Angler 3.pub - Albion Association

Page 2
Editorial
Issue 3, October 2006
Contents
Editorial
Editorial
2
LEF Performance
3
Opening of the Year
4
June Graduation
4
Van Leeuwen’s PhD
5
An Academic Career
5
Dr Tieken’s Research Project
7
Interview: Michael Newton
8
Interview: Holly Palmer
10
Column: Texas
12
Song Analysis
13
Column: Dublin
16
Review: An Inconvenient Truth 17
Agenda
18
Cartoon
18
Angler Issue 3 made by:
Merel Mookhoek
Anne van Leeuwen
Tessa Obbens
Gea Dreschler
Maaike van de Sande
Judith Laanen
Leonie van der Meer
Carolina de Bruijne
Mariëlle Pack
Dick Smakman
Marguérite Corporaal
Contact
editors.of.the.angler@gmail.com
A new year, a new semester and a new Angler! In
last issue's editorial we welcomed some new Angler
members, and now once again we are happy to introduce to you three new authors. Those are Willeke
de Meulmeester, Judith Laanen and Leonie van der
Meer. Willeke is a third-year student of English and
has chosen Management as elective and Judith
Laanen is a second-year student of English and
first-year student of the elective Journalism. Leonie
van der Meer chose to spend her third year abroad,
in Dublin to be precise. From now on they will be
supporting our creative team of editors.
Furthermore, we are happy to inform you that this
year no less than four Anglers will be published, as
opposed to last year's two. So this means two Anglers per semester from us, for you, because there is
enough to write about in and around the English department! Such as the recent LEF performance of
Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, and the
many activities that the Albion Association has already planned for this semester.
But that is not all; this issue's big interview is with Dr
Michael Newton, one of the new faces at our department. In addition, there are articles on Prof. Dr. Ingrid Tieken - about the research project connected
to her recently received chair - and on Evert van
Leeuwen, who successfully defended his PhD thesis
last September. Some more happy news: Lars van
Wezel (Philology) is going to get married to Rosamaria Giammanco the 15th of December!
What more can you find; well, we decided to stick
with the song analysis. Mariëlle has written another
column about Texas; we have a new columnist in
Dublin; there is a new cartoon by Carolina; there is
an interview with an American singer, Holly Palmer,
and as always we complete the issue with a film review. No Creative Writing this time due to the little
amount of material, but we will make up for that next
issue, with extra Creative Writing pages.
Finally, we would like to wish you a grand, satisfying
and most of all joyful year.
With fishy best wishes,
Tessa
If you have anything to share with us, (comments, suggestions, complaints, compliments),
feel welcome to contact us. Enthusiastic people and/or articles are especially welcome.
Issue 3, October 2006
LEF Performance
Page 3
Freshers Tame Shakespeare’s Shrew
Pink fluffy handcuffs. The poster for The
Taming of the Shrew by the Leiden English
Freshers hints at excitement. The LEF people
manage to live up to the expectations.
After running plays by Wilde, Barrie and Tjechov,
LEF have returned to what Ditmar Bakker called
their ‘thespian roots’ by performing another
Shakespeare play. Inside information learns that
last year has not been an easy one for the theatre group. Throughout the year, several freshers
have quit the team, which has led to the return of
some veterans. Fortunately, the group managed
to hold on to their Katherine, Bianca and
Petruchio, performed by freshers – now secondyear students – Jennifer, Mieke and Peter. So
the term ‘freshers’ can still be applied.
The actual ‘fresherness’ of the leading lad and
ladies does not show during the performance.
The arrogant Petruchio has the audience convinced from the get-go. He had to, otherwise he
could not possibly have managed to transform
the bitchy Katherine, Shrew with a capital S, into
a coy lady advocating the subordination of
women. The thin line between love and hate is
once again apparent as the sparks between
Petruchio and Katherine, along with Petruchio’s
shoes, fly across the stage. Meanwhile, fresher
Mieke has many LEF veterans chasing after her
as the lovely Bianca.
The other parts provide an abundance of comic
relief. For instance, LEF veterans Herman and
Egbert prove that their years of acting for the
English department have paid off. Not to mention
Inge and Lara, who manage to transform the ordinary servant Grumia into a bubbly Siamese
twin and evoke bursts of laughter time after time.
According to them, this is how Shakespeare intended the part of Grumio in the first place. The
groundbreaking article supporting this claim is to
be expected soon.
Wives should obey their husbands. Katherine’s
passionate closing speech does not do much for
female emancipation. Somehow the feeling
emerges that this is another thing Shakespeare
did not intend to do. Fortunately, LEF sees right
through him.
By Anne van Leeuwen
Inge ’t Hart and Lara Stanisic , a.k.a. Grumiae
Jennifer Huizer as Katherine Minola
The Taming of the Shrew, performed by the Leiden
English Freshers on September 13th and 14th in Leiden’s LAK Theatre.
Page 4 Opening of the Year & June Graduation
Issue 3, October 2006
A new year has begun
On Wednesday 6 September, the Academic
Year for English was officially opened with a
meeting the Lipsiusbuilding.
Dr Peter Liebregts opened the meeting by pointing out that this year again more students have
chosen to study English at Leiden University. He
wished the freshers good luck. “I hope that the
programme will offer you what you expect, and
that you will offer us what we expect of you. I
also hope that you will find out that the study is at
times more difficult, and mostly more academic
and varied, than it is found by some others.”
Next Dr Liebregts provided an overview of
staff changes, which ranged from a different percentage or working hours for some teachers to
PhD defences and the appointment of new members of staff. You can read more about the news
concerning Michael Newton, Evert van Leeuwen
and Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade elsewhere in
this Angler.
