Ivankinsman
My name is Ivan Kinsman and I am an English national.
I have an M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of St Andrews (1981-85).
I am currently working as a lecturer in British Literature in Kielce, Poland, where I live with my wife and son.
To date I have made contributions to:
- the biography of Jonathan Raban and synopses for Soft City, Arabia Through the Looking Glass, Coasting (book), Hunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of America, Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings, Waxwings (novel) and Surveillance (novel). I consider Coasting his finest travelogue.
- the entire plot summary of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. I have done this because I found there were too many different versions on the net, many of which were incorrect.
- a plot summary for Tess of the d'Urbervillesand the literary themes section for Thomas Hardy.
- the George Orwell main article (additions dated 21st April, 2007 in history), with a particular focus on his personal life. Also, the personal life section in the article on Gordon Brown
- the plot history and summary of Laurie Lee's As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, in my opinion one of the greatest travel books ever written.
- the biography of Eric Newby, one of my favourite travel writers and the articles for The Last Grain Race and Love and War in the Apennines.
- Aldous Huxley's main literary themes in his novels
- work on the William Boyd (writer) article and plot summaries'sources/external links for his novels: A Good Man in Africa, An Ice-Cream War, The New Confessions, The Blue Afternoon, Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928-1960, Armadillo (novel), Any Human Heart, and Restless (novel). I consider Brazzaville Beach one of the best novels written in the latter half of the twentieth century.
- the biography of Sebastian Faulks, literary themes, bibliography and plot summary/background of Human Traces, On Green Dolphin Street, Engleby and Charlotte Gray. Birdsong (novel) and Charlotte Gray (novel) are definitely in my top 15 novels.
- the plot summary and literary themes section for Robert Graves' classic anti-war book Good-bye to All That.
I am currently working on a projected associated with English rural society before the Industrial Revolution, the Industrial Revolution itself (focusing very much on Arthur Toynbee's Oxford lectures), and how this was reflected in the literature of the time (Hardy, Eliot, Dickens). The project may be extended to similar fundamental changes being encountered by our own fully industrialised society as a result of capitalism (George Orwell's views)/market forces and, as a consequence of this, climate change (James Lovelock's Gaia Theory et. al), and social changes/energy revolution that will need to be made to counter this threat.
E-mail address: ikinsman@hotmail.com
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