The Hallifordian - 2016-2017

34 ‘Romantic Revolutions’ On a balmy spring evening in March mem- bers of the Halliford Sixth Form treated an invited audience to a series of fascinating lectures based on their close study of the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It was interesting to hear about so many dif- ferent aspects of Shelley’s novel written and pre- sented so beautifully by the Lower Sixth Lit- erature students. The standard and quality of each lecture was exceptionally high. Did you know Frankenstein was written as a bet? In 1816, dur- ing a rainy summer holiday in Ge- neva, 20 year old Mary Shelley, along her husband Percy Shel- ley and friends Lord Byron and John Polidori, decided to have a competition to see who could produce the best horror story. Mary Shelley found her inspiration in a dream. Her novel, Frank- enstein or The Modern Prometheus was published anonymously in London in 1818. An early example of science fiction, the novel tells the story of a young sci- entist who creates a grotesque creature out of human body parts and animates it to life with electricity. Although not received favourably at first, (the Quarterly Review described it as ‘a tissue of horrible and disgusting absurdity’) the story later found im- mortal and lasting fame in its various Hollywood incarnations - most notably in Universal Picture’s now iconic 1931 adapta- tion starring Boris Karloff as the eponymous crea- ture. Mrs Butler-Smith, of the English depart- ment, organised this evening in order to demon- strate the exceptional compositional skills of our literature students. It was a treat to hear so many well researched, discursive essays covering such topics as ‘Romanticism’, ‘The Enlightenment’ and ‘Gothicism’. The stage design by Mr Abbott of- fered us an abstract vision of the Swiss mountains completely in keeping with the setting of Shelley’s novel. Through a swirling mist of dry ice Rafferty Bowler took command of the stage and introduced us to the background of Shelley’s novel. Each stu- dent subsequently spoke with confidence and vivac- ity engaging the audience completely. Isabelle Hardy, Year 12: “It is my advice to everyone that if you find yourself having to research, write and present a 5000 word gothic literature essay you do not procras- tinate and put it off! Alas, good advice doesn’t always find a willing audience! Thus, the majority of our English class found themselves frantically typing up their presentations with only hours to spare! De- spite the lack of preparation the evening got off to a good start, and there was a sub- stantial audience of friends, family, teachers and aca- demics who came to listen. For many of us the nerves subsided as we got into the flow of speaking, and some of us spoke for almost half an hour. This may explain why the evening ran over time. Listening to a series of formal presentations about gothic litera- ture over a number of hours is not really everyone’s dream Monday evening! However, the audience re- ceived each of us warmly and with en- thusiasm. Although writing and presenting these academic essays was a lot of work, I feel the experi- ence was really helpful in teaching professional re- search techniques and helped us all overcome some fears of presenting in front of an audience.” This is the second year of ‘Romantic Revo- lutions’ at Halliford School. I’m sure, given the high quality of the work produced and the enthusiastic response from the audience, it won’t be the last! Mr Cunningham

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