Afterwards, Dr Jan Frans van Dijkhuizen lectured
on “The Baneful Influence of Literature on the
Youth: from Plato to Price”. By representing several ideas about the influence of literature in different moments in time, he showed the difficulties in the debate on that influence. The Greek
philosopher Plato believed that literature only
produced bad role models, whereas Sir Philip
Sydney, many centuries later, believed in the capability of poets to create their own world, by
which an author can present ideals to the audience. William Shakespeare then undermined the
humanistic idea that studying the classics would
lead to good behaviour by basing his most cruel
tragedy on classical texts, for instance Ovid’s
Metamorphoses. In turn, modern horror films use
the, by now classical, Shakespearean plays as
an inspiration for representing cruelty. This again
shows the changing ideas in the debate.
By Gea Dreschler
June Graduation
In June it was that time of year again, when students receive their propedeuse and BA degrees. This
time round the festivities were even bigger than in other years, since the two groups were given out
their degrees in a joint ceremony in the Academic Building, because the latter would be under construction for a year and the English Department did not want to deny anyone a glorious celebration.
When everyone had taken their seats the ceremony was started off with a lecture by Evert Jan
van Leeuwen. Talking about metaphors and how important their contexts are, he exemplified the significance of a cultural context for metaphors with the zombie metaphor. Starting off with the wellknown image of the living dead, Van Leeuwen described the political allegories of the zombies in the
movie Night of the Living Dead and the comical, yet morbid actions of Quentin in the book Zombie by
Joyce Carol Oates, who tries to control his boyfriends by turning them into zombies, among other
things.
After the talk the students finally got their degrees and the academic year 2005-2006 was
ended with handing out a total of 57 Propedeuse degrees and 37 BA degrees.
On behalf of the Angler: congratulations to all who graduated!
By Maaike van de Sande
Issue 3, October 2006
Van Leeuwen’s PhD & An Academic Career
Page 5
Evert van Leeuwen defends thesis
On 7 September, Evert van Leeuwen successfully upheld his thesis during a ceremony in the Lokhorstkerk. Very successful
indeed, for he passed cum laude.
For four years (2001-2005) Van Leeuwen
worked on his project about the alchemist in
gothic literature, for which he recently received
his PhD. But what is his thesis, with the very
lengthy title ‘Anarchic Alchemists: Dissident Androgyny in Anglo-American Gothic Fiction from
Godwin to Melville’, actually about?
In short, he researched the relationship
between British and American gothic stories from
1798 till 1852, in which the alchemist has an important role. In the works of the British authors
William Godwin, Mary Shelley and Edward Bulwer Lytton, and in the works of the American authors Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Allan Poe,
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, the
alchemist acts as a character against the grain, a
mysterious loner who uses his magical powers to
cause radical changes in the balance of power
within the fictional society wherein he finds himself. An important factor is the androgynous utopianism (androgyny: genders without privileges,
no distinction between male and female, red.) of
the alchemist that rejects the categorization of
the society in separate male and female spheres,
identities and qualities. By doing so he undermines the patriarchal fundament of the society
and the dominant male world vision. Van Leeuwen’s research exemplifies that the conventions
of gothic are transatlantic in nature; that one form
of popular culture in one culture can be at the
basis for the canonical literature of another culture; that the fantastic fiction can fulfil a radical
function in society; and that ‘androgyny’ and
‘anarchy’ have no fixed meaning, but can have a
positive or negative connotations, depending on
the historical, social and/or literary context in
which they are used, and can fulfill an abstract or
practical cultural function.
Van Leeuwen looks back on the ceremony
with mixed feelings. “I was nervous beforehand,
also because of bad dreams the previous night.
The ceremony was frightening. Though it went
well, I can’t say I really enjoyed it in process. The
nicest moment was when the ‘pedel’ came in and
exclaimed ‘Hora Est’.” But there were also positive notes: “I liked the venue, and the drinks and
congratulations afterwards.” As the venue was
not the Academic Building as usual, but the Lokhorstkerk (a church near the Pieterskerk, red.), it
was a new experience for all people present.
In the previous Angler Van Leeuwen was, among
other things, interviewed about whether he would
stay in Leiden or go to another university. This
question has been answered: since Jan Frans
van Dijkhuizen will mainly be occupied with the
research project for which he received a VENI
grant, Van Leeuwen will take over his classes.
Meanwhile, he will also continue his ongoing research project on early eighteenth century graveyard poetry, and a side project: publishing of a
new edition of William Godwin Jr.’s novel The
Orphans of Unwalden.
By Tessa Obbens and Gea Dreschler
An Academic Career
What Academic paths are there to be trodden?
Of course you all know about the beginning of an academic career, as you are living it now. That is
why we decided to start with the master’s degrees programmes. There are three main types with accompanying titles:
Master of Arts (MA):
Master of Science (MSc):
Master of Philosophy:
These are master’s degrees in alpha subjects. The master’s degree
in English is a Master of Arts.
These are master’s degrees for most beta and gamma subject
The “onderzoeksmaster:” it is a one or two year course meant for
students who want continue doing research. Usually these are more
demanding than the common masters, and they prepare the students
for the way to a doctoral degree. Students often need to have above
average grades to get into this kind of master programme.
Page 6 Study Issues: an Academic Career
Issue 3, October 2006
When you have obtained a master’s degree, if you want to continue research and work at the university, these are the possibilities:
Assistent in Opleiding (AIO):
A student who has acquired a master’s degree, can continue his or
her career by becoming an AIO. AIO’s usually have research projects, which last about four years, and after which they try to obtain a
doctoral degree.
Promotie:
The way to receive the “doctor” title. To be able to do a “promotie,”
you have to have received your master’s degree, and then do a serious bit of research, publish several articles in scientific magazines,
and finally write and defend a dissertation.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD):
The Anglo-Saxon title for a Dutch “doctor.” It isn’t officially recognized
in The Netherlands, but people use it in international contexts.
Universitair Docent:
Is allowed to teach, do research in his/ her field, and test students
through exams. He/ she cannot supervise someone’s dissertation,
but being a co-supervisor is possible.
