Student Blogs

The text The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa is set after Angolia’s independence, which also reflects government structures and changes in that structure. The novel’s narrator, Benchimol, recently got a divorce and thus goes to a resort or hotel to be able to rest and recuperate. He’s also a journalist whole tends […] read full post >>

This course has definitely been one of the more unique ones I have taken (and I have taken quite a... read full post >>

Well we made it. In the beginning of this course I said that I wanted to expand my horizons and that has most definitely happened. I was planning on only doing 11 books but I was a little trigger happy … Continue reading → read full post >>

 In the text, Society of Reluctant Dreamers, Agualusa challenges the meaning and importance of dreams. In the book, they have the ability to appear in people's dreams, and one character, in particular, can dream about people he hasn't met and future things that haven't occurred yet. He can dream about the future. He uses this power to appear in everyone's dreams in Angolan to overthrow the government, a one-party state. This power over dreams is bizarre and not what we usually think dreams are. Dreams are funny, confusing, metaphorical tales that we become aware of in our sleep that don't always make sense and can arise hidden feelings or motives we would not know when we are conscious. In the Society of Reluctant Dreamers, this dreaming is not a mere confusion or weird story in our heads but a movement to defeat politics and the political authority at the time. This creates a collective dream among the whole population of Angolans and gives people the courage and bravery within themselves to stand up. As a community together, they are able to find the strength to come together and make a change. This power is crazy to think about and is something we would not see in everyday life. 

One question I have is, How can the unconscious affect us so profoundly? Especially when we are conscious and always careless about things and scared? 

After watching the lecture, I wanted to reflect on the point about how Agualusa uses dreams as a metaphor to bring change. Jon mentioned in the lecture how this was a metaphor for literature having the same effect. Literature is powerful, and words on a page hold so much meaning, especially in Romance Studies, where the words hold hidden themes and underlying thoughts/memories. I believe that literature has the power to create change. Just like our dreams coming to us in the unconscious, literature is an escape from reality when you read. It is somewhat a form of the unconscious, and that's why I think it has more power than words from people. Hearing things in the unconscious allows us to fully grasp the idea without adding our own bias from the natural, conscious world. 

This book had many themes of repetition and conflict between original and copy stories, just like the conflict between dreams and reality. For example, in the book, when the character meets the woman he previously dreamed about, he calls her a fake image of the woman he dreamed about, and she does not seem real. This challenges the tradition of dreams being a copy and reality the original. Agualusa flips it around many times. This book was sometimes hard to follow because of these confusing, non-traditional themes. Another example of bizarre is when a character tells the world that his brother is dead, but in the end, his brother is there in the political overthrow. Why was this hidden from the reader for so long? 

I am super excited to discuss this book this week and hope that I can further understand Agualusa's intentions and writing! 

read full post >>

 In the text, Society of Reluctant Dreamers, Agualusa challenges the meaning and importance of dreams. In the book, they have the ability to appear in people's dreams, and one character, in particular, can dream about people he hasn't met and future things that haven't occurred yet. He can dream about the future. He uses this power to appear in everyone's dreams in Angolan to overthrow the government, a one-party state. This power over dreams is bizarre and not what we usually think dreams are. Dreams are funny, confusing, metaphorical tales that we become aware of in our sleep that don't always make sense and can arise hidden feelings or motives we would not know when we are conscious. In the Society of Reluctant Dreamers, this dreaming is not a mere confusion or weird story in our heads but a movement to defeat politics and the political authority at the time. This creates a collective dream among the whole population of Angolans and gives people the courage and bravery within themselves to stand up. As a community together, they are able to find the strength to come together and make a change. This power is crazy to think about and is something we would not see in everyday life. 

One question I have is, How can the unconscious affect us so profoundly? Especially when we are conscious and always careless about things and scared? 

