Another in a series of essays on Claire Keegan’s novel Small Things Like These, this time examining ideas of contingency and decision-making, with references to King Lear, Brian Klaas, Robert Frost and W.B. Yeats on Maud Gonne.
Read MoreIn episode 10 I whizz through three quick scenes first - Act 4, scenes 3, 4 and 5, and then pay proper attention to the immense and complex scene 6.
Read MoreThe fifth edition of The Occasional, close cousin to The Fortnightly for its paid subscribers, has lots of book recommendations.
Read MoreEpisode 9 of the King Lear scene by scene podcast looks at the first two scenes in Act 4, the first in the immediate aftermath of Gloucester’s blinding, the second an opportunity to look at the character development of Albany throughout the play.
Read MoreFortnightly 177 features football’s Video Assistant Referee system, and how it relates to … Leaving Certificate reform.
Read MoreIrish teachers miss the #edchatie discussion days, and now that we’re moving to Bluesky, here’s a proposal.
Read MorePerhaps Daisy Christodoulou’s new book on the VAR system in football has relevance to Leaving Certificate reform in Ireland.
Read MoreRoy Goddard’s novel ‘Morant’ is strange, compelling, and certainly unique.
Read MoreEpisode 8 of the King Lear scene by scene post looks at the horrifying Act 3 scene 7 - the blinding of Gloucester, and how images of seeing and blindness ramify through the story.
Read MoreThe integrity of Leaving Certificate English is being threatened by misconceived reform proposals.
Read MoreEpisode 7 of King Lear scene by scene looks at Act 3 scene 4 (the second one in the storm) and scene 6 (the mock trial). Scene 5 is skipped - little to say.
Read MoreFortnightly 176 kicks off with the film of Small Things Like These, What English Teachers Can Do, and Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo.
Read MoreThere’s a sense that right now the world is particularly dark. We often hear the unlovely word ‘polycrisis’. At such a time, English teaching might seem almost irrelevant and ineffectual. What can we do?
Read MoreThoughts on the film version of Claire Keegan’s short novel Small Things Like These.
Read MoreEpisode 6 of the King Lear scene by scene podcast looks at the first three scenes of Act 3, as the storm takes over.
Read MoreEpisode 5 of King Lear scene by scene looks at the very significant but very short Act 2 scene 3 and then the much more meaty Act 2 scene 4. They are both connected by the idea ‘nothing’.
Read MoreEpisode 4 of the King Lear scene by scene podcast looks at Act 1 scene 5, Act 2 scene 1 and Act 2 scene 2.
Read MoreRepeat of a webinar on teaching Claire Keegan’s novel Small Things Like These for those who missed the September session.
Read MoreThe 175th edition of The Fortnightly leads with Nicholas Olsberg’s superb book on the architect William Butterfield.
Read MoreNicholas Olsberg’s account of the architect William Butterfield is superb.
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