Hoogleraar:
The highest place you can get in your academic career! Only people
who have done high quality research for a longer period of time are
candidates for becoming “hoogleraar.” “Hoogleraren are qualified to
co-supervise someone’s dissertation. There is no corresponding
function at British universities. There are three types of “hoogleraar:”
There are several types of “hoogleraren,”. Not many people are aware of the distinctions, so for completeness’ sake:
Gewoon hoogleraar:
Someone whose main occupation is that of “hoogleraar,” and has a
lot of management as well as teaching tasks.
Buitengewoon hoogleraar:
Someone who has another main occupation than “buitengewoon
hoogleraar.” He/she usually works only one day of the week as
“hoogleraar.”
Bijzonder hoogleraar:
Someone who’s been given a chair by an organization other than the
university. This organization also pays for the chair. It might be seen
as a form of advertising, but for good purposes. Usually this person
works a day in the week as “bijzonder hoogleraar.”
Universiteits hoogleraar:
Very special title, given to a few very gifted researchers. Not every
university has one. This title is usually given to excellent researchers
to give them a break of the other activities of a “hoogleraar,” like
teaching, so that this person can concentrate on his/ her research.
Persoonlijk hoogleraar:
A title for especially gifted researchers as well. This title is bound to
one person. If this person leaves, the chair won’t be filled by someone else.
By Merel Mookhoek and Gea Dreschler,
with special thanks to Karin van der Zeeuw for checking the facts
Issue 3, October 2006
Dr Tieken’s Research Project
Page 7
Dr. Tieken has been made a professor
After receiving a major VICI grant for her research project last year, she has now received the title of professor: as of 1 August
2006 Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade occupies a chair in English socio-historical linguistics.
The research project “The Codifiers and the
English Language” started in July 2005, and
will be the most important project for Ingrid
Tieken-Boon van Ostade for the next few
years. Right now, she dedicates 75 percent of
her time to the letters of Bishop Lowth, besides
running the project. Tieken is very excited
about the project: “This has never been studied
before. Some of the letters I am looking at,
have never even been read by anyone else before.” After writing on eighteenth-century grammar for her PhD many years ago, she wanted
to dedicate a bigger project on Lowth and his
contemporaries and decided to write a VICI
plan very much related to what she really
wanted to do herself. Lowth’s contemporaries,
alongside a number of related matters, are now
studied by a total of four PhD students and a
postdoc..
The main focus of the project is on the
eighteenth-century grammarians. Tieken:
“Modern linguists today criticize eighteenthgrammarians like Lowth because they
prescribed grammar, instead of describing it.
The correct use of language, however, was a
means to climb the social ladder in that time,
and therefore telling people what to do and
what not to do was useful.” One of the PhD
students, Froukje Henstra, will investigate
whether the rules are really based on the
language of the aristocracy, as Tieken
suspects. Anita Auer, the postdoc in the
project, is investigating the amount of influence
the grammarians had. Tieken: “It is widely
accepted that these normative grammarians
had an enormous influence on nineteenthcentury usage. This influence has never
actually been studied and we hope to find out
whether the influence was really that big.”
The project has already been successful in one
respect: in collaboration with Tieken’s project
the University Library has acquired ECCO
(Eighteenth Century Collections Online), a database that contains digital copies of over
150,000 English books from the eighteenth
century. Researchers and students can search
the database and look at the material through
U-LIP. “You no longer have to go to English libraries, but can read the books from here, from
behind any computer.” During the trial period,
one BA thesis was already written using this
database, and Tieken hopes many more will
follow.
Tieken tries to include as much of her research
in her teaching as possible, for instance by
teaching optional courses on subjects related to
her research. “I also try to stimulate students to
write their theses on subjects concerning my
research area.” Students can also take a look
at the show-case on the second floor in 1168
that is dedicated to the project. One of the
things that can be found there is a letter by
Bishop Lowth, which is still in the possession of
one of the descendents of Lowth who
contacted Tieken last summer. “It is a very
special letter, because it was written on the day
after the death of his daughter. By the uncertain
way he writes, you can clearly see he is very
emotional.”
Keep track of the progress by the researchers
on their own web-log: http://weblog.leidenuniv.
nl/let/eng/codifiers/
See the philology part of our song analysis on
page 14 for an example of what you can do
with ECCO.
By Gea Dreschler
Photo taken from the Leiden University Newsletter of 26 September 2006
Page 8
Interview: Michael Newton
Issue 3, October 2006
International Experiences and Institutional Arrogance
“I’m new here so I’m still finding things out.” – Michael Newton
No, he is not the infamous author of true
crime books. Nor is he related to Isaac Newton, or a world famous physician. No, Michael
Newton (40) is the new teacher for Modern
British Literature and in the Botanical Garden
we tracked him down for a chat on his Dutch
experiences, his student life, but also the differences he has encountered during his stays
in the UK, the US and Holland.
He has only been in Leiden for four weeks now,
but he already likes it here. He says: “It is a small
town, but it has a relaxed atmosphere and at the
same time it is very international. You can hear
many different languages on the streets when
you go shopping.”
Newton was an undergraduate at University College London (UCL), where he also got his PhD in
1996. After that he took to journalism, writing and
teaching, which resulted in the publication of his
own book Savage Girls and Wild Boys: A History
of Feral Children, articles for The Guardian and
Times Literary Supplement and teaching at
Princeton University, among other places. “I was
bad at being a student and spent the first year of
my studies ill in bed. That had a good side to it
as well, as it allowed me to read a lot. But later I
was distracted by London.” It is this ‘distraction’
that caused him to teach the MA course Imagining London. “I learnt a lot about London during
that time.”
Coming to Leiden
His student life was very different from that of a
typical Leiden student: at UCL there are no student societies; each year English Literature students were all assigned a personal tutor, and all
course work was read by that person and then
discussed in fortnightly tutorials. “UCL has a metropolitan feel to it; it’s in the middle of London,
not set in a small town like Leiden or Princeton;
the urban setting of the university forces you to
become independent.”
