till the next spring.

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f course, he recognised this land; Earth- abound with humans, so beguiling to himself and the other creatures that occupy the upper realms of the universe. Humans with their uncanny ability to inflict such anguish on each other. Rising his head, the golden beams of sun fell upon his eyelids, stepping toward the cliff edge to gaze out upon it, pursuing the sun, like a pilgrim, as it carved its path across the horizon. Ahead the land fell away, and the sea was flat and vast but appeared only a narrow slither compared with the pastel amber autumn sky.

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lone tree stood parchment thin, bent double, a frail body resisting the breeze. How easy it would be to loosen its roots grip in the thin soil and to float away? How much relief to the straining knots of wood, if it just let go and tore into oblivion? The frozen cracks in the saturated ground, echoed the shame which tore his own heart, the fear of further retribution that lurked deep within. Even he was uncertain such feelings existed within him except in those silent moments when the sound of breaking waves evades him, and it all erupts once more. The blue-black waves smash themselves against the deep grey boulders that mark the bottom of the cliff edge, in a white explosion of foaming spray and vanity, a waste of fleeting life.

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umans hadn’t s observed angels and their master, yet their belief remained stalwart, their songs praising heaven.

Despite all human pains and sufferings, they remained with unquestioning belief and smiled not in spite but in love for their torturer for he was their creator. How easily they let themselves drift into death, so long as paradise waited, the promise of a hereafter left them unafraid, a small mercy to those left behind. For everything there is a season, and a time. Yet the sun remained, it burnt and blinded, and yet it bought life and hopethe coming of a new day. The golden light bathed his skin and soothed his scars like healing balm.

Even as the sun abandoned him to the pain and terrors as it was usurped by the night, left a final glint of orange light before it bowed its head over the horizon, a promise of its return the following day. What was coming would come, as reliable as the sun’s return, quelling his fear.

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n every private lamenting plea- woebegone, beleaguered, craving his nepenthe- each carving his feet like shards of glass, ensanguining the whisper green grass.

Humanity- the master eccedentesiasts. Yet like Icarus, he was infatuated by the sun, so he endured the mortal suffering of the earth dwellers, simply to exist in its sheen.

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he crest of a wave rose up out of the depths tempting his clouded and weary eyes, to join them below the water. One after another they rise,

fall and die, leaving black chasms where in the darkness his nightmares lurked - the truth of human existence unfolding within them. He’d observed a thousand tyrants; the millions who had their lungs scorched or offal ripped out, till revenge is satisfied and all are fallen and punished.

The sighs of unrequited limerence, the deaths of warriors in some ancient and distant land, the despairing who cut their breath short when they can’t go on. Every individual pain reached out blind callous tendrils seeking his blessing, each leaving him in a greater state of lassitude than before, cutting great scarlet orifices in his pale shimmering skin.

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PierJumping S

he didn’t know what she was doing, why she was there, what supernatural force summoned her to the promenade in the early hours of a bleak December morning. It was cold. Obviously. Sharp bursts of wind gripped her nerve endings, paralysing her from neck to ankle, entangling around her wrists like shackles – she made sure she wore boots at least. Winter boots: they forced her to keep her feet on the ground and from going in the wrong direction. Sturdy boots; heavy boots. She found herself heading towards the pier, deserted and eerie as the salt-stained wooden boards unfolded out to sea. She approached it gingerly, every step in her hefty boots leaving a void in the silence of the sleeping coast. Peering over the edge of the railings revealed dark, murky waters, the empty black surface concealing its unknown depths. It was swirling menacingly, as if it was beckoning her to jump. She had the urge to jump – her inner Id screaming the desire for pain and exhilaration. But no.

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er body started lightly convulsing, but she wasn’t sure whether that was the euphoria she felt from her morbid thoughts or the merciless

he ambled to the other side of the entrance; her eyes squinted against the blast of tangy mist that erupted from the water below. Again she gazed across the base of the unstable structure and noticed seaweed suffocating the pillars holding the pier afloat, waves lapping its foundations, encouraging the invasion. The strands of green slime tangled their tentacle like strands around the eroded metal.

