#a level lit

[clopeh-sekka]

Does anyone have any book recommendations for my Alevel coursework. I was thinking about doing 'crime and punishment' or 'Iron widow' but I have no clue what to compare either of them with.

[moomin279]

It’s my birthday tomorrow and I have one class.

God is real

[inky-quilled-dragon]

John’s going through it rn.

[mournfulroses]

T. S. Eliot, from The Complete Works of T. S. Eliot; "The Confidential Clerk,"

[thewalrusespublicist]

So didn't realise that people didn't know about the John Lennon 1980 'dear one' thing. As we're all here though I wanted to mention that the phrase 'my dear one' potentially has a bit of a story arc when it comes to John's relationship with Paul. For those familiar with British English, 'my dear one' sticks out as it's not a used term of endearment at all. So where does it come from? It could be a non-straightforward Victorian throwback, but more likely its hearkening to the use of the phrase in Eastern meditation to denote your nearest and dearest. Great, already off to a sweet start (and lines up with Yoko having Paul on the next-of-kin list with Julian and Mimi when John died).

It POTENTIALLY gets a bit more layered than that though once you add in the idea of hugging meditation. Contrary to what Paul says (sorry Paul, I do believe you on most things, just not this) despite being 'Northern men' TM the Beatles were a huggy bunch. John mentions it in the 1967 Hunter Davies interview:

''We used to be embarrassed about touching each other. We’d do an elaborate handshake just to hide the embarrassment… or we did mad dances. Then we got to hugging each other. Now we do the Buddhist bit… arms around. It’s just saying hello, that’s all.''

As pointed out in @thecoleopterawithana and @monkberries amazing posts, the Buddhist bit is hugging meditation which became popular in the 1960s. In hugging meditation, you

''have to make him or her very real in your arms, not just for the sake of appearances, patting him on the back to pretend you are there, but breathing consciously and hugging with all your body, spirit, and heart. Hugging meditation is a practice of mindfulness. “Breathing in, I know my dear one is in my arms, alive. Breathing out, she is so precious to me.”''

We know physical touch was important to John. One of the plusses of being with Yoko was being affectionate with his best friend, he tells Paul that touching is good whilst hugging him and in the Get Back sessions he delightedly asks Paul about a vivid dream where he was touching Paul (whether platonic or romantic this always read to me as a blatant subconscious desire for increased intimacy with Paul). The desire for intimacy is still present in the 'Real Life/Love' demo in 1977 where John muses about holding a mysterious has-a-baby-expecting-another-lives-on-a-farm someone in his arms as if it was only yesterday (another piece of media I still cannot believe we have on tape).

With John's evident desire for physical intimacy in mind and the focus on holding dear ones in hugging meditation, I don't think it's too far to think that John would associate this term of endearment with a certain level of both physical and emotional intimacy. Whether its a slightly bittersweet ironic recollection of those times together in the late 60s or a sincere statement of their current relationship, Paul as his dear one could be seen as continuation of John's suppressed, resentful but ultimately present desire for reignited intimacy with Paul on multiple levels (again romantic? Platonic? Choose-your-own-adventure there, I'm not in charge of you).

Or I could be talking shit. Who knows? It's just fun to think about!

[seagreenstardust]

“When toxic behavior is portrayed as romantic, it’s problematic. When problematic behavior is portrayed as a character flaw for a character to work through, it’s good storytelling.”

Katsuki Bakugou, my friends.

His behavior was problematic but never once portrayed as romantic at the same time. Katsuki said and did awful abusive things, and he also chose to be better when he was given the chance. If you’re still hung up on chapter 1 Katsuki now then I don’t think you’ve been reading the same story I have.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m not shipping Izuku with an irredeemable abuser. I’m shipping him with his most important person. His narrative foil. His childhood friend who made awful mistakes and then made it right when he saw he was wrong. The person Izuku looks up to and strives to emulate, despite their past struggles.

