Tony Burgess – författare

James Britton’s work addresses central educational questions that are as relevant today as they were half a century ago. Britton was the architect of a theory of language and learning which has influenced the thinking and practice of generations of teachers across the anglophone world. This Reader helps teachers and students explore his theories of the relationships between language and thought, between thinking and feeling, the links between unconscious and conscious ways of knowing, and the symbolising nature of language.This carefully curated collection of Britton’s key writings renders his work accessible to today’s students, educators and researchers. Fully annotated chapters explore how his work fuses observation and theory in a remarkable synthesis, and demonstrates the continuities between the early use of language and later, more complex achievements in speaking, listening, reading and writing.All those involved in teacher education and training, including researchers and scholars, will find this a rich and insightful text.

James Britton’s work addresses central educational questions that are as relevant today as they were half a century ago. Britton was the architect of a theory of language and learning which has influenced the thinking and practice of generations of teachers across the anglophone world. This Reader helps teachers and students explore his theories of the relationships between language and thought, between thinking and feeling, the links between unconscious and conscious ways of knowing, and the symbolising nature of language.This carefully curated collection of Britton’s key writings renders his work accessible to today’s students, educators and researchers. Fully annotated chapters explore how his work fuses observation and theory in a remarkable synthesis, and demonstrates the continuities between the early use of language and later, more complex achievements in speaking, listening, reading and writing.All those involved in teacher education and training, including researchers and scholars, will find this a rich and insightful text.

Tony Burgess has been experimenting with apocalypse fiction in numerous earlier works: the language/speech virus in 'Pontypool', the enigmatic small world in the big world of Caesarea, and other less elaborate speculations. News coverage of the fall of Baghdad and its aftermath were the inspiration for 'Ravenna,' especially the smaller stories of people being killed suddenly in their homes in the middle of otherwise normal days. Each story in 'Ravenna Gets' begins as any novel might,but abruptly loses the luxury of becoming a novel through a seemingly random and violent intrusion from beyond the world established by the story. The effect is intended to be that of the experience of war as the sudden end of stories, rather than being a war story itself. This destabilizing 'pinch' seeps into the consciousness of some of the stories, not as a consciousness of events, but rather as nightmarish bends in experience and perception. 'Ravenna Gets' could probably be classified as speculative fiction, influenced by J.G. Ballard, and, though experimental in spirit, it employs strong conventional storytelling techniques. "...out on the edge and experimental to the point of reader-confusion, but surprisingly alluring. When taking a reader to the cliff edge, then the writing must be as enticing as chocolate even if the story smells bad. I don't get it and I didn't enjoy it, but I couldn't look away: This poetic, fast-flying nihilistic narrative of carnage is well done." - Globe & Mail " 'Ravenna Gets', in particular, concerns itself with sudden and convulsive deaths; Christmas reading this is not. Many of the tales, which are all named after an address in Collingwood, begin like a standard short story what Burgess calls "the lightness and the pointlessness of establishing life" before its characters are suddenly dispatched in a variety of ghoulish ways." - The Ottawa Citizen " 'In Ravenna Gets', Tony Burgess is up to his old, sick, satisfying tricks. Small Ontario towns are whacking each other with more gore than Hostel, more pitchforks than American Gothic. This is a pitiful excuse for literature and Tony Burgess is our only hope." - Clint Burnham, author of 'Smoke Show' and 'Airborne Photo'

Der erste Schultag ist immer grausam, aber für Idaho Winter ist er noch grausamer. Er ist bei allen, Mitschülern und Lehrern und selbst bei seinen eigenen Eltern, verhasst und der Feindseligkeit schutzlos ausgeliefert. Selbst die Schülerlotsin fordert die Autos auf, loszufahren, sobald er den Zebrastreifen betritt.Aber an diesem Tag ist alles anders. Denn Idaho Winter macht zwei Entdeckungen, die sein Leben und den Lauf dieser Geschichte radikal verändern. Er begegnet dem ersten Menschen, der ihn wirklich mag: dem freundlichen Mädchen Madison. Mit ihr verlebt er am Fluss einen raren Moment der vollkommenen Harmonie, fernab der aufgehetzten Bluthunde.An diesem Punkt erlebt der Roman einen fundamentalen Twist: Denn plötzlich findet Idaho zu der Macht, sich zu wehren und alles zu verändern respektive zu zerstören. Sogar der Erzähler des Romans muss sich Idahos überbordender, grotesker Phantasie geschlagen geben.Eine abgefahrene Hommage ans Geschichtenerzählen – selbst Lewis Carroll und Roald Dahl können da einpacken!