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English Ext 1, Major Work (1 Viewer)

Wooz

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For those in Eng Ext 1 what are u doing for your major assesment/work? I cant think of anything to do with 'Realism'.
 

kenya01

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Our ext 1 major assessment is to pick an appropriation of a text and analyse them, then we have to do a 25min presentation on them in class.
 

kami

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the-1-n-only-me said:
do we hav to do a major work for prelim ext 1?:eek:
No, it depends on the school since prelim english is basically made up by your own teacher.

Wooz said:
For those in Eng Ext 1 what are u doing for your major assesment/work? I cant think of anything to do with 'Realism'.
And realism is a great topic to write in, it allows you to ground fantastical ideas into normal(and usually gritty) topics eg a wonderful idea would be to depict an immortal/superhuman/etc who is not one any longer and must adapt to the real world and reflect on their history from a more humanised viewpoint. A similar thing could be done for TV celebrities or famous serial killers. I'm sure there are plenty of wonderful things you could spin out as well.:)
 

BronwynKate

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Ted Bundy sleeping with my mother would be an excellent example of what Kami is talking about.

Zola is usually one realist author, so is Thomas Pynchon.

Many American authors are very realistic in their approaches, particularly in their major works.

I can't think of any Australian realists except for Peter Carey and DBC Pierre. And maybe Patrick White. You ought to read Patrick White - he's a Nobel Prize winner and a good writer. The work of his which has really stayed with me is the Vivisector, which ties in nicely with realism and art.
 

subjectiv

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We do nothing in extension. Hope we don't get a major work!
 
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I also find this subject a real bludge. Therefore, it just won't make any sense for my school to give us a major work. Our teacher just gives us a bunch of booklets full of notes and the most difficult thing we've had to do so far was our Gothic Short Story.
 

basketcase89

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We're doing a writing portfolio about Fairytales. I think that's the major work?

Gothic Short Story = LOL
 

Wooz

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Thanks 'Kami' and 'Bronwynkate' for your advice.

My assignment:

Focusing on the conventions of Realism and its contemporary permutations, compose a contemporary Realist test that reflects and experiments with the traditional conventions of Realism.
Choose from the following:
a) A Sustained piece of creative writing using and experimenting with the conventions of Realism (3000 words)
b) A collection of short pieces of cretive writing utilising and experimenting with the conventions of Realism (3000 words)
c) An anthology of poems (3000 words)
d) An appropriation of a text (3000 words)
e) A short script for either the stage, TV or film
f) A short film

Reflection statement 600 words focusing on:
How your work reflects the value of its culture
How you have used language to shape and reflect values and the developing nature of realism
The intertextual relationship between your text and other text(s) you have engaged with as part of your study of realism.
An evaluation of the effectiveness of your composition as a Realist text.

Im struggling with the concept of Realism because my teacher has always taught Satire and we've only written 6-7 pages in eng ext this year, if anyone has any notes, advice, prelim eng extension assignments on any topic or module, reflection statements, it would be greatly appreciated.
 

BronwynKate

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What genre are you going to do?

I find the form dictates the language, and the language the function/purpose of the text.

3000 words is not so hard to write. I regularly type as much as that every day. And Enid Blyton used to write 10,000 words a day. I'm still getting there!

(Imagine that! A whole children's book could be finished in 5 days).

This reminds me of the Creative Responses we did in VCE literature and professional writing and editing assignments since.

I am sure there are lots of Realism papers in the resource section.

What culture do you hope to write in? What values are you going to explore?
How does realism develop in your text and in the other texts, and how does the use of language compare? Does it still need to develop?

I think you need to be able to do some active reflection as you are writing and afterwards. It is easier to do the groundwork and plan. Planning is better for authenicity purposes as well. The examiners cannot photocopy your brain.
 

Wooz

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I dont know, i've never written anything over 1000 words. My teachers really crap and no one in my extension class knows what to do, since all the other classes are doing Satire.

Im thinking about an appropriation or a collection of creative pieces.
 

BronwynKate

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I feared that you would do a film script or a short script for the stage.

In which case I couldn't guide you even though I do often choose that option when there's nothing else to do. I enjoy the challenges of working in that form.

What leans you towards doing appropriation?

Why do you want to do the collection/anthology? The latter can be very challenging, while the former leads into cliche.

What will the balance of your collection focus on? Some individual pieces within it show Realist conventions more strongly than others - it's hard to find a balance. How many pieces within the collection?
 

subjectiv

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FranzFerdinand said:
I also find this subject a real bludge. Therefore, it just won't make any sense for my school to give us a major work. Our teacher just gives us a bunch of booklets full of notes and the most difficult thing we've had to do so far was our Gothic Short Story.
that's what we do too. booklets! yay!

hmmm, gothic stories.. sydney boys did that as well. hopefully we won't do it, cause i hate that freak genre.
 

Wooz

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I was going to do a film, but i didnt know what to film and the organising, rendering of the film and editing would take to long.

Schort script or play, maybe

I thought an appropriation of a text would be easier.

Im thinking about doing a collection of stories and poems because i dont think i could sustain a single piece of creative writing for 3000 words long, because i've never done a piece that long.

I dont know, im going to the library this arvo, to find something but i dont know what to look for. I'want to stay well away from French Realism escpecially Balzac, french realism just seems boring. I think i might to American realism even though we havent studied it, it seems interesting with the civil war etc.
 

greycats

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subjectiv said:
that's what we do too. booklets! yay!
I wish we got more booklets, the only ones we get are of questions not of notes :(
Looking at this reminds me though, I need to get started on my adv. english work =\

But a piece of creative writing of 3000 words seems easier to do for me than a collection of short stories and poetry, just go with whatever you feel you can accomplish.
 

BronwynKate

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What about British realism like Harold Pinter and co?

The Angry Young Men and Zadie Smith/Nick Hornby?

Or are they not in the syllabus?

I'm glad you're learning to appreciate a wide range of realist tradition.

If you don't really like French realism you might at least read Gustave Flaubert.
 

Wooz

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I havent dont much on realism, we've only read Hard times by dickens, rudyard kipling poems, Balzac extracts in class.
 

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