https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/ahodgson en-us Podomatic RSS Generator Wed, 08 Jan 2025 03:02:06 +0000 education, ,efl, ,english, ,esl Copyright 2025 Anne Hodgson Give it a listen! episodic false no https://ahodgson.podomatic.com/images/default/B-1400.png https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/ahodgson Anne Hodgson A podcast for learners of English https://ahodgson.podomatic.com/entry/2007-12-27T05_04_56-08_00 https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/ahodgson/episodes/2007-12-27T05_04_56-08_00 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 13:04:56 +0000 2013-12-05 2013-12-05 https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/ahodgson/episodes/2007-12-27T05_04_56-08_00 Anne Hodgson book,review 140 false Christmas is a great time for reading. Thanks to Fabian for passing on John Coetzee’s “Diary of a Bad Year” to me. He found the book hard to read because it's written as a journal kept by three different people in parallel, so each page is divided into separate sections and voices that continue through the book and make the reader jump from one perspective to another. The top section is a highbrow, dogmatic essay project pursued by an aging writer, a mirror of the author himself, while the sections below contain the story line, with the encounters and some emotional and even funny commentary relating to a love triangle that develops between him and an attractive 30 year old whom he hires as a secretary, and her jealous mate. As the story develops, the essays change slightly to include a perspective suggested by the woman. Jumping between these sections, I wound up concentrating on the “hypertext" at the bottom of the page relating to the relationship between the three characters. I didn't go back to the "main text" at the top until I knew how that would develop, and then became interested mostly in whether the personal story line would reflect in the essays. In the end, I rather sloppily pulled the novel together from the bits and pieces I read, and while it does feel as if I've read the whole novel, it’s been a messy, haphazard process. Someone else – maybe a reader more interested in getting to the bottom of the political debate – might finish the “top” section front to back, and only skim over the subtext at the bottom. Will that reader wind up reading a different book? It strikes me that diffused, fragmented attention is very typical for the non-linear way we process information of any kind today. It has its advantages – I get the story line very quickly, which is gratifying. But isn’t that a disadvantage, too? What am I missing when I take a short cut? Will I pay for it later on in lack of perspective and depth? The quiet time at Christmas is ideal to zone in on the "here and now" and to let the fragments merge into one big picture. Learning the ropes to pass on - weitergeben to keep a journal - Tagebuch führen in parallel - parallel/ nebeneinander highbrow - hochintellektuell to pursue a project - einem Projekt nachgehen aging - alternde/r/s to follow the story line - der Geschichte folgen encounter (n) - Begegnung love triangle - Dreiecksbeziehung to hire - einstellen (Personal) jealous - eifersüchtig mate (n) - Partner sloppily (adv) - schlampig to pull sth. together - in einen Zusammenhang bringen novel - Roman bits and pieces - Einzelteile messy - durcheinander, chaotisch haphazard - planlos, zufällig to get to the bottom of somthing - der Sache auf den Grund gehen front to back - von vorne bis hinten to skim over - überfliegen subtext - das eigentlich Gemeinte at the bottom - unten to wind up doing sth. - letztlich/letztenendes etwas tun diffused - indirekt non-linear - nichtlinear advantage/ disadvantage - Vor/Nachteil gratifying - befriedigend take a short cut - eine Abkürzung wählen lack of perspective - Mangel an Perpektive depth - Tiefe to zone in on - sich konzentrieren auf to merge - zusammenfügen the big picture - ein einheitliches Bild Christmas is a great time for reading. Thanks to Fabian for passing on John Coetzee’s “Diary of a... https://ahodgson.podomatic.com/entry/2007-11-14T04_34_24-08_00 https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/ahodgson/episodes/2007-11-14T04_34_24-08_00 Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:34:24 +0000 2013-12-05 2013-12-05 https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/ahodgson/episodes/2007-11-14T04_34_24-08_00 Anne Hodgson world,english 143 false The Sueddeutsche Zeitung today ran a great photo essay and article in honor of Astrid Lindgren, who would have been 100 today. http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/bildstrecke/916/142602/p0/?img=0.0 This led me to discover a charming Swedish website dedicated to her memory. It contains some funny but disarmingly heartwarming Swedish English and introduced me to the memorable Astrid Lindgren quote: "You have all ages in you. Sometimes one pops out, sometimes another." http://www.astrid-lindgren.com/ The Sueddeutsche Zeitung today ran a great photo essay and article in honor of Astrid Lindgren, w...