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s the cold reached the marrow in her bones she began to pick up speed, continuing further onto the dingy pier, absent of cheery British holidaymakers and pensioners allowing their lives to drip away. Now, only abandoned stalls, posters half ripped, sun stained and antique and one ice cream stand half way down occupied the walkway.

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here was no light. Not a star in the infinite expanse of black rolling above her. No moon, she guessed the clouds were burying its glow. She let out a scowl but hastily continued, pacing with her arms folded and head submerged into the neckline of her hoodie. he last remaining lantern along the pier was restlessly flickering, as if the brutality of the gusts made that cold too. Its breathing shallow and quick, just as she passed it released its final wheeze of energy and any surviving glow vanished.

She truly was submerged in the darkness.

Aimlessly, she threw her arms out and felt for the railing. Blind and freezing? I wonder if this is what it feels like when you’re dead. She guided herself along the edge of the pier, taking in a stream of salty air, battering itself against the back of her throat. Her face felt hard and fresh, lightly stinging at the impact of bitty water droplets navigating themselves towards her eyes. Her expression was scrunched up, twisted like a barbed wire fence trapping livestock in a field. She paused as she reached the bend at the end of the pier, absorbing the

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vicious gales of Northern air, and began to never return. The warmth as it reached the contemplate just why she dragged herself out back of her throat comforted her compared to into the treacherous conditions. the ice of the seawater slowly penetrating itself into her existence. She began choking and s her mind wondered out across erratic spurts of air released itself from her the great expanses of nothingness, lungs. She felt her lead boots begin to yank she suddenly felt something brush her down into the endless depths of water, behind her back before a rapid blow swallowing her up into an infinite black hell. came at her from behind, compressing her She wanted to scream but she couldn’t. She into the thin railing on which she was leaning couldn’t do anything. She just floated lifelessly, against. She felt her internal organs displace the her movements controlled by the almighty blood that circulated through and around her force around her. Intermittent periods of gut, her spinal cord crushing at the impact and light filled her vision, before disappearing a bolt of pain glided through her upper body. and releasing her back into the endless night Her legs hung limp as the railing maintained – she couldn’t distinguish whether she was her centre of mass. Her face contorted with conscious or not. Her breathing progressed to agony as her stomach twisted around the shallow gasps, her inward fright towards her brisk metal, an overwhelming sense of nausea condition debilitating her further. overcoming her. Completely astonished, she forced open her eyes. Specks of light began he stared blankly up at the sky, the to appear in her vision as she gasped for the blurry pier towering innocently stinging air. Even Mother Nature was making over her. She distinguished a faint it impossible for her to stay alive. Without silhouette of a person hanging over the warning, her corpse was hoisted above the pier’s edge, sharply watching the signs of any railing with an immense strength and power, life that erupted from her. She felt nothing. heaving her wistfully over the pier’s edge. So Anger, remorse, confusion, fear, even pain much for saying no to jumping. became numb to her. She felt her conscious slipping away as the water engulfed her body he smacked the solid inky water and her head went under. Her muscles started with a considerable jolt. A surge of frantically convulsing as oxygen poured out of pain engulfed her as her head began her and wasn’t replenished. She shut her eyes thudding at the frantic rhythm of her and plunged into isolation as the last bubble of heart. The biting temperature was debilitating. air escaped her body and freed itself into the She glanced helplessly at the reams of seaweed ocean. pursuing her, sneering at her battle to retain life within her perishing body. Her nerveless arms And there, her corpse limp and spiritless, flailed in the envelope of death around her, swaying with the currents of the wide ocean moving her nowhere but closer to impending remained, untouched and decaying. Her doom. She could feel foam rising within her destiny was to jump after all.

– the recipe of blood, stomach acid and life preparing to expel itself from her insides and

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Call me by your Name If you’re seeking a novel guaranteed to draw you far from these dim and dreary months, your quest has ceased; escape to the sun-drenched Italian summer of 1983 and let the angelic story of exotic exploration, which is ‘Call Me By Your Name’ by André Aciman, grant you the warmth which you have been in search of.

Your journey starts at the beginning of everything. Precocious teen, Elio, is once again visiting his family home with his beloved parents: his father a professor of Greco-Roman culture, and his mother a translator. The setting is at first steady with Elio possessing nothing else to do but read, perfect the piano and pluck peaches from the tree lined lanes. However, in a flash of sudden infatuation, the simple world of a boy beyond his years will be spun around, leaving who he once was utterly subdued.

