First World War historiography M1

 This week in our seminar I got to the end of the question of the historiography of the First World War, which I hope gave you ideas about historiography in general. Next week I will be looking at commemoration. 

Last year during the closure of the university, I did these classes on video, and they may be useful to you for revision purposes. My YouTube channel is the place to browse, here https://youtube.com/c/JohnMullenTheHistoryFellow 

The videos are by no means identical to the classes you followed, although they follow generally the same topic.

We watched extracts from two historians’ lectures in class. The full videos can be found at these links:

Christopher Clark, speaking about the first day of the war 

https://youtu.be/6snYQFcyiyg

Margaret Macmillan asking whether the war was inevitable https://youtu.be/G_bJSXyO78M

L3 Popular Culture: Feedback on classroom test, Part One

 

L3 civilisation britannique Popular Culture since 1945 : DST

 

I will be putting feedback here over the next few weeks concerning your classroom test. You will remember that it was worth 15% of the course mark, so one might say its main aim is to get you to absorb what our expectations are.

I will add to this post a few times, so do keep coming back to it once a week.

The morning class were given the following question :

How have British artists and artistic institutions tried to make sure that visual art speaks to a wider section of the population ?

Answer the question giving a number of examples of approaches by British artists or artistic programmes or institutions.

 

I will concentrate on this question for the time being. The afternoon class were given a subject about elitism, which was fairly similar in many ways.

 

Structure

Your answer needs a structure, so as to avoid you simply saying everything you know about visual art since the impressionists. It is probably best to use a simple structure. Here is an example.

Introduction : define some of the terms of the question : what is “a wider audience” in this case (an audience which is not wholly drawn from a cultural elite).

 

1.    Artistic programmes and institutions (the Tate Gallery, the Fourth Plinth, the Turner Prize…)

a.    What they have done to widen their audience (free galleries, use of internet, use of popular participation)

b.    What has made it hard to widen their audience (entrenched social codes, but also the obscure and avant-garde nature of much of the Turner prize work, for example).

 

2.    Artists

a.    What they have done to widen their audiences

i Bringing art to the people – street art in particular, but also Anthony Gormley’s beach sculptures or Andy Goldsworthy’s arch, or the outdoor sculptures of Henry Moore.

ii Treating subjects which matter to ordinary people (Lowry, Martin Parr…)

iii Public participation (Banksy’s Dismaland, Jeremy Deller)

 

b.    What has made it harder for artists to widen their audience?

 

Conclusion

 

This is just one example of a possible structure – there are many more possible. The most important thing to notice is that every paragraph is linked to the original question – you do not add things you remember from the class unless you have linked them to the idea of widening, or failing to widen, the audience.

 

Secondly, although the question asks “how did they widen their audiences?” it is a very good idea to also include the opposite – how did they NOT widen their audiences.

 

There will be many more comments here, as I go on marking your scripts.

 

Wales

 Another aspect of diversity  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/18/wales-launches-drive-to-keep-young-people-in-their-homeland 

M1 MEEF Rouen Homework assignment date

 I have been told that there are a lot of assignments due at the same time in December. It is in my interests to give you a little more time and so read better assignments. The assignment is therefore now due for the 18th December (john.mullen@univ-rouen.fr). I will confirm receipt a week later on this blog, and most of the feedback will be collective, on this blog.

World War One: additional material

 Here is a short YouTube video  about First World War propaganda

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

From time to time historians het asked to produce a more popular, less intellectual account of what they have found in their research, without detailed justifications oe much hedging. Here is an example:

http://cle.ens-lyon.fr/anglais/civilisation/domaine-britannique/les-tubes-de-la-grande-guerre-en-angleterre 

Thème/M2 agregation advanced translation: suggested translation, passage from Prévert

    Note that this translation will only remain on the blog for a couple of weeks.

If you are a visitor to this blog and you want to see the original passage we were translating from, you will find it here  http://www.jcmullen.fr/0921themebooklet.pdf 

For[1] me,[2] Neuilly[3] meant[4] the fair,[5] and when the fair left, the main avenue was[6] a real[7] desert, except when the market traders[8] with their wooden poles[9] set up[10] their tents like the circus people did.[11]

 But there were other fairs, at the Porte Maillot.[12] One day they did[13] "Morocco in Paris", a village where there were bright-eyed[14] natives,[15] potters and jewellery stands, snake charmers, a mother camel[16] with her little ones,[17] and black[18] children who dived[19] into a pool to fetch coins.

 Another day there was a dwarf village with dwarf[20] houses, a dwarf  school and a little[21] dwarf church. Or there was the “loop the loop” attraction: people got[22] in a carriage which raced[23] downwards really quickly, turned upside down[24] in the loop, then slowed down[25] and stopped to let the screaming passengers off.

 And then there was Printania, a  big music hall[26] in the open air. People[27] ate cherries in brandy and when the night was clear the roof opened up and the stars could watch the show with us. In the show, there were clowns dressed as[28] pâtissiers,[29] juggling their wares, and lady singers all alone on stage, the audience drinking and singing along with them.

 And there were men[30] singers. One of them was just so funny.[31] Yet he was all dressed in a sad black, and his face always had a tearful expression.[32] He would pluck out the big flower he wore in his buttonhole and throw it to the floor, where it would stick, upright,[33] and sway forwards and backwards, trembling.[34]

 “I've got depression”[35], he would sing, “it's so funny hee hee hee[36]”. And everyone would fall about laughing, even my father. Even though he did[37] suffer from depression.

