Blog
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Monster Mash
With exactly a week until Halloween, some of the ESA execs and editors from TGS have gathered together to share their some of their favourite spooks, literary and otherwise. Read on for a collection of horrors most foul, strange, and unnatural! Jia – Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein is my favourite monster. Sure, it would be pretty scary if some kid chose to dress up as an eight-foot-tall, translucent-skinned, yellow-eyed creature (with bolts in their neck, if you’re into the Boris Karloff portrayal) and showed up at my door asking for candy, but let’s be real: a father with abandonment issues—a privileged, educated white dude succumbing to hubris, and abusing his power and…
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你会 speak 日本語 吗 ?
If I had to put a label on the way the English language and I felt about each other, and if I was the type of person to advertise my relationships on Facebook, I would say: It’s Complicated. Is it ever. A little background on my background: In 1995, I was born in Tokyo, Japan, to Chinese parents. Ma and Ba had immigrated there in the early 1990s for work, and when they found themselves pregnant with a second child… Well, I like to imagine that they high-fived and did a celebratory dance, but they probably were too busy trying to figure out how to swing the expenses. But despite…
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A Comment on How Lists Shape the Mind
I love lists. Lists are important; they tell you exactly what you need to get done, and then maybe you’ll pat yourself on the back after checking off a task. They help you out when you’re grocery shopping or when you’re idly skimming through your newsfeed. Tables of contents, glossaries, and indexes wouldn’t exist without them. And like everything else, lists can be used to promote, deliberately or not, certain ideas and attitudes. Growing up loving books, I’ve always wanted to finish a “100 books to read before you die” list (still pending), for a variety of reasons that range from fueling my consumption for words, to wanting to be…
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Ice Cream Cake Party/General Meeting 2016
After a long wait the infamous ESA ice cream cake social is returning! Not only will delicious and punny frozen treats be served, but we’ll also be hosting our General Meeting. Elect next year’s executives or run for a position yourself. We’ll also be reviewing some updates to our constitution, and we would love to hear your suggestions. We hope you’re interested in participating in democracy, but if not, remember: there will be cake. Details: When: Wednesday, March 16th from 4-6pm. Where: Buchanan Tower 599 (the English Department conference room.) Price: Free for members, or $2 to become a member (required if you want to vote!) RSVP on Facebook Interested in…
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“Outlander” Part 1: A Second Honeymoon
As a student of English Literature, one of the biggest challenges I face is the ability to read for pleasure. I suppose after almost 5 years of dissecting novels for themes, motifs, and symbolism, it’s hard to think of a book as just a book and not a topic for a term paper. For this very reason, I have decided to start this blog, in the hopes that it will keep me motivated to continue reading for pleasure. After hearing raving reviews about the novel and TV show, I have decided to read and write chapter summaries of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. Chapter 1 – A New Beginning The novel immediately…
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Interview with Laura Bitterlich – Author of Shapeshifters Part 2
I sat down to have an interview with Shapeshifters author Laura Bitterlich, who is an accomplished writer in Germany. At just nineteen, she is a published author and an intelligent thinker of various social issues including gender and sexuality. Her writing is mature, well-thought out and gripping. Focusing her energies on the genre of fantasy, she pays keen attention to her readership and uses her big imagination to transport us all to the universe of Shapeshifters. In this part of the interview, she relays her in-depth views about her ideas on relevant social issues. You use your writing to address social issues as well. An example would be Leara serving…
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Interview with Laura Bitterlich – Author of Shapeshifters Part 1
I Laura and I met for the first time in person in Munich, Germany early last year. Laura had traveled from her town of Saarbücken to meet me while I was traveling around Europe during my semester abroad. We had an evening of pizza and ice cream where she let me know that Canadians are indeed too nice! She and I have known each other for years. We met online and quickly became friends. We bonded over our passions for writing, reading, and social activism. Over the years, I have gotten to know her to be equally nice and kind as she is talented. Laura has been a published…
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Colloquium 2016: Presenters and Abstracts
We are pleased to announce that our second annual conference, The Colloquium, will be hosted on Saturday, January 30th, featuring presentations by undergraduate students and faculty members! The Colloquium will take place in the Dodson Room in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre from noon until 6pm, and food and refreshments will be provided during two breaks. The Colloquium is open to everyone—students and members of the public; be sure to reserve a free ticket here. Colloquium Presenters: Undergraduate Students Click on the presenter’s name to view their biography and abstract. Taylor Tomko – ‘Why Dost Thou Laugh?’: Theatricality and Humour in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus Alexandra Valahu – Bebop and the…
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The Case for Horror Fiction
Horror is perhaps the only genre defined by the response it is meant to create in the reader. No other genre works that way. You can laugh at a tragedy, you can cry at a comedy and still enjoy them. Conflicting responses are okay and even valuable. But you cannot not be scared with horror. Otherwise it is bad horror. Side note: what is the opposite of horror? Feeling safe? It is a genre that had endlessly intrigued me and the reason why I became the avid reader I am today. I grew up reading all types of gothic, horror, mystery and thriller books. And perhaps now, more than ever,…
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Get your work out there: submit to the Colloquium!
