kriticulture

Initial observations from the UK's national e-book observatory are already challenging assumptions about how students use e-books. According to Lorraine Estelle CEO of JISC Collections, in the first user survey, which received over 22,000 responses, 62 per cent of students reported that they read online whilst only 6 per cent said that they print to read. The survey also indicated that interactivity may not be as important to students as anticipated. 'Students say that the main attraction is that e-books within an academic setting, are more accessible than print books, meaning that users can get at them wherever they are and at whatever time they like,' explained Estelle. The UK’s first national e-book observatory, which is funded by JISC, will provide empirical data about the use of e-books in 127 universities. It aims to provide publishers and e-book aggregators with a picture of how students use their course texts in the digital environment. The outcomes of the research ...

T he novel has always smacked of inadequacies. It is regularly less than what is expected of it. Or worse, it is more. But rarely the thing we had in mind, never quite settling upon an identity that it is easy to be happy about. Fifty years ago Ortega y Gasset confidently pronounced it dying. Twenty years ago, Marshall McLuhan tried hard to demonstrate that it was already dead. It wasn’t, and, for some reason, still isn’t, still very much available as an attractive even if expensive instance of Randall Jarrell’s weak apology for it: ‘A longish piece of prose with something wrong with it.’ Since the war, the British novel has developed its own indigenous difficulties, or, at least, its own vernacular of complaint. When Gore Vidal remarked at the recent Edinburgh Festival that there are only ‘middle class novels for middle class readers with middle class problems’ he was echoing a tired charge that has become as predictable as much of the writing occasioning it. For John Sutherland, the...

Teaching English Language and Literature Gurleen Ahluwalia, Lecturer in Communication Skills, Department of Applied Sciences, BBSB Engineering College, Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab has sent this link that seems to be quite useful for students. It has a module on UGC NET also. http://dilipbarad.com/tell/

A Poem by Giorgio Agamben The Lion dreams and dreams the Rose. The Rose dreams and dreams the King. The King dreams and dreams the law. The law dreams and dreams grace. Grace dreams and dreams the circle. The circle dreams and dreams the line. The line dreams and dreams pain. Pain dreams and dreams the scale. The scale dreams and dreams the shadow. The shadow dreams and dreams Gold. Gold dreams and dreams the stone. The stone dreams and dreams the serpent. The serpent dreams and dreams poison. Poison dreams and dreams death. Death dreams and dreams destiny. Destiny dreams and dreams life. Life dreams and dreams the mask. The mask dreams and dreams god. God dreams and dreams the word. The word dreams and dreams the Rose. The Rose dreams and dreams man. Man dreams and dreams the stone. [First published forty years ago in the journal Nuovi Argomenti (11), July-September 1968.]