Honestly, even though José gets his education and succeeds in life, the whole story made me very sad. I felt sad for M’man Tine, who literally worked herself to death in the sugar cane fields. I felt sad for José’s mother, whom he rarely saw because she was always working somewhere else. I also felt […]
Posted in Blogs, Zobel | Tagged with family, poverty, race
Carmen Laforet wrote this at 23. What. How. Time’s a-ticking for me I suppose. The main character, Andrea, had my heart from the start, her desire for independence, her dreams of Barcelona which are swiftly crushed by her dysfunctional family. At first, it’s her Aunt Angustias that seems the most overbearing, telling her that “in […]
Posted in Blogs, Laforet | Tagged with coming of age, family, poverty
Wow. And I thought I held grudge. The Shrouded Woman is this breath-taking story about a woman on her death bed. She revisits different parts of her life, sifting through memories as various family members and friends say their farewells. I don’t know what to say. It was just so beautiful. Let’s start when she […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with death, family, memory
Nadja, Nadja, Nadja. Nothing in Nadja seems make much sense but I think that’s on purpose. André Breton’s sole focus is the character, the idea of Nadja (except at the start when he was talking about who knows what). He also does not care for the reader; “I shall discuss these things without pre-established order, […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Philosophy, Surrealism
At last, I have finished Marcel Proust’s Combray. Forty-nine pages felt like a lifetime, and I attribute this to there being sentences that went on for longer than this blog post. Apparently, using periods wasn’t common practice in early 20th century France and semicolons were all the rage. I did enjoy it though I think, […]
Posted in Blogs, Proust | Tagged with childhood, memory
Hi hi! My name is Sofia and I’m a second-year student here at UBC. I signed up for this course after taking RMST 361: Studies in Portuguese and Brazilian Literature last year and I really enjoyed it, and by the looks of our syllabus, I expect to like this course too. Isn’t so neat how […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with