During his time at university, he got into journalism and decided that one day he would become
a journalist writing literary and theater reviews
and interviewing the big names in the world of
writing and acting. Soon, however, he found that
it was not for him: “I discovered that to be that
kind of journalist, you need connections or a private income. I had neither.” So, I went back to
studying, got my PhD and became a lecturer.”
However, it was his writing career that brought
him to Leiden: “In 2003, I was invited to talk
about my book Savage Girls & Wild Boys at Minerva’s Veerstichting and two years ago I spent
one summer in Amsterdam researching another
book. My job here in Leiden is my re-entry into
being an academic.” And his ambitions should
keep him here as well: “I have always moved
around a lot, but I am actually buying a flat here.
I am planning to stay. I want to move up in my
career and write and teach here.”
An International Perspective
Despite his focus on journalism and writing for
the past five to six years, he has taught over the
last fifteen years at eight different institutions:
from art students to Princetonians; from part-time
adult students to secondary school dropouts.
This moving around has given him much international experience, and it is partly the cosmopolitan nature of Leiden that appeals to him: “I think
the strength of Leiden is the fact that so many
people from different countries are around. It’s
not only a Dutch university for Dutch students.”
When asked whether he thinks that the BA/MA
system is working for the Netherlands he says: “I
think the advantage of the switch from the old
system to the new one is that it will attract even
more international students to Leiden, which is a
good thing.”
Issue 3, October 2006
His experience of teaching in Britain and America has certainly given him a perspective on the
difference between places. “When it comes to
teaching, the similarities outweigh the cultural
distinctions.” Newton describes his job as a lecturer on literature as a “conversation about
books”. The teaching varies just as conversations do. He does think that Dutch students have
an advantage over British students when it
comes to viewing British culture. “Dutch students
get to view England from the outside; that can
allow them to see things more clearly.” The fact
that Dutch students do not speak English as a
native language is not a problem for him: “Their
English is good and English is a language that is
something that can give you a deeper view of
England.”
A different perspective is also reflected in his
method of teaching. His MA courses in literature
include not only the discussion of books, but also
films, music and popular culture. “You get a fuller
view of a culture when you try to include other
aspects of it in a course,” he says. He explains
that for the past thirty years there has been a
tendency in the US and the UK to widen the
terms of what can be studied in an English Literature course: “Academics are opening up to
the fact that popular culture and high culture are
both interesting.” He adds: “In literary criticism,
you are trying to analyze narrative, and that’s just
as true when studying film. The skills you learn
are transferable.”
Holland vs. UK
“There definitely is a difference in working between the UK and Holland,” he says. “In the UK
you have a ‘pressure to publish’.” Each scholar
has to publish four substantial works every seven
years in order to secure a good score for their
Department. This is the result of the Research
Assessment Exercise (RAE): a monitoring system that determines departmental funding based
upon the amount of books and articles the scholars publish. “In Britain, RAE are syllables of
dread. In theory it may have seemed a good
thing; in practice, it can actually constrict study,
and prevent more imaginative work.” He does
not feel this mechanical influence in the Netherlands. “Over here, the research fits really well
with the teaching. The lecturers, and therefore
the teaching, seem to benefit from it.”
Newton also notes the differences for students
from the Netherlands, the UK and the US regarding access to university. The ways of selecting
students differ greatly. “In the UK you have to
Interview: Michael Newton
Page 9
apply for a university, as if you were applying to
a job. What is valued by the students is getting
in: once you are there people can feel that the
hard work is done and that now they can relax.”
Newton does think some form of selection is
good, and he feels that Dutch students benefit
from the system that is used here, where selection effectively takes place at a much younger
stage. “All selection is arbitrary, but the Dutch
system gives room for development and selection effectively takes place at university, as students drop out when they realize it’s not for
them.”
What surprises Newton is the fact that so many
Dutch students are taking part in MA programs:
“In Britain most people do not take an MA. After
their BA they get a job and if they even go on to
do an MA, many of them stay at the university
that they first attended. Like myself, I got a PhD
from the same university that I graduated from:
staying makes you feel at home.”
“Education should never stop. It is good there
are so many choices for students when it comes
to MA programs.” He feels that an opportunity to
get your BA and then, after a while, to go back to
do an MA is a good idea: “That is entirely possible in England. It gives you flexibility. You can
do one or two MAs, and study something entirely
new, giving you more opportunities.” Despite the
fact that choice is a good idea, Newton does feel
that all there may inevitably be problems with the
new MA programs that have been popping up in
the Netherlands. “They are probably bound to
have what in English we call ‘teething problems’.
When things are new, you’re still at the stage of
figuring out how to go about things.”
He finds much to like in the Dutch BA/MA system. “In Britain you have your BA degree after
three years and then it is assumed that you just
get a job and go to work.” Newton explains: “I
think a Dutch MA degree is even better than a
British one, because you really get four years to
develop yourself within a field of study. I think
four years is a good period of time to at least obtain some sufficient knowledge on a topic.” What
really seems to irk him is the fact that students at
Oxford or Cambridge do not even have to study
for their MA degree. “They just pay a nominal fee
some time after graduating for their BA and then
they receive their MA degree. These universities
say that they can do that because their education
is so good, but I think it is just institutional arrogance.”
By Maaike van de Sande
Page 10 Interview: Holly Palmer
Issue 3, October 2006
“I’m an artist, I can’t begin to say why”
The Simple Truth with Holly Palmer
Holly who?
Holly Palmer! Born and raised in Southern California and Seattle, the young Holly Palmer grew
up listening to her father’s music. He loved The
Beatles’ Rubber Soul and The Rolling Stones’
Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass), and
walked around playing Neil Young’s A Horse with
No Name on his guitar. Holly was also influenced
by Aretha Franklin, Rickie Lee Jones and Sarah
Vaughn.
