First Day Back - Fresh Start

The new academic year has not started without it's hic ups. Thankfully these were resolved and this week my classes & lectures have started. My literature module for this semester is looking at various novels and their film adaptations. Rather than a lecture followed by a seminar our tutor is treating it like a workshop. We read various novels and watch the film adaptations in our own time and then discuss them indepth in class. Today we looked at Edgar Allan Poe's The Fallen House of Usher and the 1960 film (with Vincent Price) House of Usher. Many of us watch adaptations and often see them as a violation of the novel so it is interesting to learn why these adaptations made. Novels from our past like 19th century literature are converted into films to provide us with a visual of what the times were like back then. What clothes were worn, what transport was used etc. The adaptation of contemporary novels are more often than not created for commercial reasons. We often see the best sellers turned into films and very often the plot is changed, characters have different relationships and the narrative disappears. If a novel can make so much money than it can make a good film too...the story earns respectiability as a novel so people run out to see the film. I can't wait to dig further into this and find out what all the critics of literature say. I've already been to the library and taken out various text books. The assignments for this module seem straight forward. Adapting an extract myself, a presentation (my group is doing it on Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events) and an essay. I'm confident I'll get good grades in this module.

My only other class for this semester is another publishing project. Not doing a book this time, instead I will be creating a leaflet for an arts provision in Preston. Haven't got any more details on this. Not until tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it and my friend's mum has lots of tips on marketing and promotion for me :)

My dissertation is already well under way and I'm really excited about it. The little class time I have this semester means I can spend quite a bit of time reading and writing. I'm determined to keep my grades up and finish my degree with a bang.