Plan for 4 May and 11 May

4 May
Topic: The revival (?) of fantasy

What I plan is really just a loosely structured talk on the genre, which seems to me to be a genuinely British invention, or at least a literary branch made popular and largely dominated by British authors. The genre was lifted to an international appeal by the massive literary hit The Lord of the Rings, first published in the middle of the fifties. Mind you, the most popular book worldwide written in the English language ever since. Probably the most popular ever, after the Bible and the Qur'an. I added the question mark because I am not sure if the boom of the genre we experience nowadays, which is of course largely due to the epic film adaptations is really a revival, or a mere continuation of the style that was ever flourishing even before the 90s. I am sure you are all well acquainted with at least one section of this subject; therefore, I would like to ask you, if you have the time, to prepare with, not really with a presentation, rather just a 'contribution' to the talk on one aspect of fantasy literature. I am not binding your choice neither in the book, nor in the nature of your contribution, which can be anywhere within a frame ranging from academic observations on the genre's roots to expressing your detailed opinion on Alan Rickman's rendering of Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies. I give you some ideas, examples so that you see what I mean:

Where did fantasy literature come from? How did it evolve?
Differences between sci-fi, horror and fantasy
Is the medieval setting a compulsory element of fantasy? Why? Why not?
What explains the huge appeal of the Harry Potter series?
Social critique and morals in fantasy books
Christian elements in The Chronicles of Narnia
Your favourite character in Alice in Wonderland
Fantasy and role-play games
Fantasy films as sure bets for box-office hits
J.R.R. Tolkien, the linguist
Private lives of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Ruppert Grint (if you never heard of them, better start googling right now)
The effect of fantasy on other art forms
I hated/loved the Hungarian translation BECAUSE...
Fantasy in the post-Harry Potter era
My favourite scene in...

So, these are a couple of topics I could write now off the top of my head, you're welcome to use them, but much better, if you can come up with your own ideas. Please put in a comment what you would like to mention. AND what is immensely important is that please bring in some stuff with you - your own books, dvds, posters signed by Ian McKellan, whatever. I myself am going to my parents' this weekend and will be able to retrieve quite an amount of relics, in the form of nice edition Tolkien and Rowling books and an extended cut fancy-box DVD of The Return of the King, among others.


11 May
Topic: Food & Cuisine

As the last occasion, it is going to be sheer fun, nothing else. Please go for a hunt (for example) in Tesco and see what English products you can get that you can present in class. You know, tea, ginger biscuits, Cadbury chocolate, beer, apple tart, small bottle Scotch whisky, cider, parsnip crisps, gravy sauce, ... whatever that is available. Small things, I do not ask you to spend lots of money on it, of course. Better still, if you can cook something British - I would actually encourage those of you staying in the Collegium to try to dazzle the class with some bites of fish&chips, for example. As for myself, I definitely will try to cook something, but I'd rather keep it as a surprise (lest I couldn't make it :) ). The idea is that we'll heap all the stuff we collected, talk about it and have a taste if it is possible. After the feast, I will be glad to have a talk with each of you individually about the term and to sign your markbooks.

A history of British pop/rock II.

Please spend an hour looking through this document, it gives a rather enjoyable and surprisingly detailed description of pop/rock styles that have been important in Britain. All respect to the allmusic.com guys who really made a wonderful job with these, I merely merged and edited the excerpts. The hyperlinks are alive in it, click on them for more information. To see the connections, please use the chart I put on earlier. Stay tuned, some more, quite serious material is coming up too.


A History of Pop/Rock Styles

United Kingdom Independence Party

About two weeks ago me and my "team" had to convince you about the UKIP's policy. :) Then I wasn't a hundred percent sure about it's exact aims, just had some vague guesses. Now I checked it up and thought it would interest you as well, as their aims and the topic is closely related to our compulsory reading for today. Hope you'll find it useful!

A long promised contribution

Find here the showcase of those Oscar-winning and -nominated British actors and directors, whom, in my opinion, a university student majoring in English simply must now. Enjoy with a detailed list of Academy Awards winnings and selected biography & trivia.


Oscar winner and nominated Britons

This House believes that multiculturalism is a sustainable social model for Europe

Another programme for you for next Tuesday, after the concert. :)



Invite_Multiculturalism_Debate-1 - 

23 February 2010, 5pm MüPa

Alas, look at the poster of the opera Dido and Aeneas, featuring our classmate Ida as second lobster witch.



Dido és Aeneas plakát -


If you would like to come, let's meet at 5pm in front of the "Glass Hall". Before and after the show you'll be updated on the plot and the background of the opera, as well as some details of Henry Purcell's life and British classical music in general.

The Pythons

Going... going... and gone! Read Victor's concise summary on the Pythons:


The Pythons -

Course syllabus

This is a preliminary plan, we can change it any time to fit the schedule to current events. If you have any questions, write it here, or directly to me, via e-mail. The article we are going to cover next week is arriving soon, so that you can prepare for the discussion.


course syllabus -