The arrival of the annual graduate to guide his father’s research is what will set Elio’s small world atop a spinner.

Oliver could be described as the typical all-American hunk; tall, gorgeous and acutely confident, he can glide out of any room with a slick ‘Later’, enticing all deeper into his mystery. Being everything Elio isn’t may well be the spark of their pure attraction.

The electric connection between the pair is present from the get-go; flirtatious quizzes on their knowledge of classical music or literature, pool-side chats full of tension and secret first dates

disguised as errands into town. Our primary perceptions are soon peeled away, and the adoption of each other’s character develops in a sweet air of innocence. This build-up of clear desire and connection makes their eventual confession of true feeling have even more power, showing emotion which is utterly authentic.

labels and stereotypes, even in a 1980’s setting, and places it solely on the raw magnetism between two individuals, no matter their gender, age or background makes is what makes it a story of our time.

However, even in the rush of blossoming romance, and constant air of music which Andre Aciman so cleverly feeds in, a melancholy feeling hangs like a pall in the sensation that it can’t last.

Although they – and we - know what they have must end, a beauteous monologue from Elios spectacularly open-minded father softens the blow to an extent. I feel during this, amongst everything, it is the unconditional acceptance of his son finding love in his newly discovered sexuality is what is most magnificent.

‘I wanted Romeo and Juliet without the Capulets and Montagues…’

The conquer of love over everything, I feel, is what makes this story so singular and special. Throughout literature LGBT relationships are so often used as an excuse for tragedy in the form of mockery or violence. The unintentional way in which Aciman takes the focus off

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In an interview with British Vogue, Aciman said;

I feel this perfectly captures the story as a whole; Elio is kept safe from the world away from his perfect summers in Italy, Oliver from his second life abroad, and their love from the Montagues and Capulets who may disapprove. We also enjoy safety and secureness in this way as a reader, in a bubble filled with peaches and classical music we can watch the growing tree of their love, feel their passion, their pain and ultimately reshape in a way that they do. Hence, when having to return to the bitterness of winter, we hold the events that shaped Elio’s Italian summer so tightly and are never quite able to let them go.

By Grace Turner

A German Classic: E.T.A. Hoffmann's Der Sandmann

Sophie Callear entered the “Oxford German Network” Classic Essay competition for sixth-form students. Sophie is going on to study German and French at university next year. Sophie spent significant time, reading, researching secondary literature and writing her essay on 'Der Sandmann' by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The judges said that the competition was highly competitive this year and they were very impressed by the overall quality of all the essays, stating they were “as good – and in many cases better! – than the work Oxford University first-year undergraduates produce.” The judges particularly praised Sophie’s well-researched essay and commented, that her “attention to narrative perspective is helpful in establishing whose views are reflected in different elements of Clara’s description. “ Bryony Gutman, Teacher of German Why does Nathanael choose Olimpia over Clara? Discuss the portrayal of femininity in ‘Der Sandmann’, taking account of the interactions between the characters.

‘Der Sandmann’ is a 19th century gothic text which explores the power of the imagination, the role of women in the society of the 1800s and the uncanny through the eyes of Nathanael, a university student who believes he is being pursued by a demon who steals people’s eyes. The characters of Clara and Olimpia are also central to the plot. Clara is Nathanael’s fiancée at the beginning of the novella, however he later falls in love with an automaton, Olimpia, who is a creation of The Sandman. This essay intends to use feminist theory to discuss the characterisation of Olimpia and Clara, why Nathanael chooses Olimpia over Clara and how the characterisation of the women relates to society at the time of the novella’s publication.

We are introduced to Clara through her letter to Nathanael in response to his story of The Sandman. She responds with objective and plausible logic, giving him a rational explanation for his strange experiences, expressing her strong conviction that ‘alles Entsetzliche und Schreckliche, wovon du sprichst, nur in deinem Innern vorging’1. From the start, therefore, we are introduced to Clara as a rational, kind and strong-willed character. This reinforces the narrator’s account of her ‘tiefes weiblich zartes Gemüt’1 and her ‘gar hellen scharf sichtenden Verstand’2 . These accounts also give her a more masculine gendering; she is strong willed, logical, and possesses qualities unexpected of women of the time. As H. Bertens states in Literary Theory: The Basics, “Female independence gets a strongly negative connotation, while helplessness and renouncing all ambition and desire are presented as endearing and admirable.”3 Despite the very negative portrayal of Clara through Nathanael’s eyes, the reader is still able to understand that Nathanael is the true narcissist, and that Clara, by contrast, is calm and rational.

