Term MYTHS AND HEROES

p 152 Analyse de l'image d'introduction, correction 

Comments:

• We can ask ourselves/we may wonder what Alice and Robinson tell us about britishness.

• Britishness: elegance / tea / humour / explo- rers who manage to go through many tough situations/ordeals.

• They represent/symbolize/stand for the typical British character.
• They are among the most important fictional characters in Great-Britain / Both are fictional characters/heroes / very famous in British literature
• Both bold, curious, exploring a new land / on their own / trying to adapt/cope with the unknown

• Opposed/poles apart → they stand far from one another and belong to different epochs, different classes

• Crusoe is her ancestor. Like her, he is one of the most famous characters in British literature / They have/share the same qualities:

resourcefulness (=the   quality   of   being   complete   and   satisfying), initiative, adaptability = it conveys a sense of continuity

• Crusoe is the guardian of Alice → He seems to be defending/protecting her

Robinson Crusoe Luis Buñuel 1954 pelicula completa Subtitulos español HD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-YoBU0XT90

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QUESTION  : After describing the picture that will help you analyse it, explain  “classic with a twist?” 

 unerring   adj .= unfailing =  always   right   or   accurate

BrE / ʌnˈɜːrɪŋ / 

NAmE / ʌnˈɜːrɪŋ / 

= always right or accurate       synonym =   unfailing

 She had an unerring instinct for a good business deal.  

 He could predict with unerring accuracy what the score would be.

 un•err•ing•ly

 / BrE ʌnˈɜːrɪŋli  NAmE ʌnˈɜːrɪŋli /  adv.

wondrous adj.

BrE / ˈwʌndrəs /

(literary)

strange, beautiful and impressive

wonderful

It was a wondrous thing to see the sea for the first time.

ˈawe-inspiring adj.

impressive; making you feel respect and admiration

The building was awe-inspiring in size and design.

disreputable adj.

BrE / dɪsˈrepjətəbl /

that people consider to be dishonest and bad

She spent the evening with her disreputable brother Stefan.

a disreputable area of the city

respectable  compare reputable

 remote adj.

BrE / rɪˈməʊt /

(remoter, remotest)

 PLACE

1 far away from places where other people live  isolated

a remote beach

one of the remotest areas of the world

~ from sth The farmhouse is remote from any other buildings.

 TIME

2 [only before noun] far away in time  distant

in the remote past/ future

a remote ancestor (= who lived a long time ago)

 RELATIVES

3 [only before noun] (of people) not closely related  distant

a remote cousin

 COMPUTER/ SYSTEM

4 that you can connect to from far away, using an electronic link

a remote terminal/ database

 DIFFERENT

5 ~ (from sth) very different from sth

His theories are somewhat remote from reality.

A novel should not be too remote from the experiences of its readers.

 NOT FRIENDLY

6 (of people or their behaviour) not very friendly or interested in other people  aloof, distant

unprejudiced adj.

BrE / ʌnˈpredʒədɪst /

not influenced by an unreasonable fear or dislike of sth/ sb; willing to consider different ideas and opinions

prejudiced

 twist noun

BrE / twɪst /

NAmE / twɪst /

 ACTION OF TURNING

1 [C] the action of turning sth with your hand, or of turning a part of your body

She gave the lid another twist and it came off.

He gave a shy smile and a little twist of his head.

 UNEXPECTED CHANGE

2 [C] an unexpected change or development in a story or situation

the twists and turns of his political career

The story has taken another twist.

The disappearance of a vital witness added a new twist to the case.

By a curious twist of fate we met again only a week or so later.

a bizarre twist to the tale

QUESTION :          To better understand the article, look for the following clues

➤Everyday life and attitude (group 1)

➤ and geography (group 2)

Famous people and reasons for their fame ((group 2)

CORRECTION

Comments: First paragraph:

This is a summary by a British woman about British people.


• British people are tolerant/broad-minded/ open-minded. 

• They are a tolerant nation who enjoy their diversity but like to stick to the rules.


• What British people can’t stand is when someone breaks the law/doesn’t obey the law. 