After watching the lecture, I wanted to reflect on the point about how Agualusa uses dreams as a metaphor to bring change. Jon mentioned in the lecture how this was a metaphor for literature having the same effect. Literature is powerful, and words on a page hold so much meaning, especially in Romance Studies, where the words hold hidden themes and underlying thoughts/memories. I believe that literature has the power to create change. Just like our dreams coming to us in the unconscious, literature is an escape from reality when you read. It is somewhat a form of the unconscious, and that's why I think it has more power than words from people. Hearing things in the unconscious allows us to fully grasp the idea without adding our own bias from the natural, conscious world. 

This book had many themes of repetition and conflict between original and copy stories, just like the conflict between dreams and reality. For example, in the book, when the character meets the woman he previously dreamed about, he calls her a fake image of the woman he dreamed about, and she does not seem real. This challenges the tradition of dreams being a copy and reality the original. Agualusa flips it around many times. This book was sometimes hard to follow because of these confusing, non-traditional themes. Another example of bizarre is when a character tells the world that his brother is dead, but in the end, his brother is there in the political overthrow. Why was this hidden from the reader for so long? 

I am super excited to discuss this book this week and hope that I can further understand Agualusa's intentions and writing! 

read full post >>

      Ok, so bridging off of Astha's post ("In sum..."), this is also an end to my undergraduate career, as well a one of the more unique courses I've had the pleasure of taking at UBC -- RMST 202. 

     Some flashbacks--I'm not sure if I became a better reader in this course by reading more, but rather by learning how to think more abstractly about novels. Usually, connections or metaphors seemed to far-fetched for me to consider being "true" about a book, however, it seems that this is often not the case. From this course, I've learned to dive deeper into metaphors and imagery, and to indulge my creativity and allowing myself the opportunity to imagine strange parallels, deeper metaphors and interesting imagery, as the meaning that I impart from this may have been exactly as intended (but no one really knows!). 

My favourite books from the course (in no particular order)

Black Shack Alley

Agostino

W, or the Memory of Childhood

In terms of general thoughts -- and perhaps this will be helpful for Jon and TAs -- the nature of the course was unique, but also rewarding. Portioning out what is ultimately a lot of writing throughout the term gives you an opportunity to both improve incrementally, as well as experiment with what and how you write. For example, if you have three essays per term, each worth a large chunk of your grade, there is an aversion to a "risky" idea, or a more out-there or experimental approach. By giving us so much freedom with our writing, we have the opportunity to grow as writers, try out new things, and find out how and why we ourselves write well. 

Lastly, as an overall reflection, I wasn't sure how much I would improve as a writer throughout my university career. I surely did, but I believe that it was more a product of courses like this, which deeply examine literature and writing styles, rather than my creative writing courses, which I wouldn't have thought at the beginning of my time here. 

Ok, thank you everyone! This might just be my final ever written assignment at UBC. Now it's time to go out into the world and "get that bag", as the kids say.

read full post >>

      Ok, so bridging off of Astha's post ("In sum..."), this is also an end to my undergraduate career, as well a one of the more unique courses I've had the pleasure of taking at UBC -- RMST 202. 

     Some flashbacks--I'm not sure if I became a better reader in this course by reading more, but rather by learning how to think more abstractly about novels. Usually, connections or metaphors seemed to far-fetched for me to consider being "true" about a book, however, it seems that this is often not the case. From this course, I've learned to dive deeper into metaphors and imagery, and to indulge my creativity and allowing myself the opportunity to imagine strange parallels, deeper metaphors and interesting imagery, as the meaning that I impart from this may have been exactly as intended (but no one really knows!). 

My favourite books from the course (in no particular order)

Black Shack Alley

Agostino

W, or the Memory of Childhood

In terms of general thoughts -- and perhaps this will be helpful for Jon and TAs -- the nature of the course was unique, but also rewarding. Portioning out what is ultimately a lot of writing throughout the term gives you an opportunity to both improve incrementally, as well as experiment with what and how you write. For example, if you have three essays per term, each worth a large chunk of your grade, there is an aversion to a "risky" idea, or a more out-there or experimental approach. By giving us so much freedom with our writing, we have the opportunity to grow as writers, try out new things, and find out how and why we ourselves write well. 