She attended the Berklee College of Music in
Boston. “I went to Berklee because I had a friend
who was from the same Seattle area as me, and
he was at the Boston Conservatory studying the
trumpet. I went to visit him and loved all the different kinds of music I was hearing. The next
year I went to Berklee and started playing with
some of those people.”
In 1996 her self-titled debut album was released
on Reprise Records, which is a part of the bigger
Warner Bros. Her second (Tenderhooks, 2003)
and third album (I Confess, 2004 ) were released
on her own label, Bombshell Records. Her latest
album is called Songs For Tuesday, and will be
released on Mercy Records, a new independent
label.
Haven’t I heard that voice before?
You might have. Holly has appeared on different
movie and TV series soundtracks, including
Party of Five, Forces of Nature, Into the blue and
Down with love, the latter starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.
She also was a background singer for David
Bowie, accompanying him on his world tour and
appearing on his 1999 album Hours. More recently, she was on backing vowels for Gnarls
Barley’s Crazy.
Yet we don’t know her. Why?
Well, the problem with being a background
singer is that the audience does not see an independent artist, unless they do shows of their
own. Luckily, Holly does perform solo. She
opened for The Kooks in Rotown, Rotterdam in
June, and that is where I got a chance to talk to
her after the show.
Sounds like what now?
Holly’s music can best be defined by two words:
Love and Feeling.
“I use my guitar as a foundation for the voice,”
she explains. Her latest album is a live album
which was recorded in front of an audience in the
studio. The reason she did this was to get the
vibe between the live band, the audience and
herself going. Her recent marriage has also had
a profound influence on her last album’s lyrics;
they all elaborate on Love. Evidently, she has
found love and has conveniently shaped it into
beautiful songs for us to enjoy.
Lemme mix that!
There are some unusual collaborations on her
third record I Confess, including two songs by
world famous producer Dr. Dre. Not an obvious
choice, so how did this come about? Holly: “The
guy who was producing my album with me was
giving Dre piano and arranging lessons. So he
played Dre some stuff one day and he was like
“Dude, d’you wanna work on it?” And Dre was
like: “Lemme mix that!” So he mixed one song
and then he said: “Lemme do another one!” And
so he did.”
So why did Warner Bros. back out of releasing her records?
After having released her debut record, Warner
Issue 3, October 2006
did not put much effort in promoting her second
album. “They were asking me for more singles
on my last album and I said ‘there’s fucking five
singles on this album [I Confess, red.] already!’
When I first delivered the album, Warner didn’t
think that I needed more singles. It was evident
to me at that time that the label and I were not
aligned in the business practices and goals. But
it is easier for them to say ‘OK, write more singles’ than to spend money on exposing the singles that are already on the album. But that
doesn’t feed an artist. That makes an artist
whither and crumble. I’m an artist, I can’t begin to
say why. I’m only interested in writing more
songs. And it’s hard to write songs when you’re
trying to justify a withdrawal of your record label.”
Eventually, she decided it was better for her to
control her own work and parted amicably with
the label. That is when she created her own label, Bombshell Records and released both Tenderhooks as well as I Confess.
Is she bitter that Warner rejected her album?
“It’s actually pretty cool. I was trying to be part of
a corporate business model. I was with Warner
because I believed they were going to expose
me to an engaged audience.” But the truth was
she was always waiting for something to happen.
“There are so many mouths to feed in that structure that it’s not about ‘I write a song, somebody
likes it, they buy it’. The simplicity of that gets totally distorted and turns into this big beast.”
Putting her music out there
Next to performing solo, Holly uses the Internet,
especially MySpace, to get people acquainted
with her music. “The internet makes everything
so much easier. Before, artists had to send press
kits to every magazine and hope that they would
write about it. It’s pretty expensive to do that. I
love Myspace because it connects people up in a
really fast, really personal way. I write songs:
maybe it’s a good song, maybe it’s a crap song,
but if someone likes it, it has value. They pay
money: they either buy the song or they buy a
ticket to the show. They get a song, I pay my
rent. It’s as simple as that. By using MySpace, I
get confirmation every day that this is exactly
how it works.”
Gnarls Barkley Project
Her latest record, Songs for Tuesday, was produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen. After finishing
the album, he called her to participate on a project of his and fellow producer Brian Burton, a.k.
a. Danger Mouse. This project is Gnarls Barkley,
whose single Crazy is a massive hit all over the
Interview: Holly Palmer Page 11
world. The success of Gnarls Barkley is hardly
surprising: all band members have an impressive
track record. Holly is on backing vocals together
with a solo artist who also opened for Mary J.
Blige. The drummer has played with Nine Inch
Nails and Marilyn Manson, the bass player has
worked with Remy Zero, and last but not least,
Gnarls has a brilliant keyboard wizard named
Zach. Gnarls’ star is rising rapidly, with Crazy
currently being covered by many bands, including The Kooks, Nelly Furtado, The Raconteurs
and The Zutons. All covers have been performed
on BBC 1’s Radio Live Lounge.
Hammy Palmer
“You probably didn’t get a chance to see this, but
backstage at Rotown, bands have written stuff all
over the walls. It’s pretty common, but this room
was funny, because we’re all sitting there, talking
to each other, and one by one we noticed that
everything on the walls has to do with ham.
They’ve changed every band name to have
something to do with ham. Like, Motörham, The
Artist Formerly Known As Ham, Jimmy Hamricks, The White Hams. Over the years, every
band has done that.” We tried to think of some
names, and came up with Holly Palham or
Hammy Palmer. But she hasn’t written on the
walls just yet. “I was just taking it all in. It was a
highlight,” she says smiling.
Stroopwafels and Hagelslag
To show gratitude for an interview at such short
notice, Holly got some traditional Dutch food:
stroopwafels and hagelslag. “Oooh, chocolate
sprinkles! And what’s that, something with
honey?” An explanation of our typical Dutch
treats followed and Holly was delighted with the
gifts. While I was writing this interview I received
an e-mail from her that she and her husband
greatly enjoyed all of it.