• What is important/matters most for a British person is the law.


• You can do whatever you want in Britain except break the law / providing/provided you respect/abide by the law, the rule. 

• They won’t condemn you unless you break the law. 

Comments:  all the text:

• The journalist is looking for a definition of Britishness.


• Many references to clichés such as Buckingham Palace, etc. 

• British people: Welsh, English, Scottish.


• Many famous British people / scientists, etc. 

• British people never lose wars / are good at cricket... 

• British people are not perfect but their qualities are more numerous than their faults / their assets outshine/overshadow their faults. • They belong to an island... 

1. “We, the British”

Photo extraite de l’un des films d’animation Wallace and Gromit, de Nick Parks. On y voit les deux personnages assis à une table à l’heure du petit déjeuner. Wallace semble se régaler de sa tartine pendant que son chien Gromit lit le journal en jetant un coup d’œil sur son maître. Un bol de céréales est posé devant lui, une théière trône sur la table au premier plan. Le décor est vieillot, traditionnel, typique d’un intérieur britannique tel que se le représentent les étrangers. Ainsi, cette image met en scène les attributs clichés du breakfast britannique. Ces deux personnages, a priori connus, incarnent une certaine idée de l’identité britannique et mettent en scène quelques indices de la « britannitude à repérer...

• Article du Telegraph daté de juillet 2005 et signé par une journaliste britannique, Alice Thomson. Suite à une scène dont elle a été témoin à Londres, l’auteur cherche à définir ce qui fait la spécificité des Britanniques.

1. Dans un premier temps, elle décline stéréotypes et clichés véhiculés et nourris par les étrangers et certains Britanniques eux-mêmes,

2. puis elle passe en revue les différentes définitions avancées par des éditeurs, auteurs, acteurs... Au milieu de ce portrait kaléidoscopique,

3. elle insère sa propre vision pour tenter de résumer l’identité britannique à une ou deux caractéristiques.

Ce portrait est largement positif : il s’agit des Britanniques vus par eux- mêmes.

Certes ils ne savent pas cuisiner, décorent leurs jardins avec des nains en plâtre et perdent au cricket, mais ces petits « travers » sont largement contrebalancés par leurs succès dans des domaines autrement plus importants : ils ne perdent pas une guerre, collectionnent les prix Nobel, font le tour du monde en solitaire, inventent sans cesse et, cerise sur le gâteau, possèdent le don de l’autodérision et de l’euphémisme.

but first / we turn our attention to a new 4 parts series for bbc 2 / and a companion book / which sees sebastian faulks / best-selling author of titles like bird song / charlotte gray / and the james bond centenary novel devil may care / get to the heart of the british novel // from the offset / faulks lays out his theoretical stool / and explains that for him / this heart / lies not with the author / or a need to make connections between the novel and personal detail about the author’s life / but / in its characters / and that in turn / it’s the characters of a novel that help us / understand ourselves //

the british novel finds its first hero here / washed up on a beach /after a shipwreck // for more than 25 years / he defeated everything life could throw at him / wild animals / storms / marauding cannibals / and most painfully of all / his own /agonizing solitude //. (music and clap of thunder)daniel defoe’s novel was published in 1719 / the story of a young adventurer / shipwrecked / on his way to buy slaves / in africa // in the past, in homer / the bible / or shakespeare / the hero was noble / and remote / but crusoe is not like that // he is more like / you and me //

MF: dramatic stuff // presented and written by faulks / the series promises to tell the story / of how the British novel made us / who we are // a bold claim / but does it hold true // we’ll have to find out // I’m joined / by the man himself sebastian faulks / welcome to open book //

SF: thank you very much // i sounded a bit camp in that extract //
MF: i’m not casting aspersions // you can carry on //
SF: they made me redo it in a much more dramatic way / so well anyway / there it is

MF: very good thespian qualities / that’s all I’m going to say / your first episode focuses on heroes / and I wondered what the qualities required for inclusion were //

