This course will explore the idea of “England” through British literature, poetry, histrorical texts, and film by asking students to consider it as a constructed space that cultural producers have sought to “reboot” almost since its inception. A term borrowed from the lexicon of computing, to “reboot” means to restart a machine or operating system. In cultural and literary terms, “rebooting” means something similar: to start anew with fresh ideas in a way that is consistent with the principals of the original, but not unnecessarily constrained by what has taken place before. Beginning with a reading of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Britonum and the notion that Britain derives its name from Brutus, the alleged great-grandson of Aeneas (who, arguably, arrived on English shores with the idea of rebooting Troy), students will move through redactions of Arthurian legend, Shakespearean drama (our focus will be on the particularity with which contemporary performances of Shakespeare are inevitably in conversation with contemporary articulations of Englishness) and conclude with a consideration of how nineteenth century London novel (as exemplified by Dickens) compares with the twenty-first century productions of Zadie Smith, Hanif Kureishi, and the BBC rebooting of Sherlock.
Today, before seeing Measure for Measure at The Globe, the class departed on an adventure through the Borough Market. When we first entered, I was struck by the sheer vastness of the market. There were pop up booths and stalls everywhere I looked; the layout reminded me of a maze. As we came through the…
-Venison Burger at the Borough Market So far my experiences with food in England have been more than satisfactory. For the first week and a half I was entirely addicted to fish and chips, faithfully ordering it whenever it appeared on the menu. However, since lunch in Oxford I have picked up a new favorite-…
“You guys aren’t going to find a burger.” Sam told us with malicious certainty. It was 00:30 on a Tuesday night in London. Charlie Hollis and I were in ravenous pursuit of a burger place, or any place with burgers, that would serve us at such a time. Further fueled by Sam’s doubt and distrust,…
It’s a pretty beautiful feeling when a foreign place begins to feel less foreign. No, I have not stopped looking the wrong way when crossing the street, or even pretended to have a clue how the tube works, but I have started to stop seeing London as a place of “otherness.” Yesterday was a great…
I was raised in a culture where spirits are strongly acknowledged. The influence of spirit awareness is seen in the traditional dress, the large doorframe that serves as the entrance to a house, and even the way in which a baby is held. Bali is a place where spirituality defines the culture. I never imagined…
Here are some stories about me getting lost in London, and how I amazingly managed to find my way towards the places that I was trying to get to without using Google Maps. #1: The first day we were in London, Will and Hollis and I decided to check out the surrounding area. We walked…
They said that leaving home and going to a new place would come with some culture shock. Yet, so far the culture shock I have experienced is not from moving from my home to England, but from moving from Cornwall to London! Moving from the quaint English countryside to a big and bustling city. In…
It was a particularly busy evening; it had just hit us that we had a week left in our first block and the intimidating amount of work we had to complete by then. We were all sitting downstairs in the YHA, I had taken a break and gone to get a glass of water and…
As someone with a terrible sense of direction I find myself lost quite frequently even in the places I grew up and know well. After picking out a landmark I can usually make my way to that particular place and back to my point of origin. However this method isn’t fool proof, as I discovered…
The night started off at the Dirty Duck, an old quiet and musky pub in the outskirts of Stratford-Upon-Avon, with some fish and chips and a pint of ale. I sat down at a table with my fellow FSA students and wrote a performance response on the various decisions made by the director…
