Monthly Archives: January 2014

I have a great story to tell you.

Hundreds and hundreds of years ago when the world first formed, there was a tiny village called Celka filled with little human beings. These humans had an abundance of everything – food, shelter, water, clothes, and money. The people in the community were very welcoming and close with one another, they often ate together, played together, and worked together. These Celkans were practically like one big family because they loved each other all the same, and did whatever they could to protect each other from harm.

Celka thrived as a community because of one very important element: everyone spoke nothing but the truth. In this reality, everyone spoke bluntly and expressed their honest opinions, no matter how difficult it was to hear. Because lying was not heard of, no one believed in a religion. No one saw a point in lying because of it’s insincerity and hurtful repercussions to the people of Celka. That is why Celka was always a jolly, cheerful place. I guess you could say Celka wasn’t a very creative community due to the absence of fiction; all their stories that were told were based on factual evidence or historical events.

One day, there were two girls that were running along the valley hills, playing with daisies and blowing dandelions. The two girls ran and ran and ran until they were out of breath so they decided to rest under a huge oak tree. While the girls were catching their breath, they decided to tell each other stories. The rule was whoever could tell the most interesting historical event will win. The younger girl knew that she couldn’t beat her friend because she was much older and knew many more facts than her. So, the younger girl thought and thought until her little brain started hurting. Suddenly, like a lightbulb, she had an idea. She could take what she knew of an event and twist the truth, just a little, until the story is so appalling she had to win. So the little girl told the story of how wickedness came into Celka many years ago. The story was so frightening that the elder, much more educated girl, was haunted. The elder girl said, “it isn’t so funny. It doesn’t sound so good. Take it back. Call that story back.” But, of course, it was too late. For once a story is told, it cannot be called back. Once told, it is loose in the world.

This story actually took me a while to write because I wanted to incorporate so many minor details. It ended up being too long so I had to change the entire ending! I had a lot of fun though because I liked how I could change the outcome, or change any parts of the story because I was the storyteller. I felt like I had a lot of power and even a boost of creativity, haha! Part of the story, specifically the truth telling part, was inspired by the movie The Invention of Lying. So basically this story kills two birds with one stone because it talks about the origins of wickedness and lying. Score!

Reference:

King, Thomas. ““You’ll Never Believe What Happened” Is Always a Great Way to Start.” The Truth About Stories. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. <http://www.houseofanansi.com/Assets/ProductAssets/TruthAboutStories/TruthAboutStories_chapter.pdf>.

The beauty of the world wide web has allowed literature to become more universal and accessible. How, might you ask? Readers across the globe are able to access a piece of literary text within seconds of typing in a web link. Readers can also share, comment, or ‘like’ a post within a fraction of a second. This is where the aspect of accessibility comes in; nowadays technology is so swift and handy that most of us have a smart phone or device with us almost anywhere we go. As a result, with the combination of mobile data or WiFi access, individuals can freely read these texts anytime, anywhere. While it is more difficult to share a story with others via storytelling, the www allows readers to share it instantaneously with others no matter how close or far individuals may be. Hence, the universality factor of the www. As we have learned from the 1:2 lesson written by Professor Paterson, there is a distinction between a reader and listener in the world of storytelling. However, digital literature gives readers the opportunity to interpret, analyze, and respond to a text moments after reading it. Furthermore, readers can even remake the story to their liking, so it would be a modern way of storytelling if you will. I want to build on a phrase from lesson 1:2, “digital literature is textual and aural and visual”. The impact of digital literature is that it offers a story to readers in the form of text, but it also presents to readers an image, which is delightful because readers now have something to visualize instead of only reading about. In addition to images, video clips can be also added to websites, so that readers can simultaneously hear sound with pictures in motion. For example, let us imagine the topic of totem poles. I can include a webpage about totem poles that includes text and an image. But the beauty of digital literature is that I can include a video clip so viewers can further educate themselves on totem poles by visualizing and listening to the clip. By including video clips, viewers are turned into listeners, which is a different form of storytelling because the reader and literature are no longer present. As a result, digital literature compels the modern individual to interpret literature in a variety of ways including analyzing, replying, sharing, and remaking a piece of text that is accessible to the world. Social media tools give readers fluidity to carry on multiple tasks such as the ones mentioned above, rather than exclusively reading and interpreting literature by paper.

