D'accord, Baby, by Hanif Kureishi

Hanif Kureishi at the Wikipedia: click here 

A short review of the story: click here

A short review of the book: click here

A longer and more critial review of the book: click here

Some films:

 
























From the story: restaurant Le Caprice:

"The classic St James’s restaurant, Le Caprice is close to the Royal Academy, Burlington Arcade, Bond Street and moments from Piccadilly, Green Park, Mayfair and the West End. A full à la carte menu is served from midday throughout the afternoon, featuring classic British, European and American favourites, prepared with carefully sourced seasonal game, meat and fish, and boasting a renowned list of desserts."  44 € - 67 €


 

 

SITUATIONS / TOPICS (quotations from the text)

Maoist intellectual

Le Caprice

Emerson's:...

How could a man have come to the middle...

... and went into the shower

Soho

Remembrance of Things Past

West London

off-licence

Paris in those days

The food was good...

It was already too late

He thought of a time in New York...

A black eye...

Will you tell your father I saw you?

...life could not be grasped, but lived

 

 VOCABULARY

clear out, viciously, be eager, flinch, quizzical, read, make it to, cuckold, cool, meaner, coup, betsit, odour, fittings, raffish,

Marriage Lines, by Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes at the Wikipedia: click here

🚩A review of Marriage Lines (with audio!): click here

Topics to debate

Island sex
Razor clams
Marriage Lines
Islanders' wedding night
Buttons on jerseys
Holiday activities in the island: his and hers
Marriage = picking razor clams?
Political leaders
Growing potatoes in the island
What was his pressumption?

Look up these words:

cockle, slewed, windcheater, yanked, holdall, vase, waxing, oven glove, slaughter crofter, windsock

Some more vocabulary: 

Twin Otter
 

Traigh Eais

 
Orosay (=Barra,
the most southern island)


 
Traigh Mòhr


 








wing strut


 
 
passing bay


 
machair


 
Beinn Mhartainn


 
lark


 
twite

 
 
wheatear














wagtail









ringed plover






cormorant











gannet














shag














fulmar










sea pink












yellow rattle














purple vetch











flag iris














self-heal














Greian Head










airstrip




The Blush, by Elizabeth Taylor


 

 

 

 

 Elizabeth Taylor at the Wikipedia: here.

Article in a magazine: here

A review on The Blush: here

 

 

 

Vocabulary:

intimations, bib, filch, dainty, mope, glower, answer back, ginger-beer, quandary, oafish, overalls, poorly (be), sort out, heartburn, fastidious, come over funny, cosset, toll (take its), expecting (be), stubborn, corduroy, sea (be at), rough (do the), flighty


A contest: 

Sumarize the story in just one sentence.


Themes to talk about:

Mrs Allen
Mrs Allen's dreams about children
Mrs Lacey personality
Mrs Lacey appearence
Mrs Lacey's behaviour with her children
Mrs Allen's gardener
Horse and Jockey
Chequers
Mr Allen
Maureen, Vera, Ron
Mr Lacey
Mrs Lacey arrives unusually late
Mrs Allen walks the dog
Mrs Lacey feels unwell
Mr Lacey pays a visit to Mrs Allen
Mrs Lacey's real life
Surprise at the end
The title


Sunday Afternoon, by Elisabet Bowen

Elisabeth Bowen at the Wikipedia: here

 The BLITZ. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4104942
 
Elisabeth Bowen was an Irish-born author, but she did her literary activities within a cultural club in London called The Bloomsbury Group, which had its headquarters in the neighbourhood of the British Museum and whose most famous members were the writer Virginia Woolf and the economist John M. Keynes (whose main idea was that the government had to intervene in the economy to correct the bad effects of the capitalism).

But Bowen isn’t very known here: in Catalan you aren’t going to find any translation, and there are only some of this books in Spanish. If you want to find her works in the library, click here.

The short story that we’re reading is a bit autobiographic, because she was born in Dublin and, although she went to live in England, she used to spend her holidays in Ireland where she had an estate and a house, and because during the World War II she worked in London for a Ministry that monitored the Irish neutrality.

Sunday Afternoon is the typical story in where it seems that nothing happens; but the thing is that what happens is about feelings, and this is harder to see and understand; so, I think that the story, although its language isn’t difficult, needs a slow pace and more than one reading.


SOME VOCABULARY YOU'LL HAVE TO CHECK

lawn, drawing, fanlight, twiddle, diversion, nonchalantly, preposterous, at any rate, pert, relinquish, ruthlessness, askance, last quarter (Mrs Versey beauty), besought (beseech), spell


PERHAPS THESE QUESTIONS WILL HELP YOU TO UNDERSTAND DE TEXT.

Who was Mrs Versey and what was her relationship with Henry?
Why, in your opinion, does Ria think that Maria wants to go to London?
What is the relationship between Maria and Mrs Versey?
Why does Ronald Cuffe think Henry is a bit cynic?
Why do you think Maria looked at her wristwatch several times?
How do you know that Mrs Versey is a very rich woman?
Why does he call her “Miranda”? (Maybe the 'Miranda' in Shakespeare's The Tempest?)
What’s the “new number chained to your wrist”?


HAVE A LOOK AT THESE SENTENCES/PHRASES AND COMMENT THEM

“But nothing dreadful: we are already feeling a little sad”.
“The late May Sunday blazed, but was not warm.”
“The coldness had been admitted by none of the seven people.”
“They continued to master the coldness.”
“He was to tell a little, but not much.”
“… the aesthetic of living that he had got from them.”
“’Are the things there as shocking there as they say... or the are more shocking?’, he went on, with distaste.”
“The girl... seemed to belong to everyone there.”
“This outrage... will not have literature.”
“Their position was, he saw, more difficult than his own.”
“Screen of lilac/Another cold puff came through the lilac.”
“You had lost everything. But that cannot be true!”
“You live with nothing, for ever. Can you really feel that that is life?”
“This little bit of destruction was watched by the older people with fascination.”
“’They are frightened someone would miss the bus and come back.’”
“’How weak you are!’” (said Maria)
“I can drive a car.” (said Maria)
“We shall be nothing but brutes.”
“You are only inside their spell.”
“The trouble with you is, you’re half old.”


POSSIBLE TOPICS TO DEBATE:

-Gap between generations (you can see three in the story)
-Wars and desertion
-When can/must you be a pacifist?