SF: well we argued about this a lot / all around the table discussions and / the hero has always been a complete misnomer / and has been an albatross round the neck of novelists / ever since the novel began / and it was a word they used to use of their main characters / because the novel was a very disreputable little form / when it started really // and the idea that they were heroic / in the sense of being demi-gods / the main character gave it a completely sort of bogus respectability / from the off // but quite quickly / novelists like trollope / and dickens / and thackeray were saying // but you know / i’m trying to write a novel about real people // my main character / why does he have to be a hero // i mean it’s just not right / and they fretted with this / a lot //

but really we define hero while it changes / the definition as the story goes on / but it’s / the reader’s point of identification the point of interest / and when you come to someone like beckie sharp / in vanity fair / whom we call a hero / it’s quite clear that she is not / a good person / or a person you look up to / but for some reason / she is the person you root for / in the story //

ANALYSIS AND SUMMARY

Hero in literature: the main character/the pro- tagonist / a character with specific qualities: can be brave, intelligent, have supernatural powers...• Harry Potter, David Copperfield, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond , Bridget Jones, Tarzan,Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair by William Thacke-ray, Robinson Crusoe...

• They sometimes look like everybody else / there is nothing special about them / they can even be worse than the others / be clumsy.
• So not always a “hero”, that is to say not neces-sarily heroic / can be ordinary = someone like the reader = an average person / someone the reader can identify with / then should not be called a hero.

• Hero is not the right word to use then = it is a misnomer.

Robinson Crusoe

• washed up on a beach after a shipwreck

• defeated everything life could throw at him. • had to fight to survive

• on his way to buy slaves in Africa
• first hero as main protagonist of a novel

• in the past, in Homer, the Bible or Shakespeare, the hero was noble and remote but Crusoe is not like that. He is more like... you and me

→ First time a hero looked like an average man. A break with the traditional powerful hero / godlike hero. Landmark/turning point in literary history.

Beckie Sharp

• Beckie Sharp is a character from Vanity Fair • not a good person or a person you look up to

• the person you root for in the story →readers identify with her even if she is not perfect nor good

• first time a hero was fallible and had flaws (Beckie Sharp (“not a good person”) /

Novelists and their heroes

• British novelists fed up with writing stories about powerful heroes

• decided to write about the average man/ woman

• were tired with/fed up with those demi- gods and resorted to human characters with fallibilities

• different vision of the British hero / a break with the traditional vision / reversal of the situation

• hero is not a powerful / an almighty creature anymore: it is rather a human protagonist (Robinson Crusoe has to fight to survive)

• Heroes used to be all powerful demi-gods, orkings and queens who were not ordinary peopleand did not live the lives of ordinary people.
• Readers admired them but knew that they were dierent from them.

• Now, heroes and heroines in literature areordinary people with the same faults and prob-lems as normal people.
• They have become more human.

• Readers can better identify with them.
• Not all heroes are good people / some are evennot good at all / are villains but they all exem- plify traits / attributes / features that readersfeel they could also have or hope they don’t have

• It might be an adventure story / a story with sailors or explorers or pirates / the story of a sea voyage / expedition.
• Perhaps a story like Treasure Island.

• Dark atmosphere / horizon / cloudy, a storm is brewing.
• Big waves / rough sea / swells
• We feel a danger is close at hand / might sink /bueted by the waves.

• The sailors might tell stories about their livesat sea / about their discoveries/their hopes/ their fears.

Faulks on Fiction - James Bond books

Faulks on Fiction - in this programme author Sebastian Faulks looks at the James Bond OO7 books written by Ian Fleming. Also includes an interview with Young Bond author Charlie Higson. (Feb 11) Due

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP0SbRX0y00

Ruth Rendell Discusses Sherlock Holmes - Faulks on Fiction Ep 1: The Hero Preview - BBC Two

Subscribe and 🔔 to OFFICIAL BBC YouTube 👉 https://bit.ly/2IXqEIn Stream original BBC programmes FIRST on BBC iPlayer 👉 https://bbc.in/2J18jYJ More on this programme: ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWHbbo980tA

• The science of detection B p 158 

1/ Présenter le document à partir du paratexte:  

=> Extract of a detection novel setting the world famous characters S. Holmes and his friend and partner Doctor Watson. What is noticeable here is the fact that it was not  written by Conan Doyle who died in 1930. A new author, Antony Horowitz wrote The House of Silk which was published rather recently, that is in 2011. 