Find out more about Holly, tour dates and listen
to some of her songs on:
www.myspace.com/hollypalmer
www.hollypalmer.com
Buy Holly Palmer albums at www.CDBaby.com
Find out more about Gnarls Barkley, tour dates
and listen to songs on:
www.myspace.com/gnarlsbarkley
http://www.gnarlsbarkley.com
By Judith Laanen
Page 12 Column Texas
Issue 3, October 2006
Mariëlle Pack has been studying in Austin, Texas. In every Angler, she will write a piece about
mething which is typical of that area or America in general.
so-
The UT Campus
The UT Campus in one word: wow! An American
campus differs very much from the Dutch campus. Leiden University is scattered throughout
the city. UT on the other hand has one mayor
location and is one of the largest campuses in
the States. Located between Martin Luther King
(MLK) and 28th st., the UT campus is the place
where about 60,000 students are educated. Due
to the UT victory over USC last January (see Angler 2), even more students will apply at the oh
so popular University of Texas at Austin.
The campus is well organized and wellkept. During my stay, many buildings were being
renovated. Let me describe some of the most
prominent buildings on campus.
One of the bullet holes from the bloodbath
Then there is the Texas Union, which could be
compared to Plexus, the latter being much smaller however, since everything is bigger in Texas!
You can have lunch at several fast food restaurants, like Wendy’s, visit the copy center, study in
several rooms like the computer room, the Texas
Governor’s Room, the Presidential Lounge or the
Sinclair Suite. You can buy school supplies at
the Campus Store, or get tickets for upcoming
events at the Students Events Center. This is
where I got my ticket to see the Dalai Lama
when he gave a lecture at the Frank C. Erwin
Center.
To be continued...
The Tower
The Main Building or Tower most definitely catches the eye when you enter Austin. It used to
be the library, where librarians on skates (!)
would deliver books to the students at the front
desk who had ordered them. This took so much
time that the library was moved to the PerryCastañeda Library (PCL). The Tower now houses offices.
In the 1960s, the Tower witnessed a
bloodbath. A student hid on the 28th floor, randomly shooting and killing people on the ground.
People on the ground shot back until the gunman
in the tower was killed. When you take a tour of
the tower, you can still see the bullet holes in the
walls at the 28th floor.
After two people had committed suicide by
throwing themselves off the 28th floor, the university decided on building a steel cage around the
28th floor balcony, to secure the safety of the visitors.
By Mariëlle Pack
Graduate student at Leiden University
International exchange student at University of
Texas, Austin
View of campus and downtown Austin as seen from
the Tower
Issue 3, October 2006
Song Analysis Page 13
Song Analysis
Lily Allen - LDN
In The Angler we want to represent the four sections of the English department, and we have
chosen to do this by means of approaching a
songtext in different ways: from the different
points of view of the various subjects.
You will find here an introductory essay on
Lily Allen for Language Acquistion; information
on Lily Allen’s accent for Linguistics; an interpretation of the lyrics for Literature; and the etymologies of some selected keywords of the song
for Philology plus our own little experiment with
ECCO.
Riding through the city on my bike all day
Cause the filth took away my license
It doesn't get me down and I feel ok
Cause the sights that I'm seeing are priceless
On Lily Allen
Where did that girl come from?
The 21 year old London singer was a troublesome girl. She went to thirteen different schools
before age 14 and then went of to boarding
school from which she ran away. “It was obvious
I didn’t like authority”, she writes on her official
website.
Lily Allen left school, aged 15, knowing
that she wanted to get into music. Because of all
the moving around she felt lonely and “[m]usic
became a lifeline” to her. Her parent’s record collection containing punk, ska and reggae were her
main influence.
These influences include Blondie, Kate
Bush, Prince, Eminem, but she also has a liking
for more obscure names. “[M]ost of the music I
listen to is by outsider figures, which is where I
feel happiest.”
She was signed to Parlophone in December 2005 and her star rose to great heights,
mainly on the internet. What makes her different
from other artists in the charts today are her lyrics. She says: “A lot of artists […] are boring
singers who don't say anything. [But] [w]ith the
kind of music I do you have to be direct and quite
literal.” Her lyrics are most important to her, because she does not play an instrument. So, she
focuses on vocal melodies and lyrical flow.
The thing she dreads about the music industry, though, is to be put in a scene. “I don't
want to be part of a scene... the whole idea of
that makes me feel sick...”
For more information check: http://www.
lilyallenmusic.com/
or http://www.myspace.com/lilymusic.
By Maaike van de Sande
Everything seems to look as it should
But I wonder what goes on behind doors
A fella looking dapper, but he's sittin with a
slapper
Then I see it's a pimp and his crack whore
You might laugh you might frown
Walkin' round London town
Chorus
Sun is in the sky oh why oh why ?
Would I wanna be anywhere else
Sun is in the sky oh why oh why ?
Would I wanna be anywhere else
When you look with your eyes
Everything seems nice
But if you look twice
you can see it's all lies
There was a little old lady, who was walkin
down the road
She was struggling with bags from Tesco
There were people from the city havin lunch in
the park
I believe that it's called al fresco
Then a kid came along to offer a hand
But before she had time to accept it
hits her over the head, doesn't care if she's
dead
Cause he's got all her jewellery and wallet
You might laugh you might frown
walkin round London town
Chorus
Sun is in the sky oh why oh why ?
Would I wanna be anywhere else
Sun is in the sky oh why oh why ?
Would I wanna be anywhere else
When you look with your eyes
Everything seems nice
But if you look twice
you can see it's all lies
Life, that's city life, yeah that's city life, that's
city life (repeat)
Page 15 Song Analysis
Issue 2, May 2006
Close Examination
Etymologies
The striking title first of all - ‘LDN’ - is text
language for ‘London’. So clearly, this song
has something to do with London, capital city
of England. To be precise, there are two
points that Lily Allen wants to make clear, of
which the first can be formulated as follows:
it is not all gold that glitters. The second one
is closely related to the first, namely ‘that’s
(city) life’.
