Week 8: Literature Bloggers Reach New Heights of Creativity

Hello all,

I have been amazed, inspired and delighted by the overall quality of the literature blogs coming out of ACU this semester. There is some wonderfully original work appearing in text, photos and youtube videos recording student’s responses to stories, poems and paintings.

Take for example this short video exploring the contrasting imagery in a Katherine Mansfield story by one of our first years. Or look at this amazing response to the question of what it would be like to wake up as a strange creature (inspired by Kafka’s Metamorphosis). Or look at the following three Literature Journal Blogs on The Visionary Imagination: Julia, Paloma and Sara. And these all are just the tip of the iceberg.

I am also heartened by the way the peer review comments that are being made across all units are really helping to forge an online community where students are honestly and openly sharing their thoughts and making interesting suggestions for improving each other’s work. All very exciting! You may have to request entry to some of the links above: not all are public.

I just received a link to a site which is showcasing the ways in which visual and photographic artists are using wordpress to develop their own creativity. I am sure many of you will find some great ideas for your own blogs in this site: Unbound Creativity. Remember that for your ePortfolio at the end of the semester the more you can support your written words with illuminating images and or videos, the more powerful will be your final statement. For any future employer, a well kept, creative Literature ePortfolio will be a wonderful asset.

Topics for this week.

Australian Literature – chose one topic

1/ “Poetry is way of expressing our most hidden thoughts.” Respond to this statement either by way of a short poem or by way of exploring one of the poems discussed this week.

2/ Add a “Colloquy” to Kevin Hart’s series.

3/ Find a digital web site that introduces Digital Kinetic poetry (where text is animated on the screen) and discuss the creative possibilities of this kind of “writing”

Twentieth Century Literature

1/ Write a brief advertisement for Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” expressing why this is an essay that still has much relevance for our own times.

2/ Find an example of “Bad” English in today’s political context and criticize it from an Orwellian perspective.

3/ Produce a mini Digital Kit of resources for George Orwell.

The Visionary Imagination

1/ Write a short paragraph in which a character discovers a new way of seeing the world. (Use David Malouf’s Jock or Janet McIvor as a model).

2/ Create an annotated mini Digital Kit of resources for Remembering Babylon.

3/ Write a letter to either Janet or Jock McIvor expressing what you think is so valuable about what they have discovered as a result of Gemmy’s arrival in their lives.