       “It’s in fashion”,[38] he would say, “but I could do without it, this sadness that settles into your head and pops in and out, as if it were at home.”

        And long before they set up[39] Printania, where the sprawling ruins of Luna Park[40] can be seen today, there was a big tethered balloon that rose into the sky, filled with passengers. One day, the rope snapped and the balloon was carried off by the wind. All over Neuilly, the people all looked skywards at the same time; so did the dogs.[41]

 *Check out the British national corpus search for “stilts”.

---

[1] Remember we don’t normally use « according to » with the first person. In any case, the expression « according to » is too formal and argumentative

[2] What do you know about Jacques Prévert ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Pr%C3%A9vert

[3] Someday suggested helping the anglophone reader by writing something like « the Parisian suburb of Neuilly ». This is good.

[4] Any sentence with « synonymous » is the wrong register : Greek words are mostly for formal use.

[5] As we see a little later, we are not talking,strictly speaking, about « funfairs » which is a little too specific. (Even so, the expression « fun fair » was first used in the 1920s). If you use funfair for the first sentence, but just « fair » for the others, that is fine.

[6] « Felt like » is rather an over-translation.

[7] Not « a true desert ». « True » gives an impression of scientific precision, which is not appropriate here. « A true tornado is formed when three key elements collide …».

[8] « Market people » or « the market people » is good. « People from the market » is not sufficient, since that might mean simply people who had recently been to the market.

[9] I do not think they are stilts : see the extract from the British National Corpus

[10] There is no reason at all for a BE +ING here.

[11] For the history of the Fête de Neuilly, voir ici : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%AAte_%C3%A0_Neu-Neu

[12] A couple of students wondered if they should translate to « Maillot Gate ». This is not impossible, but I think it is better to leave this in French. It is not too hard for most English readers.

[13] It was only once, so you may not use a structure with « would ».

[14]  « Bright-eyed » is the « expression consacrée ». It appears in the often ironic expression to describe someone who is full of child-like enthusiasm : « bright-eyed and bushy tailed » (the implication of the expression is that they are like a squirrel). « Shiny-eyed » is possible, but far rarer. Note you do need the hyphen with these compound adjectives. Long-haired, red-faced, kind-hearted, old-fashioned, deeply-rooted, narrow-minded, broad-minded, high-spirited, strong-willed, quick-witted, well-behaved, middle-aged… 

[15] In this context, « natives » is a racist term, but it is the correct translation, as it was a racist event.

[16] “Camel”is used both for “chameau” and for “dromédaire” except by specialists.

[17] Technically called « calves », but most people don’t know this « her young » is excellent.

[18] After the 1970s, and especially in non fiction, the word “black » is capitalized when referring to people of Afrcan heritage, or others targeted by racism because of their origins. But this is before.

[19] My grammar book gives both « dived » and « dove » as acceptable. This is the only point in the paragraph when a structure with “would” is possible.

[20] I was a little surprised initially by « dwarfish », but I think it is fine. « Dwarf houses » are houses for dwarfs. « Dwarfish houses » are very small houses (whether for dwarfs or not). « Dwarves’ houses » sinc eyou must repeat the genitive three times, is a little clumsy.

[21] « Little » is much better than « small » here – can you remember why ?

[22] It is not a good idea to use « would » because that leads to much repetition.

[23] A sentence with « sped » would be good. « Raced » is very good.

[24] This is a good time to revise upside down, inside out, back to front, and sideways on.

[25] « Reduced speed » is too formal in register.

[26] There is an argument for keeping the French expression, « Café-concert ». Someone tried « open-air live entertainment bar », but that is far too modern an expresion.

[27] You may not translate with « we », since the narrator was no doubt too young for brandy.

[28] If you use a structure with a noun, it should be « outfit » not « uniform », since uniforms are, well, uniform – that is , all identical (although the word is used in a commercial context).

[29]  « Pastry Cooks »

[30] You do need to specify as you have just spoken of the lady singers.

[31] « As funny as they come » I liked. Someone tried « as funny as hell », but for a 1920s passage this is too rude.

[32] I liked « which always seemed on the verge of tears ».

[33] I think this word is the most important point to the trick.

[34] Not « Shivering » which is amost always due to the cold.

[35] In my dictionary, the English word « neurasthenia » is marked as « (Med.) » That is to say it is used only in the medical profession. Remember in particular the general rule that French is much closer to Greek and Latin words than is English. So the Oto-rhino-laryngologue is an « Ear nose and throat doctor » ; French people have a torticoli, and English people have a « stiff neck » etc.

[36]  «Hee hee hee » is the traditional way to spell discreet laughter. « Ha ha ha » is less discreet laughter. Because the original is onomatopoeic, « hi hi hi » is not possible in English.

[37] A structure without the emphatic « do » here is very much an inferior translation. The only othe rgood option is « he actually suffered from depression ».

[38] « The latest trend » - why not ? but NOT « the last trend ». there is an exercise on this here http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/intermediate/last-the-last-the-latest . Someone tried « on trend », but I suspect this is 21st century marketing jargon.

[39] As often, it is an excellent ide ato add a verb here.

[40] « Luna Park’s ruins » is very clumsy indeed – follow the rules of when to use the Saxon genitive.

[41] Notice that you cannot simply say « including dogs », since dogs are not people.