Job Discussion Forums

demitrescou · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 122

Hi guys,

I'm helping a student prepare for some external exams coming up and he's asked me to help him analyse a short story. He's not one of my students and I don't teach literature but nonetheless I told him I'd come up with something.

Any literature savvy colleagues out there who are in the know, your help would be much appreciated. I don't need anything high-spec.

The story is Meteor by John Wyndham. It's a pretty cool little story.
[url]
http://e-book.webpark.cz/pdf/meteor_and_other_stories.pdf[/url]

P.S. I already searched for notes/essays online. Nothing.

johnslat · Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 2:09 pm Post subject:

Dear demitrescou,

Now that's a really short story:

Error 404 - Soubor nenalezen nebo str�nka neexistuje.

Here's some stuff:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_theme_of_meteor_by_John_Wyndham

John Wyndham (1903-1969)
Meteor
While John Wyndham has been described disparagingly as �the master of the middle-class catastrophe�, it can be argued that he uses his settings of comfortable middle England to bring his science fiction stories uncomfortably close to his readers. This is certainly true of perhaps his most famous novel, The Day of the Triffids.
The structure of Meteor, juxtaposing two separate but connected narratives, demonstrates this concern, as one of the narratives shows a group of people in a domestic setting examining a strange object, while the second narrative is a scientific journal which includes unfamiliar terms and references. As the story develops, the reader begins to see the connections between the two narratives. The amazingly advanced technology of the visitors is gradually revealed as well as their peaceable intentions, while their perspective on the human world demonstrates not only their puzzlement but gives indications as to their size. Having established this, Wyndham�s conclusion of the story is shocking.

And there's a bunch of stuff here:

http://verdalalit2011.blogspot.com/2009/11/meteor.html

Regards,
John

Scott R · Joined: 21 Jan 2011 Posts: 59 Location: Rangsit Thailand

Norton flags that link as a Malicious Website and blocks it.

demitrescou · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 122

It's ok guys, I've found what I was looking for. How do I delete this post? Mods?

Dedicated · Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 972 Location: UK

I presume your student is about to sit for the IGCSE exam in English Literature as this is one of the set texts out of 10 in Stories of ourselves in Syllabus 0486.

The text would be from the University of Cambridge International Examinations Anthology of Short Stories in English (CUP).

I'm not sure why they want an analysis...maybe they haven't read the text (??!) Check out website [url] www.cie.org.uk[/url] for more information about the exam requirements.

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

Dedicated · Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 972 Location: UK

GambateBingBangBoom,

Your link still comes up as a malicious website.

As for the url coding - I've done it perfectly well countless times before, but must have been in a hurry late at night - many apologies!

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

I have NOrton and had no issues, just deleted the end of the hyperlink.

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

Insubordination · Joined: 07 Nov 2007 Posts: 394 Location: Sydney

Triffids has always been one of my favourite books. Such a great read.

I was thinking the other day that some of the thread titles on this site would make a great anthology of short stories or a decent antidote to writer's block.

(It's me Margaret)

that one's ambiguous