Deadline for submission has now been extended to Wednesday, December 23, 11:59pm! The English Students’ Association is officially calling for submissions to our second annual conference, The Colloquium! This conference features presentations from English undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members. The Colloquium offers the opportunity to share your work and discuss ideas with other students and faculty members in the English Department. The Colloquium will be held on Saturday, January 30, 2016, and the submissions deadline is Friday, December 11, 2015, at 11:59 pm. Please see below for more detailed info! Submission Information How long should my presentation be? You’ve got fifteen minutes, with an extra five for set-up.…
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The Highland Experience
I was in the Scottish highlands, doing a tour of one of the lochs in the area when my tour guide asked me what I did. I told him I was a literature student. He asked me if I knew some of the Scottish authors like Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. I had to confess to him that I hadn’t even heard of them before. I told him that we don’t do a lot of literature outside American and English authors. He quietly turned away. A couple of minutes later he handed me a crumpled up brochure. He said, “That book was recommended by an English professor up in…
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Stumbling Through the Wardrobe
It’s difficult and exhausting. It needs incredible attention to detail and thorough planning. Scheduling and organizing are key to this endeavor. Any slip-ups will cost priceless time and precious money. It is more physically intensive than you’d think while you operate on as little sleep as possible. Be prepared for subpar food, miscommunication, and a lack of adequate facilities. Your irritability might increase and frustration is a common symptom. Yes, that is indeed how much work travelling is. Oh, I should correct that: That is how much work travelling is when you’re a university student. I don’t know how many nights I have spent with snoring people, trying to sleep…
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Breathing Life Into Books
Ello, Guvnah. That was my terrible attempt at the local lingo in an attempt to hook your interest while also hinting at the topic of this entry. How did I do? I am currently in England. The reason I have managed to be sitting here in the middle of the semester is because I am currently on exchange at the University of Manchester. It’s still surreal to me and I have not yet slipped into comfort or acceptance yet. Hopefully that will happen soon. Nonetheless, here are some of my initial reactions so far… My first reaction to being here is the aching awareness of my accent; it feels like…
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Story Worthy
Today, I did a little experiment. I went to my bookshelf where I keep the books that I have studied in my English classes over the years. I did a quick count of how many works of literature I have read so far for my English major. The number is at about thirty (not counting course packs or works that I accessed online). Then I went to count how many of them were works of fiction that featured a non-white protagonist. That number was five (sadly, that is including a world literature class). I then counted the number of books that featured an explicitly queer protagonist. That number was one.…
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“Playing” the Part
I kicked off this year with my first English class about theatre accompanied by a trip to Bard on the Beach. Naturally, I’m finding myself to be quite immersed in theatre at the moment. This makes sense since almost every English course I’ve taken has incorporated at least one play into its reading list. As English students, we are meant to look at the play as a text and analyze it in its written form. But isn’t it more complicated than that? When I sat in class reading a play, I raised my hand and asked the professor how the audience was meant to know what the names of the…
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ROFL: That Little Russian Novel (I can’t stop thinking about)
ROFL (Reviewing Our Favourite Literature) is a blog series intended to help you get to know the mysterious faces behind the UBC English Students’ Association. All the execs will share their favourite book or author and this week we are introducing Liam. He is the social coordinator and the official defender of Novels Too Long to Handle. He loves meeting people, learning about other cultures, and making snide comments about bad books. Come to him if you have any events-related ideas or dreams! Anna Karenina. There’s something mysterious about that little Russian social novel. There’s an intangible quality, a feeling in the air every time I open it. Tolstoy writes with…
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Redirection
Over the last six months or so, I’ve seriously started thinking about my future plans, academic and otherwise. After much internal debate I took a course in Creative Writing and it was honestly one of the best decisions I’ve made. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it helped me knock down a few fears… You see, I’ve been questioning my chosen degree and career options for the past year. I have been so focused on finishing my undergraduate studies properly and ticking off the various requirements that I utterly forgot that I was supposed to be enjoying this journey. So, in an attempt to somewhat dial-back my ambitions, I made a…
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ROFL: Erin Watkins
ROFL (Reviewing Our Favourite Literature) is a blog series intended to help you get to know the mysterious faces behind the UBC English Students’ Association. All the execs will share their favourite book or author and this week we are introducing Erin. She is a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing a double major in English Literature and Art History. In addition to being the ESA’s Vice-President, Erin is also an assistant at the AMS Art Gallery and a self-proclaimed tea addict. Over the course of the past three years I’ve been introduced to many of the most important, or influential, books in the Western Hemisphere as a part of my education…
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19th Century Nostalgia
The ESA would like to welcome our new blogger Cassie Dominic! Cassie is an international student studying English and Classics with big dreams and an obsession with all things Jean Rhys and Shonda Rhimes. Before I delve into an attempted explanation of why this novel is near to my heart, I should state that I have a special fascination for Jean Rhys; my admiration for her is on a level of its own and I am rarely able to adequately articulate just how or why – though I did attempt to in my IB Extended Essay. Wide Sargasso Sea tells the story of a woman named Antoinette Cosway (readers may…
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ROFL – The Elusive Question: What’s Your Favourite Book?
ROFL (Reviewing Our Favourite Literature) is a blog series intended to help you get to know the mysterious faces behind the UBC English Students’ Association. Our team will share their favourite book or author and this week we are introducing one of our bloggers, Fatima. “Have you ever asked yourself what works of art revolve around? Around love, sex, death, and the meaning of life; the struggle of man against his fate, against society; man’s relations with nature and with God. What else?”- Literary Murder. Favourites are complicated. I, for one, am ridiculously undecided. Therefore, my favourites lists are often convoluted and complicated. However, I believe favourites are born when they come to at…
