BiscuitGirl (Offline)  

Greetings fellow ASNAC-offerholder and Terry Pratchett-fan!

It is funny that you should mention 'A Love Song by J. Alfred Prufrock' because I hadn't actually heard of it until I watched a documentary on T.S. Eliot on youtube (How I like to spend my afternoons as a 'treat'- I was in Paradise when Stephen Fry did his series 'Planet Word') I am just trying to be more familiar with Modernism in Literature- my teacher sent me an email with the question 'Do you think modern literature is a limiting genre' and I just thought 'Oh sh..ugar plum fairies!'

You love the WW1 too? Yay for the first time ever I am not alone in my wierd obsession with it! I read the Flambards series when I was about 13 and was obsessed with the era ever since! Have you read 'Birdsong?' That was beautiful...

I am sure you will get the interview- there are lots of people on here who still haven't heard and it depends from college to college I think. Your course sounds quite scary though (Sorry... that isn't very reassuring!) but I would NEVER be able to do medieval Welsh! I don't even know normal Welsh...

Ooh, and thank you for the link! It gives me butterflies just looking at the interview process though- I am so scared about talking to the Dons...

Anyway, very best of luck with everything!

Hello!

Yes, I am on a Gap Year which I wouldn't have done actually had I not overstressed in my AS levels! The problem was that the shutters went down in the exam and I didn't get the grades I was capable of getting for Cambridge- SOO, even though university fees increased I decided to take a gap year and reapply after my A levels (If I got the grades)-- so after everything there is just quite a lot of pressure to get in! (But if I don't get in I probably wouldn't be very good on the course anyway!) So yes, I'm working in a French school in Bordeaux which is actually really interesting because I can join the Premiere (Our AS level equivalent) in Literature and Philosophy lessons, I just have to concentrate very hard! I think if you have family over in France you should definately go over and stay! Are you biligual? I only did French A level so it has been quite a lot of learning for me since in French lessons we just didn't learn the everday french which is used!

As for the character of 'Maurice' yes I think you are quite right! Sorry I think I may have sounded a bit too general in what I said, I just have a little bee in my bonnet about context because my Literature lessons in the UK consisted of a class of people who just used to judge everything by modern standards or without sympathy: 'Ted Hughes should have gone on Gardner's World' 'Wordsworth needed to get out more'... But yes, I was able to do it for my coursework because we did English Literature with the WJEC- I have no idea why because I know nobody else that uses it but I won't complain!

Hello
Sorry I did not reply earlier, but I somehow got mixed up in my tremendous lack of technological skills...
English is such a great course, and there are phenomenal historical references for literature in Cambridge! E.M. Forster and C.S. Lewis, just to name (a mighty) two. And let's not forget Lord Byron and his view from his window at Trinity College.
But yes, I 100% understand being torn between Oxford and Cambridge. For my entire time in high school, I 'just knew' that Cambridge was 'it' for me. Except after I basically realized I was going to take a gap year and had to start thinking about UCAS again, I began to consider Oxford very seriously. The thing is, (don't get me wrong, I love Economics as a course) but my absolute passion is Economic History, which they sort of offer at Oxford, but not at Cambridge. In the end I decided to reapply to Cambridge for Economics (pure) at Sidney Sussex, due to several reasons.
I am also retaking exams, although I am actually doing the IB. I also thought (and still do) that they would sort of frown upon people who were retaking examinations, which is quite scary. I don't think they should, since it does not mean that we're any worse or less able than others that are applying from school now...
Pembroke is absolutely stunning, I'm certain you'll love it there!
Best of luck!
Carol

(Sorry- mega ramble... it needed to be sent in two messages!) Whoops!

I haven't read his short stories, but I remember writing an essay about two years ago about his philosophic statement: 'Tolerance, good temper and sympathy, they are what matter really' Which was interesting but since it was an inter schools competition, I didn't stand a chance really!
I must give the Longest Journey a go at some point- at the moment I am devouring Woolf and then I need to do a little more on T.S.Eliot- have you read any of those authors that you would recommend?

Sorry this has turned out to be a ramble too- it is so nice to actually speak with someone though who isn't going to tell me to shut up! Good luck with your application too! Which College have you applied to? I recieved confirmation of an interview yesterday for the 8th December at Girton, so it looks like the dreams are just going to escalate from here! ;-) I am quite worried about the written test, I don't think one hour is enough time to write a comparison of two poems... normally I like to spend an afternoon with my cup of tea and my essay! Haha I'll just have to stop being a leisurely old fart and get my speedy writing up again! (And remember the ENGLISH language- I've been working in a French school since September and I am becomming more and more prone to mixing up the languages!)

Good luck!

Hey- don't worry I quite understand! I hope this actually reaches you by the way- I have just joined the student Forum and I am still trying to work out how it works!

Haha don't worry at all about 'rambling' - I do it the whole time to the extent that even my mother tells me to stop quoting/ rambling at people! I just can't help myself!

I have to agree with you about Maurice- I studied it for my coursework last year, and I think it is perhaps one of the most touching books I have read! You really gain an insight into his inner torment, something which is even more poignant considering that those were probably Forster's own emotions. I think people who see Maurice as a complete ass don't understand the context in which it was written- in 1914 it would have been considered pure scandal for an upper-middle class gentlemen to have a homosexual affair with a gamekeeper- so of course the character is going to be torn between convention and his intuitive sexual orientation... Actually, I recently read 'Modernism, Male Friendship and the First World War' by Sarah Cole, and there was a very interesting chapter on Forster, particularly on Maurice. I hadn't actually thought about this, but the window is effectively the symbol of homosexuality, and each time the 'lover' comes in through from the outside, it represents how the have come from outside of society's conventions etc. Although Maurice has a 'satisfactory' ending, it is significant that the two leave English society and retreat into the 'wilderness' as it were, unable to confront society they must instead escape it.

Hey! I saw on the Cambridge Stalking Page that you're reapplying. I'm also reapplying, and I had not actually spoken to anyone in the same position. Are you on a gap year, and did you apply to the same college as last year? Last year I received a conditional offer from Gonville & Caius for Economics but did not meet it in the end... Let me know how your finding this process
- Carolina