February 2021 sees the 200th anniversary of the untimely death of British Romantic poet John Keats. The author of “Ode to a Grecian Urn”, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” and “To Autumn”, died of tuberculosis at the age of 25, convinced his literary career was a failure. Yet his poems became some of the best … Continue reading “Romantic Poetry: John Keats 200”
The Buddha of Suburbia, by Hanif Kureishi, one of the novels proposed as an oeuvre intégrale on the LLCER Terminale curriculum, deals with many themes that are relevant to students today: the search for identity, race, and racism and integration. These exercises, based on the first four chapters of the novel, will prepare students for … Continue reading “Studying “The Buddha of Suburbia” in LLCER”
Hanif Kureishi is a subversive writer in search of identity beyond the borders of race, gender and class. Vanessa Guignery draws a portrait of the author of The Buddha of Suburbia, My Beautiful Launderette and My Son the Fanatic. In 1993, three years after the publication of his debut novel The Buddha of Suburbia, Hanif … Continue reading “Hanif Kureishi: The Buddha of Suburbia”
John le Carré, master spy novelist, died on 12 December at the age of 89. Like James Bond creator Ian Fleming, le Carré himself worked in intelligence, but his novels were the polar opposite of Bond, portraying espionage as bleak, often tedious, and above all morally ambiguous. Le Carré was a pen name, since he … Continue reading “The Spy Who Turned Novelist”
Britain’s most prestigious literary prize this year was awarded on 19 November to one of four debut novels in the shortlist: Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, a story of family love and addiction in recession-hit 1980s Glasgow. The story is set in the era of Thatcherism and deindustrialisation. For working-class families, times were hard. When … Continue reading “The 2020 Booker Prize Goes to First-time Scottish Author”
The UK’s 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been awarded to a novel that imagines the life and death of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet and rounds out the character of his wife Anne Hathaway: Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet. O’Farrell had been fascinated by young Hamnet since her school English teacher mentioned his name when she was … Continue reading “Shakespeare’s Son and Anne Hathaway”
One of the greatest classics in English literature and the “most beloved” Jane Austen novel is back on screen in a new film version that mines the deep seam of humour in the novel. These activities and offer your students a new vision of marriage in the 19th century upper-class England and fit perfectly with … Continue reading ““Emma”: a New Austen Film”
Vous avez été nombreux lors de notre webinar pour la spécialité LLCER de demander le programme limitatif d’oeuvres intégrales pour la Terminale. La liste a été publiée au BO du 21 mai 2020. Quelles oeuvres pensez-vous étudier avec vos élèves l’année prochaine ? Le programme de LLCER précise que 3 œuvres intégrales, dont 2 œuvres littéraires … Continue reading “LLCER: quelles oeuvres pour vos Terminales ?”
The next couple of free online streaming treats from the UK’s National Theatre are Frankenstein and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. The National Theatre has been making filmed shows available at 8 p.m. French time every Thursday, and available for a week on demand. The next two fit brilliantly with Shine Bright LLCE File 2 Freaky … Continue reading “Frankenstein and Antony and Cleopatra in Your Living Room”
You may know him best as Captain Picard in the series Star Trek, or Professor Xavier in the X-Men films, but Sir Patrick Stewart is a classically trained actor who was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for 16 years. Currently in lockdown in Los Angeles, Stewart decided to start reciting a Shakespeare sonnet … Continue reading “Patrick Stewart Reads Shakespeare”