Lastly, as an overall reflection, I wasn't sure how much I would improve as a writer throughout my university career. I surely did, but I believe that it was more a product of courses like this, which deeply examine literature and writing styles, rather than my creative writing courses, which I wouldn't have thought at the beginning of my time here. 

Ok, thank you everyone! This might just be my final ever written assignment at UBC. Now it's time to go out into the world and "get that bag", as the kids say.

read full post >>

To be honest, it took me a while to figure out who the characters were and who was speaking. I... read full post >>

Over all the weeks of reading different literature, I can confirm, at least for myself, that Elena Ferrante’s “My Brilliant Friend” is the longest reading I have done for this course. The focus is mainly on the relationships among all the characters from the protagonist, Elena’s point of view. The theme(s) are oriented on the […] read full post >>

As I end this semester, I am also ending an integral phase of my life- that of an undergraduate student. With a lot of goodbyes coming up, I am in a strange point of excitement and nervousness. This semester, I … Continue reading → read full post >>

Over the course, we have read many texts that have overarching themes of war, violence, and memories. We have even reflected on our own and focused on discussions of motherhood, growing up, betrayal, and context differences. My favourite conversation this far was when we talked about Amulet and connected mothers from the other texts like the Shrouded Woman or Time of the Doves. Some of the books I hadn't read but diving deep into motherhood, the different types of mothers, and values they held, and what it truly means to be a mother was very eye-opening. For example, one book that I didn't read had a mother who wanted to kill her children for their benefit, which seems very wrong in our definitions of motherhood. I loved all the books we read over this term, and connecting them was a great way to understand further what romance studies is and how you can connect themes and language styles to send a message. 

Childhood was a big theme in many of the texts and growing up to adapting to be an adult, especially in Proust, W or Memory of Childhood, and Agostino. Many new experiences changed them to be more mature and develop their identity. Even though each story was set in a different time and place, the process is still somewhat the same. There are things to learn, achieve respect and maturity, and go through cultural events to shape you to become an adult. However, these stories are not neat; they are messy and come with betrayal, confusion, lost memories from trauma, and childhood experiences that hinder one from maturing. Children's voices show us a new perspective that adults lack. The innocent curiosity and gratefulness to the world are essential childlike values that adults stray away from. Children are dreamers, and constantly focussing on reality takes us away from life, and we don't take time to enjoy the little things children notice because they are seeing things and experiencing things for the first time. Children will ask questions, adults are too scared to, and they miss the true truths of life. 

Unlike childhood, some texts focus on the present time being more important than memories, like the Society of Reluctant Dreamers, Bonjour Tristesse and the Shrouded Woman. In these texts, children take power and betray their parents/guardians. It doesn't focus on the childhood memories but on the child's ambitions, which most of the time end up hurting people because they are immature. It challenges the theme of ordinary parents always being in power over their children. In Bonjour Tristesse, Cecile plans to betray Anne, her guardian and does not care about any wisdom Anne has given her; instead lets her ambitions get the best of her and end in a sad betrayal. 

All these texts challenge our world traditions and challenge language by revealing things that are not natural. They use words that uncover themes that the real world does not fully understand. Romance studies is not a representation of the real world. It represents the uncovered, unconscious, not natural world, as these texts travel around and are read in different contexts. Romance studies opens up this world and challenges the perspective of the real world. Romance studies is not separate; it fits into the world's history and movements.