John M Ellis argues in Clara, Nathanael and the Narrator: Interpreting Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann that Clara is the real narcissist because she ‘cultivates her own Spiegelbild’4 and has an ‘unalterable view of life’56. However, in the novella we see her constantly trying to understand Nathanael’s viewpoint, especially when she analyses his account of the Sandman in order to make sense of Nathanael’s experiences.

Whilst she still tries to coerce Nathanael to see her point of view, it is to give a rational explanation in the hopes of helping him to ‘fremdes feindliches Einwirken als solches stets zu erkennen’7 and to move on, not to further her own ego. There is an element of narcissism in the way that Clara wants an undisturbed, happy marital life, however Nathanael appears equally or perhaps even more guilty of pursuing his own ambitions, with little regard to his fiancé’s wishes and needs.

However, from this point on, we mostly see Clara through Nathanael’s eyes. If we are to assume that the narrator is unbiased, we would therefore see Nathanael’s descriptions as unreliable at best. Far from the childlike imagination and clear-sighted understanding we have seen in the preceding letters and the narrator’s excursus, the Clara we are introduced to through Nathanael’s eyes seems provocative and almost narcissistic in her determination to realise her vision for life, even to the extent that Nathanael’s death has little to no effect E.T.A Hoffmann, Der Sandmann: p. 20, line 33 E.T.A Hoffmann, Der Sandmann: p. 20, lines 33-34 3 Bertens, Hans. 2004. Literary Theory: The Basics (Cornwall: Taylor and Francis): p. 97 4 Ellis, John M. 1981. Clara, Nathanael and the Narrator: Interpreting Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann. German Quarterly, 54.1: p. 13 5 Ellis, John M. 1981. Clara, Nathanael and the Narrator: Interpreting Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann. German Quarterly, 54.1: p. 13 6 , lines 2-3 7 E.T.A Hoffmann, Der Sandmann: p. 22, lines 3-4 1 2

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her. Contrasted with Nathanael’s endeavours studying for a career in physics, leaving for months at a time to study under Professor Spalanzani, the way in which Clara clings to her ambitions of a happy and comfortable home-life seems to the reader not only reasonable, but also completely justified. However, instead of pointing out the obvious hypocrisy of society at that time, this contrast is used to convey what Nathanael sees as narcissism and an automaton-like way of life. To an extent, however, Clara does use Nathanael as a puppet in her vision for her life. Whilst most of Nathanael’s descriptions of Clara seem unfounded, the narrator does affirm some of these criticisms, noting that: “Nur dann, wenn Nathanael bewies, dass Coppelius das böse Prinzip sei, was ihn in dem Augenblick erfasst habe, als er hinter dem Vorschlag lauschte, und dass dieser wiederwärtige Dämon auf Entsetzliche Weise ihr Liebesglückstören werde, da wurde Clara sehr ernst”. 7 Clara only seems to become worried about Nathanael’s mental state when she realises that Coppelius would disrupt the happiness of their love. On numerous occasions, she ignores the effect of Coppelius on Nathanael, as she ceaselessly focuses only on her priorities, with this triggering all but one of Nathanael’s outbursts. Whilst this may reinforce the selfish aspects of her personality, it does show that she has flaws, which makes her seem more human. The repeated negative aspects shown in Clara throughout the text, while overly critical at times, help to humanise her, especially in contrast to Olimpia.

In his essay, Der Künstler und die Puppe. Zur Interpretation von Hoffmans Der Sandmann, Belgardt suggests that the theme of the tale is ‘artistic creativity, and the positive value of poetry as against the cold, prosaic real world’89. This aligns with the descriptions of Olimpia and Clara, and summarises not only the theme of the tale but the way in which femininity is portrayed throughout the text. From her very creation as an alchemistic and technological advancement, Olimpia represents artistic creativity. She is the exact opposite of the ‘wahre wirkliche Außenwelt’10 in which Clara is firmly rooted. As the result of a scientific experiment, her entire existence symbolises the unknown: a concept that appeals to Nathanael’s poetic side.