(Warning: following paragraph contains excessive hyperlinks, click at your own risk.) Hypertext on the other hand, adds a continuum of knowledge for readers. For example, readers can learn more about totem poles only if they are interested enough to click the link. Once readers have clicked the link however, they become more aware of the topic, and may also feel closer to the author who posted the article. There is a sense of intimacy in clicking a hyperlink because the reader is opening themselves up to more knowledge about a specific topic. For example, Professor Paterson’s story about intersections included a purple umbrella. The significance of this purple umbrella would never acknowledged if Professor Paterson hadn’t hyperlinked a side story of the umbrella in detail. Thus, the hyperlink creates a sense of intimacy and closeness between the reader and author because the reader is now more knowledgable about the importance of the umbrella. Hypertext also jumps from web page to web page, which leads to more outlets and information rather than reading a book that results in one ending no matter how many times you read it. I have included multiple gifs here to exemplify the use of hyperlinks, but also for the sake of using gifs, and comedic effects (is it working?). All in all, hyperlinks are a fun way to present an opportunity to readers to find out more about a specific topic which can ultimately alter/affect the way readers interpret/analyze specific literature online.

Works Cited:

“Totem Pole.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2014. <http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/totem-pole/>.

Hi everyone,

My name is Fiona and I’m a 4th year English student at UBC. I am also very excited to announce that it is my last semester of undergrad! Other than majoring in English literature, I am also fascinated with human social behavior, which is why I am minoring in sociology. This is my first time taking an online english course, so I’m interested to see everyone’s take on literature through the platform of a blog.

I was born in Hong Kong but moved to Coquitlam BC when I was five. Therefore I was raised in BC, but I would visit Hong Kong at least once a year. I visit less often nowadays due to school. If I had to describe Hong Kong with one word, it would be ‘dense‘. Not only are there people crowded all over the streets, but buildings, apartments, and malls are also tightly packed in Hong Kong. No wonder why it’s one of the most densely populated places in the world! My favourite memory of Hong Kong will always belong to the liveliness of the crowds, with bright city lights glistening at night. One of the things I love most about Hong Kong is their food. For all the foodies out there, I highly recommend you checking out this link here that introduces Hong Kong’s most popular food/drinks. Are you drooling yet? Moving along, the first photo below is of the Hong Kong skyline; I hope you find it as breathtaking as I do. The next couple of images are to give you an idea of how dense the region is. 

So now that I have provided some information about myself, I would like to introduce the course. English 470A is an online english course that focuses on the study of Canadian literature. I am fascinated to learn more about the intersections between European and Indigenous traditions of literature. Another important aspect of this course is to learn about story telling in literature. There are multiple factors to consider in story telling which includes perspectives of stories we listen to, and the stories we do and do not hear. Throughout this course we will gain a better understanding between literature and storytelling. I am also excited to learn more about Canadian literature in a context that focuses on First Nations. I look forward to discussing and researching about nation building and literature. Lastly, I hope to improve my interaction skills by discussing/collaborating with my fellow classmates online.

References:

Drescher, Cynthia. “Jaunted.” Jaunted The Pop Culture Travel Guide RDF. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2014. <http://www.jaunted.com/story/2013/3/7/175654/1696/travel/What+to+Eat+in+Hong+Kong%3A+21+Foods+That’ll+Rock+Your+World>.

“HONG KONG: THE FACTS.” Population. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2014. <http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/population.pdf>.

“The busiest streets of the world.”OpenTravel.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2014. <http://opentravel.com/blogs/the-busiest-streets-of-the-world/>.