Bakudeku is so good because of how flawed these boys are, and how hard they’ve worked to get over it, and how much they matter to each other after it all

[malinaa]

i need to fucking die thinking about mockingjay everlark before peeta was rescued . he is literally being tortured and hijacked out of his mind and still he manages to get one warning out to katniss, to save her as he's always done. and then u have katniss who's every other thought and spoken word is to ask about peeta. everyone in district 13 thinks of him as a traitor and she is begging for someone to save him because she knows he's forced, or worse

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to study English literature A-level in an all girls sixth form with a young teacher then just know that once (and this is a few years ago now) my teacher played the “If the men find out we can shapeshift they’re going to tell the Church!!” video and then asked us what about the video we could apply to studying The Handmaid’s Tale

[ladymacbethisagirlboss]

My english teacher cannot escape my queer readings of Othello. No matter how much she goes "...yeeeeeah" or changes the subject, the homoerotic nature of male obsession and toxic masculinity will prevail

[thedungeonbat]

Printed out my essay. So excited to hand it in, I just love Shakespeare!! :)

[thedreadvampy]

My life is full of people who are like "as an Autistic I despise the Big Light" and that's so fuckin valid but unfortunately as an Autistic who hates partial sensation (and has poor vision) I despise the Small Light. squinting gives me a headache and makes me notice flickering more. doesn't this make you guys tiiiiiired?

starting to feel like I'm the only autistic person who WANTS THE BIG LIGHT ON. MAXIMAL LIGHT. FEED ME DELICIOUS PHOTONS. RB IF U AGREE.

[horatiompreg]

wholesome hamlet and horatio in these trying times. I had an english exam last week and guess which freaks came up on the given extract ❤️

[soulmaking]

Jenny Xie, Zuihitsu

[hypokeimena]

really slowly percolating the original fiction project i have percolating and the problem is i want the attention and energy and inspiration to work on it NOW. but that's not how it works

[moonsun2010]

reading classic lit with an online community is admittedly fun but sometimes i see posts like "scholars are so stupid" and "academics are nothing compared to us!! we on Tumblr truly understand the text best" and i get Worried like. its just a joke. its just a joke haha right? right? because it becomes a specific flavour of... not quite anti-intellectualism but adjacent to it, enough that it legitimately becomes difficult to differentiate the two. theres a lot to criticise about academia but this overgeneralisation of it as some fixed monolith rather than an ever-evolving landscape leaves a foul taste.

ive met academics i know that are the most stubborn people alive refusing to adapt to change despite seeing it happen right in front of them. ive also met academics that are unfathomably kind and openminded, and so so supportive of the weirdest essay ideas imaginable. literary analysis is ripe for weird shit! open to marginalised identities in a way so much else isnt. augh it just feels bad whenever i see a post decrying the competence of academics, like yea ive read my fair share of articles with obtuse language and shite ideas but just. maybe don't dismiss the entire field?

[yinyuedijun]

Mao! I finally went down the rabbit hole that is omegaverse. Do you have any recommendations that you can steer me towards?

HI ANON WELCOME TO THE OMEGAVERSE GENRE !!! 🫶 I absolutely do have recs 😎

here is a short danmei a/b/o rec list. I know this is a danmei blog but like these fics MADE MEEEE into the omegaverse writer that I am today so I would be remiss if I didn't mention these.

@/prettyboykatsuki's bachira fic is SOOOOO good I truly enjoyed it so much like. I cannot explain my love for it and I highly recommend it, especially if you're looking for xreader queer-coded non-traditional a/b/o !!!

@/lorelune hosted an omegaverse collab with an INSANE roster of writers, I would definitely look through the masterlist. lore themself is also in the process of writing an amazing jingyuan fic (also amazing if you're looking for xreader queer-coded non-traditional a/b/o)

I hope there's something in that list that you enjoy !!! 🫶 thank you for the ask!