Olimpia seems, however, to be not only an echo of human life, but also an echo of femininity. She is a masculine creation who adheres to the ideals of feminine beauty and obedience of the era. She displays no free will or human emotion, and can easily be manipulated.

Nathanael is attracted to Olimpia over Clara because she presents the ideal wife and one that is beautiful, feminine and, above all, controllable. She is used as a blank canvas onto which Nathanael is able to project himself and in doing so magnify his narcissistic self-image. As Virginia Woolf wrote, ‘women have served all these centuries as magnifying glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size’10 (p29, A Room of One’s Own). This could explain Olimpia’s use in the text in the context of a patriarchal society. It is only with the complete manipulation of Olimpia that Nathanael is able to see himself as what he believes is his true self, one unrestrained and allowed to inflate to ‘twice its natural size’11. Whereas Olimpia magnifies Nathanael’s positive qualities, Clara seems only to reflect his negative ones. It becomes clear towards the end of the text that Nathanael’s treatment of women is not uncommon in his society: the men of the town can only find small ways of working out whether their wives are real people, something that should be obvious. This element of satire reinforces the idea that the men of the time are so full of desire for submissive wives who they can use to enlarge their ego that they cannot tell anymore whether their wives are automata or not. Nathanael’s inability to tell that Olimpia is a doll therefore becomes part of a wider context of the domineering influence of men on society as a whole.

I agree to an extent with Birgit Röder that ‘Nathanael is predisposed to fall in love with [Olimpia] and find in her a substitute for all that Clara and the other members of the bourgeois world have denied him’ 11, because we are clearly able to see the desperation he feels after being denied an audience. However, I do not believe that he has been completely denied of these things, rather that his expectations have become too high, and therefore too unrealistic. He is searching, for example, not just for an audience but for consistent approval and undivided attention. Just as Narcissus was cursed to fall in love with the image in the reflecting pool because of his arrogance and egotism, Nathanael is cursed to fall in love with Olimpia, whose sole purpose is to reflect his image. Parallels with the story of Narcissus are explored in Maria M. Tatar’s essay E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann: Reflection and Romantic Irony, in which she suggests that ‘the image […] is not reflected in a pool of water, as the legend has it, but in the twin pools of Olimpia’s eyes’12. This is especially significant given that it is Olimpia’s eyes that Nathaniel seems most obsessed with. Olimpia’s eyes, always reflecting him, contrast the fixed image of a ‘See von Ruisadel’ 13 14 in Clara’s. This is especially symbolic as Nathanael sees the reflected image of himself as more attractive than the beautiful painting in his fiancé’s eyes, showing the true extent of his narcissism.

At first it seems that Nathanael chooses Olimpia over Clara because of her mystery and intrigue, however it soon becomes clear that his infatuation with Olimpia is a result of his desire for complete control over a woman. Nathanael is shown to believe throughout the text E.T.A Hoffmann, Der Sandmann: p. 22, lines 3-4 Belgardt, Raimund. Der Künstler und die Puppe. Zur Interpretation von Hoffmanns Der Sandmann. German Quarterly p. 695 9 , lines 25-26 10 Woolf, Virginia. 2001. A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas (London: Vintage): p. 29 11 Röder, Birgit. 2003. A Study of the Major Novellas of E.T.A Hoffmann (Rochester, NY): p. 59 12 Tatar, Maria M. 1980. E.T.A Hoffmann’s “Der Sandmann”: Reflection and Romantic Irony. MLN, 95.3: p. 604 13 E.T.A Hoffmann, Der Sandmann: p. 20 line 17 14 , lines 3-4 15 E.T.A Hoffmann, Der Sandmann: p. 34, lines 33-34 7 8

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that whatever he can’t control must be an automaton. In his outburst after Clara reacts negatively to his poem, he calls her a ‘lebloses, verdammtes Automat’15, showing how inflexible his view of life is. This is congruous with the wider theme of male dominance in literature at the time. After feeling that he is being treated as a puppet by Clara, he wishes to be in control again, and to receive the praise for his work that he feels entitled to. Whilst Clara is stoic and determined, Olimpia is mouldable, and Nathanael is able to assign qualities to Olimpia that he feels Clara lacks. Whilst Clara has a masculine gendering throughout the text, Olimpia was created both by her physical creators and by Nathanael to be the ideal of femininity at the time. It is significant that Olimpia is created by men, because it further widens the division between her and a “real” woman of the time, and presents her as an echo of true femininity in the eyes of the society of the early 19th century.

