Any difficulty I had with reading these books will no longer put me off of classic books! Proust was the hardest for me to read, but it set me up well for the rest of the class. Throughout the course we hit a series of learning outcomes, so here is a quick how-to for future […]
With our narrator saying “It all began in another city and another life” makes me think of how many people grow up in a place that shapes them, and may end up moving away to a place that suits them better (p. 1). “…in that apartment, in that other city” (p. 5). Choosing an environment […]
Piglia must have done extensive research to complete this book, especially publishing it 12 years after the robbery happened. However, this impacted my engagement while reading. At times, I felt like the monologue was saying: “This happened at this time, this happened here, this happened there…” and recaptured my attention with the details of the […]
“Never again shall I..” “From now on I’ll…” “I shall…” “I’ll always have…” (pg. 34). I miss the childlike naivety of knowing everything. While this paragraph seems to be the narrator reflecting on her life, it can also be a manifestation of the young girl determined to be with a man who is majorly, inappropriately, […]
In the dedication by the author (actually Clarice Lispector), she wrote: “And—and don’t forget that the structure of the atom cannot be seen but is nonetheless known.” This poetic sentence seems to demonstrate a theme of the book where the narrator attempts to capture the unseen and unexperienced. “And my duty, however artlessly, to reveal […]
Why is it that older generations have stories of meeting their partners in the creepiest ways? When my grandmother met my grandfather, she said she hated him at first because he would follow her around her university campus and try to get on the same work schedule as her just to talk to her. Romance […]
The opening scene of “Agostino” sets the tone of the text: toxic male jealousy. As a 13-year-0ld boy, Agostino loves the attention of his mother. Whether or not this was incestious, it demonstrates how important his mother is to him, and when she gives attention to other men, Agostino gets marvelously jealous. This “jealousy” fades […]
I loved reading a piece of literature from the 20th century that emphasizes the life and experiences of a woman, written by a woman. Many romance novels centering woman written by men tend to focus on women’s bodies more, seeming to objectify them, and the conflict in the stories tend to centre men. In “The […]
I really enjoyed Nadja and how it included photos and drawings. Right at the start of the book, I noticed the question, “Who am I?” can correlate well with the themes of surrealism and the unconscious. Breton follows this question by suggesting parts of him “haunts” others. He clarifies that he doesn’t view himself undead, […]