Dapper. Definition: “of persons: neat, trim, smart,
spruce in dress or appearance (Formerly appreciative; now more or less depreciative, with associations of littleness or pettiness).”
Etymology: not present in OE or ME; apparently
adopted from a Low German (probably Flemish)
language.
Lily Allen makes these points by picking out
some scenes that you might see when
“walking around in London town”. For instance in the first couplet, she is ‘riding
through the city’ on her bike, because she
lost her driving license to the cops (“the
filth”). However, she feels okay (“it doesn’t
get me down and I feel OK”), because she
sees “priceless” normal (“everything seems
to look as it should”) scenes when she looks
around. Still, she wonders “what goes on behind doors”. She sees a portly (“dapper”)
looking man (“fella”), who is sitting with a
prostitute (“slapper”). When she takes a
closer look, she sees it is actually a procurer
(“pimp”) with a “crack whore”, a less rosy
sight. But she is not shocked, and reacts laconically with ‘that’s life’; “you might laugh,
you might frown” when walking around in the
streets London.
In the second couplet, we see another side
of London. A little old lady walks “down the
road”, struggling with her groceries. In the
park the old lady crosses, people were picnicking (“having lunch” “al fresco”). “Then a
kid came along”, who supposedly wanted to
help the old lady carrying her bags. “But before she had time to accept it” he robbed her,
leaving her behind dead or alive. Why should
he care? He has got “all her jewellery and
wallet”, and that is more important. Now,
that’s true city life.
The chorus’s most important point is that it is
not all gold that glitters. The “sun is in the
sky” and why would you want to “be anywhere else”. Everything seems nice at first
glance, but when you take a better look
(“look twice”), you can see it is all a lie, it is
all a façade. But that does not matter much,
because once again she repeats “that’s city
life”.
By Tessa Obbens
Crack whore. Definition: “(also crack ho) slang
(orig. in African-American usage), a prostitute
addicted to crack cocaine.”
Etymology: this meaning is relatively new
(mentioned in the draft addition of 2004). The
complete etymology is too elaborate to repeat
here.
Pimp. Definition: “Originally: a person who arranges opportunities for (illicit) sexual intercourse; a
procurer. Now: a man who takes a proportion of
the earnings of a prostitute, usually in return for
arranging clients, providing protection, etc.”
Etymology: Unknown, Pimpernel and the German “Pimf” have been suggested, but both present semantic problems.
We searched the ECCO (Eighteenth Century
Collections Online) site for “pimp,” and one of our
results was the nineteenth century edition of Allen Ramsay’s The tea-table miscellany: a collection of choice song. Scots and English. By Allan
Ramsay. (Dublin, 1794.):
“The Pimp and Politician Parallels”
IN pimps and politicians
The genius is the same:
Both raise their own conditions
On others guilt and shame:
With a tongue well tipt with lies
Each the want of pa[r]ts supplies
And with the heart that’s all disguise
Keeps his schemes unknown.
Seducing as the devil,
They play the tempter’s part,
And have, when most they’re civil,
Most mischief in their heart.
Each a secret commerce drives,
First corrupts and then connives,
And by his neighbour’s vices thrives,
For they are all his own.
By Merel Mookhoek,
with help of the OED and ECCO.
Issue 3, October 2006
Song Analysis Page 15
Lily Allen’s
Accent
Lily Allen was born and
raised in London, and still
lives there. The accent
most associated with this
area is Cockney (though
of course, true Cockneys
are only those who are
born within earshot of the
bells of St Mary-le-Bow
Church).
Wikipedia claims that
Lily Allen has been accused of having a Mockney accent, which is –
again according to Wikipedia – a term that “has
come to be used to describe those who present
themselves as cockneys
with the attention of gaining popular credibility.”
However, Lily Allen’s
accent might also be described as Estuary English, a mixture of RP and,
among other accents,
Cockney. The most recognizable of its features:
the replacement of [s] by
[>] when final or medial,
something which Lily Allen also does: city [rH>H],
sitting [rH>Hm] and but
[aU>].However, Estuary
English does not replace
[S+C] by [e+u], as does
Cockney. Neither does
Lily Allen: she uses a [S]
in words like filth and
everything. Estuary English, as opposed to Cockney, does not drop the in
the beginning of a word,
neither does Lily Allen as
in hits her over the head.
Finally, instead of [M] in
words like looking, walking and sitting, she pronounces an [m], a feature
which is also associated
with Estuary English.
By Gea Dreschler, with help
from Martina Noteboom
Advertisement
Page 15 Column Dublin
Issue 3, October 2006
Hi there, I’m Leonie van der Meer, 3rd year English, and I’ve decided to step out of my comfort zone
and study at University College Dublin for a year.
The Life and Opinions of a Harting Scholar
The Bookshop
I feel like I’ve been there at least a million times,
and every single time I pass the threshold something happens that makes me have to go back.
It’s as if a force beyond me is pulling me towards
it, like in that Eagles song, Hotel California. If I
weren’t an atheist I would believe that I’d committed some mortal sin and that Satan and his
minions were taking it upon themselves to make
sure I can never leave for good. Combine atheism with the need for peace of mind and you will
understand why I refuse to spend a minute’s
thought on the possible existence of such a
place as Hell, but I must say, this place is sure
starting to feel like one.
Stacks of books, hundreds, no thousands of
them, have been carefully gathered here. Vast
quantities of lifelong learning and dedication, in
paperback and hardcover, are lying peacefully
side by side here, countless scholars have spent
their entire lives in libraries, perusing other
books, in order to fill up a mere few inches of its
shelf space.
Now don’t go thinking I don’t like books. On the
contrary, I love books, I dream about books, I live
and breathe books, and if it weren’t for their lack
of nutritional value I’d probably have books for
dinner. Still, despite all that, the UCD campus
bookshop really isn’t doing it for me right now.