While Nathanael sees Olimpia as a ‘poetischen Gemüt’15, it is clear to the reader after learning of Clara’s clear poetic temperament, that it is not poeticism that Nathanael is attracted to, but the ‘artistic creativity’ Olimpia represents. She is a technological creation who does not belong to the normal, everyday world, and it is this intrigue which allures Nathanael. Olimpia is chosen over Clara as she can be manipulated by Nathanael and moulded in his narcissistic vision of an ideal woman: a willing audience for his poetic works and a blank canvas onto which he can project the qualities he desires. Olimpia also mirrors Nathanael in the way that they are both treated as puppets. Just as Nathanael is manipulated and treated as a tool in Clara’s inflexible plan for life, in escaping the rigidity of their love, he too becomes a manipulator, giving her thoughts and feelings about him he longs for from others, projecting not only himself onto her but also his dreams and hopes. Olimpia is the evidence of a poetic and scientific achievement of the sort that Nathanael can only dream of creating, thus he uses her as a puppet and a mirror as his hopes for an artistic future slowly crumble.

The text portrays a very black and white view of women, showing them as either manipulators such as Clara, or manipulated, like Olimpia.

They represent the two ways in which a man of the time would see women – one is their reaction to a ‘real’ woman, who is strongwilled and sometimes outspoken, capable of manipulation, the other an idealistic vision of one who is completely mouldable. Clara treats Nathanael as a tool to realise her ambitions in life, which is especially shown in how easily she replaces him after his death, whilst Olimpia can be manipulated by Nathanael and moulded in his narcissistic vision of an ideal woman, therefore she is chosen over Clara.

Both women are the metaphorical magnifying glass in Woolf’s allegory, however whilst Olimpia reflects Nathanael’s good qualities at twice their size, Clara only seems to reflect his negative qualities. Nathanael’s choice of Olimpia over Clara is not one to be justified or rationalised, but rather is a narcissistic decision which occurs as a result of 19th Century attitudes towards femininity, the lack of praise he receives and his desire for a wife who he can control.

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E.T.A Hoffmann, Der Sandmann: p. 34, lines 33-34 Belgardt, Raimund. Der Künstler und die Puppe. Zur Interpretation von Hoffmanns Der Sandmann. German

BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources: All quotations from The Sandman in German are taken from: E.T.A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann (Stuttgart: Reclam, 2007).

Secondary Sources: Birgit Röder, A Study of the Major Novellas of E.T.A Hoffmann (Rochester, NY, 2003), p. 57-75.

E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Sandman, trans. by Peter Wortsman (London: Penguin, 2016).

Hans Bertens, Literary Theory: The Basics (Cornwall: Taylor and Francis, 2004), p. 29 in Google Books, <https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zYn4uiNCIj8C&vq=renouncing+all+ambition&sourc e=gbs_navlinks_s> [accessed 5 September 2019].

John M. Ellis, ‘Clara, Nathanael and the Narrator: Interpreting Hoffmann’s “Der Sandmann”’, The German Quarterly, 54.1 (1981), 1-18.

Maria M. Tatar, ‘E.T.A Hoffmann’s “Der Sandmann”: Reflection and Romantic Irony’, MLN, 95.3 (April 1980), 585-606 (pp. 601-605).

Peter Barry, Beginning Theory, 2nd edn. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002), p. 121-123.

Raimund Belgardt, ‘Der Künstler und die Puppe. Zur Interpretation von Hoffmans “Der Sandmann”’, German Quarterly, 42, (1969), 695.

Ritchie Robertson, ‘Introduction in E.T.A Hoffman, “The Golden Pot and Other Stories”’, trans. by Ritchie Robertson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. xvi-xxi.

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas (London: Vintage, 2001), p. 29.