2/ Compréhension Globale : time-characters- location-topic  

=> There are two characters: Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.
  The scene takes place at Holmes’s.
The two men are having tea.  A child is ill.
 A series of deductions surprises/strikes Watson who wonders how the detective / sleuth (=limier) can do to infer all these things.

=> detection at work:

- speech tags:

replied, exclaimed, cried, admitted, concurred (= a été d'accord), etc. →He is surprised/ astonished (=étonné).

- Watson’s questions:“How is it possible?” (l. 22) / “How can you be so confident (=sûr de soi)?” (l. 44) / “How can you be so sure?” (l. 56) →They start the same way and ask questions about Sherlock Holmes’ method? He might ask these questions to understand, to try and become as smart/as shrewd as Holmes.

- Watson’s conclusion:“You are remarkable as ever” (l. 64”)

Conclusion: All these elements show that Dr Watson is quite astonished / astounded (=ébahi) atHolmes’ talent/smartness. He is curious and wants to understand it all.

3/ Compréhension détaillée : relationship between the two men 

=> they are both close friends and co-workers/partners 

=> When they work togetherthey are extremely effective / efficient. Together, they solve every casethat is presented to them.

=> Sherlock Holmes is the brainand Watson does a great amount of the leg work.

=> As clearly shown in this extract, there is a teacher / student relationship:Watson asks questions and Holmes explains. It looks like a master and his disciple.

• Holmes is the best but does not bragabout it / does not show off/ boast  (=== se vanter).
• He is a good story-teller: he can tell the whole of Watson’s own story from a whiff /simple smell of coffee.

• He seeks fair justice. His job is to find the truth and enforce the law.
• He proceeds from observation to deduction: he epitomizes  a practical/rational/empirical way of thinking / the same that often leads to great scientific discoveries.

• His way of investigating has turned detection into a science and made “Scotland Yard” the synonym of police excellence.

• Of course, he is unique. His adventures have been so successful and celebrated that they have become a staple of the detective fiction genre.

• He now represents the father-figure of all British detectives/ has inspired many writers and is reflected in many modern day heroes, from Harry Potter to Dr House (= beyond the UK).

A B(r) it different ,   Book p 160                                                                

- Press article by Isabel Taylor in 2006 - "A B(r) it different "   

=> not recent but still valid => food for thought/ valuable/ to be taken into account

=> Again the Brits seen by themselves

But presented as " they" not "we/us”, to be compared with "we, the British"

=> play on words = double trick:

they show they are different from other people by stating it twice: first in the meaning of the title: "a bit different" and secondly, in the way it is presented: "a bit" (= a little) becomes " a Brit" (= a British person)

As a result, it emphasises their difference/ it drives the point home

- Why are the British unusual/different/ distinct?

=> they regard eccentricity as a positive trait => rather a compliment, endearing, positively attractive

=> Seen as weird/nutty/peculiar/unconventional/odd / quirky/ strange/ by other countries

-  Why are the British a b(r)it different? How do we explain it?

=> it is a mild form of rebellion against authority and social conventions

=> anarchist streak

=> very strong feeling  ("fierce attachment") about their freedom when they at not at work = a declaration of independence on a small scale = the right to dispose of their leisure time un-interfered with => no one can interfere with the way they choose to use their leisure time

=> enables them to cope with their lives / hardships: "a way to let off steam" "an outlet for the frustrations

Because of a "densely populated and cohesive society  (cohesive=forming a united whole)

=> paradoxically helps to prop up the order by providing some exceptions and working off tensions that could otherwise pose a threat to the social and governmental stability.

- How does this "eccentricity" show ? Which forms does this "eccentricity" take?

some examples:

=> Mrs Jones cover her garden with pottery cats