I apologize if I come across as an ungrateful little
b****. I am not, promise. Not in this respect, at
least. Yet I can’t help but cringe every time I see
the same old shop assistant, with his ridiculous
haircut, his outdated shirts and broken glasses.
Get them fixed already, one rod obviously isn’t
enough to make them stay in place, and while
you’re at it, do something about that permanent
head cold, will you? Not only is a thick stuffy nasal voice very unsexy, it is actually quite annoying to listen to. Especially if I don’t want to be
talking to you in the first place.
But I’m getting carried away here. I love living in
Ireland, moving here has been one of the most
exciting experiences of my life and I don’t regret
it in the least. Nor do I hold a personal grudge
against the said shop assistant, but he just happens to be the personification of the only annoying aspect of Irish culture that I have come
across so far. The Irish are so laidback that an
ignorant Dutch girl could easily confuse it with
idleness, or even outright indifference.
Obviously this little idiosyncrasy is not all bad.
Their incessant tardiness makes mine go unnoticed. And some of the people in my class still
haven’t paid their tuition fees, but no-one seems
to be the least bit concerned about that. Oh, and
the English department calls week one week
one, but don’t ask me why, because in fact week
two is week one. Are you still with me? But, even
though it was really rather nice to have an extra
unexpected week off, when in week two I still
wasn’t enrolled properly for all my classes, I was
starting to worry. I was alone in that.
With my stress levels high, I was surprised I
could still muster up the patience to queue at the
International Office for at least an hour every day
for a week. But when I was simultaneously faced
with the struggle to get the right books, I was
starting to lose it. See, the department doesn’t
provide booklists here. In fact, if you ask for one,
they look at you as if you’re seriously deluded. I
guess they just trust the students to have cultivated an amazing insight, and simply guess
which texts are on the curriculum. I am not at
that level yet, apparently. So I turned to the people at the bookshop for help. I’ll be nice and refrain from boring you with the details of my quest,
but let’s just say I went to there many, many
times. And every single time Mr Headcold there
managed to sell me exactly the wrong editions of
the books I needed, despite his claim to “know
exactly what I needed”.
So when he called me the other day (at 8.30 am
mind you, I was still sound asleep) to tell me that
my much-requested Penguin Annotated Student’s Edition of Ulysses had finally arrived, I
thanked him, only barely managing to keep my
sarcasm within boundaries, and snuggled back
into my duvet. I still haven’t picked it up.
By Leonie van der Meer
Page 17 Film Review
Issue 3, October 2006
An Inconvenient Truth
A Global Warning
Director:
Genre:
Runtime:
Year:
Cast:
Davis Guggenheim
Documentary
100 minutes
2006
Al Gore
Synopsis
Meant as a companion documentary to the book
of the same name, 'An Inconvenient Truth'
chronicles the career of former-Vice President Al
Gore as he focuses on potentially one of the biggest issues facing future generations, global
warming. Gore lays out the case for the causes
of warming, and traces his concerns with this
phenomenon, from his early days in politics
through the aftermath of the 2000 Presidential
election.
Review
‘An Inconvenient Truth’ is actually rather a report
of Al Gore’s convention than a genuine film or
documentary. Through worldwide distribution of
this ‘film’ Gore is hoping to reach infinitely more
people than just the audience he would normally
see at his convention. Which he hopes then ultimately leads to a revolution worldwide.
Gore has dedicated a great deal of his
life to environmental issues; he has been trying
to achieve better environmental measures for
more than twenty years now. This, unfortunately,
has not been as successful as he had hoped, for
the problem of global warming is still increasing.
The consequences are immense: the breaking
and melting ice on both North- and South Pole
cause the water level to rise and rise, and do not
forget that Holland lies way below sea level... no
time to waste! Devastating hurricanes like
Katrina are caused by a rising sea temperature,
and so many more disasters can be mentioned.
The message is crystal clear, if we – that is to
say the world’s inhabitants – don’t take some actions soon, fat chance that the science fiction
scenes in films like ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ become reality.
Now, Gore’s message may come across
as extremely negative, depressive and desperate, but nothing less is true. All facts are brought
to the audience with help of clear (up-to-date)
tables, diagrams, photographs and not to forget
a good dose of humour. Yeah that’s right, humour. The jokes in between the facts provide a
combination that is not dull to say the least. In
order to vary and illustrate – for adding personal
information gives the message more impact –
the audience in addition learns some things
about Gore himself. These scenes might be
cheesy, less interesting and at times too dramatic and overdone (typically American you
might say). Nevertheless, they do help to create
a film that is attractive for a wider audience. Of
course they also have to mention Bush’s victory
over Gore. So, once in a while we can question
Gore’s intentions: is this film a warning against
the global warming effect or a cleverly disguised
campaign against Bush?
Anyhow, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ is not
only incredibly informative, but amazingly
enough also exceptionally entertaining. You just
won’t get a satisfied feeling, but a realisation that
something needs to happen before it is too late.
Unsurprisingly, for this is of course the exact intention of this film. Audiences will leave the cinema clearly informed and inspired, but not desperate. Now we can only hope that this film, with
the useful tips given in the end, will lead to a
change on world level. Perhaps then Gore can
also prove to be bigger - and according to him
even better - than his old rival Bush Jr.
By Tessa Obbens
Page 18 Agenda & Cartoon
Issue 3, October 2006
Agenda
19 October
Albion Halloween Party
25 - 27 October
Leiden October Conference
31 October
Albion Halloween High Tea
9 November
Albion Beowulf Film night
16 November
Albion Karaoke Night
30 November
Albion Canterbury Tales Film night
11 December
Next Angler
14 December
Albion Christmas Party
18 - 23 December
Exams part 1 (MA, electives)
19 - 21 December
Albion London Trip
25 December - 7 January
Christmas Holidays
8 January - 2 February
Exams
5 February
Start of the Second Semester