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Miss Hale’s Recommended Reads

l The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

When Esther Greenwood wins an internship on a New York fashion magazine in 1953, she is elated, believing she will finally realise her dream to become a writer.

But in between the cocktail parties and piles of manuscripts, Esther’s life begins to slide out of control. She finds herself spiralling into depression and eventually a suicide attempt, as she grapples with difficult relationships and a society which refuses to take women’s aspirations seriously. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath’s only novel, was originally published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The novel is partially based on Plath’s own life and descent into mental illness, and has become a modern classic. The Bell Jar has been celebrated for its darkly funny and razor sharp portrait of 1950s society.

A classic work of Anglo-American feminist literature, it has long been the subject of intense scrutiny, interrogated as much for its connection with Plath’s own life as for its undoubted literary brilliance. Plath herself invited the comparison, describing the book to her mother saying, ‘what I’ve done is to throw together events from my own life, fictionalising to add colour – it’s a potboiler really… I’ve tried to picture my world and the people in it as seen through the distorting lens of a bell jar.’

Walking Home by Simon Armitage The wandering poet has always been a feature of our cultural imagination. Odysseus journeys home, his famous flair for storytelling seducing friend and foe. The Romantic poets tramped all over the Lake District searching for inspiration. Now Simon Armitage, with equal parts enthusiasm and trepidation, as well as a wry humor all his own, has taken on Britain’s version of our Appalachian Trail: the Pennine Way. Walking “the backbone of England” by day (accompanied by friends, family, strangers, dogs, the

unpredictable English weather, and a backpack full of Mars Bars), each evening he gives a poetry reading in a different village in exchange for a bed. Armitage reflects on the inextricable link between freedom and fear as well as the poet’s place in our bustling world. In Armitage’s own words, “to embark on the walk is to surrender to its lore and submit to its logic, and to take up a challenge against the self.”

Mayor Of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy A haunting study of guilt and lost love. In a fit of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter for five guineas at a country fair. Over the course of the following years, he manages to establish himself as a respected and prosperous pillar of the community of Casterbridge, but behind his success there always lurk the shameful secret of his past and a personality prone to self-destructive pride and temper. Subtitled ‘A Story of a Man of Character’, Hardy’s powerful and sympathetic study of the heroic but deeply flawed Henchard is also an intensely dramatic work, tragically played out against the vivid backdrop of a close-knit Dorsetshire town.

Eeny Meeny: DI Helen Grace 1 - Detective Inspector Helen Grace by A J Arlidge Introducing M. J. Arlidge’s Detective Inspector Helen Grace, Eeny Meeny is an electrifying debut. The girl emerged from the woods, barely alive. Her story was beyond belief. But it was true. Every dreadful word of it. Days later, another desperate escapee is found - and a pattern is emerging. Pairs of victims are being abducted, imprisoned then faced with a terrible choice: kill or be killed. Would you rather lose your life or lose your mind? Detective Inspector Helen Grace has faced down her own demons on her rise to the top. As she leads the investigation to hunt down this unseen monster, she learns that it may be the survivors - living calling cards - who hold the key to the case.

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The Complete Poems of Anne Sexton

From the joy and anguish of her own experience, Sexton fashioned poems that told truths about the inner lives of men and women. This book comprises her ten volumes of verse, including the Pulitzer Prize-winner--”Live or Die”.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Obsessed with the idea of creating life itself, Victor Frankenstein plunders graveyards for the material with which to fashion a new being, shocking his creation to life with electricity. But this botched creature, rejected by its creator and denied human companionship, sets out to destroy Frankenstein and all that he holds dear.

Quiz Corner 1.

2.

3.

4.

Eric Arthur Blair is better known as which British writer?

What is the global best-selling fiction book of all time?

In which Victorian novel would you find Becky Sharp?

What is the title of the fifth ‘Jackson Brodie’ novel, published in June 2019?

5. Which writer links the novels Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders?

6. In which historical county did Thomas Hardy set a lot of his work?

7. ‘Be yourself; everyone else is taken’ is a quote attributed to which late c.19th/c.20th writer?

8. Which Pakistani-born British female poet turned down the role of Poet Laureate in 2019?

9. Which was Jane Austen’s first published novel (1811)?

10. Which writer created the character of James Bond?

Answers on page 10

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