I loved the quote from the concluding lecture, "A minor literature doesn't come from a minor language; it is rather that which a minority constructs within a major language" (Deleuze & Guattari) 

Romance studies may be a minor language, not seen by the naked eye. Still, it is that minority that emerges itself into a majority language (ex. French) that all can understand so that Romance studies is shared throughout the world. Romance studies is ever-changing and growing, fighting its way to stay in the world, especially as a minor language, because everything today is read in English. Romance studies is connected and unconnected to this world; it is full of memories, dreams, hidden feelings, thoughts, revolutions, and betrayal. Most of all, Romance studies is hidden in everything. 

read full post >>

Over the course, we have read many texts that have overarching themes of war, violence, and memories. We have even reflected on our own and focused on discussions of motherhood, growing up, betrayal, and context differences. My favourite conversation this far was when we talked about Amulet and connected mothers from the other texts like the Shrouded Woman or Time of the Doves. Some of the books I hadn't read but diving deep into motherhood, the different types of mothers, and values they held, and what it truly means to be a mother was very eye-opening. For example, one book that I didn't read had a mother who wanted to kill her children for their benefit, which seems very wrong in our definitions of motherhood. I loved all the books we read over this term, and connecting them was a great way to understand further what romance studies is and how you can connect themes and language styles to send a message. 

Childhood was a big theme in many of the texts and growing up to adapting to be an adult, especially in Proust, W or Memory of Childhood, and Agostino. Many new experiences changed them to be more mature and develop their identity. Even though each story was set in a different time and place, the process is still somewhat the same. There are things to learn, achieve respect and maturity, and go through cultural events to shape you to become an adult. However, these stories are not neat; they are messy and come with betrayal, confusion, lost memories from trauma, and childhood experiences that hinder one from maturing. Children's voices show us a new perspective that adults lack. The innocent curiosity and gratefulness to the world are essential childlike values that adults stray away from. Children are dreamers, and constantly focussing on reality takes us away from life, and we don't take time to enjoy the little things children notice because they are seeing things and experiencing things for the first time. Children will ask questions, adults are too scared to, and they miss the true truths of life. 

Unlike childhood, some texts focus on the present time being more important than memories, like the Society of Reluctant Dreamers, Bonjour Tristesse and the Shrouded Woman. In these texts, children take power and betray their parents/guardians. It doesn't focus on the childhood memories but on the child's ambitions, which most of the time end up hurting people because they are immature. It challenges the theme of ordinary parents always being in power over their children. In Bonjour Tristesse, Cecile plans to betray Anne, her guardian and does not care about any wisdom Anne has given her; instead lets her ambitions get the best of her and end in a sad betrayal. 

All these texts challenge our world traditions and challenge language by revealing things that are not natural. They use words that uncover themes that the real world does not fully understand. Romance studies is not a representation of the real world. It represents the uncovered, unconscious, not natural world, as these texts travel around and are read in different contexts. Romance studies opens up this world and challenges the perspective of the real world. Romance studies is not separate; it fits into the world's history and movements.

I loved the quote from the concluding lecture, "A minor literature doesn't come from a minor language; it is rather that which a minority constructs within a major language" (Deleuze & Guattari) 

Romance studies may be a minor language, not seen by the naked eye. Still, it is that minority that emerges itself into a majority language (ex. French) that all can understand so that Romance studies is shared throughout the world. Romance studies is ever-changing and growing, fighting its way to stay in the world, especially as a minor language, because everything today is read in English. Romance studies is connected and unconnected to this world; it is full of memories, dreams, hidden feelings, thoughts, revolutions, and betrayal. Most of all, Romance studies is hidden in everything. 

read full post >>

 We're done! This term was as good as I hoped it would be, and this class definitely contributed to it. Now, let me preface this blog post by saying that I hope/intend/plan to keep this blog going. As I mentioned in my introductory post, I'd been looking for a push to start a blog for quite a few years now, and I don't want to let my current momentum to stop. That said, I'm not entirely sure what to write about. Should I continue writing about the books I read? Should I branch out and write about other things? If you have any suggestions then please let me know!

My favourite books this term were probably The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by Jose Agualusa, and The Shrouded Woman by Maria Luisa Bombal. I thought they were engaging and enjoyable, and Nada by Carmen Laforet also gets a shoutout too. My least favourites were probably Paris Peasant and W Or A Memory of Childhood. I found them a little confusing and I never really got into the plots. 

Overall, I'm glad I took this class. Though it was primarily to fulfil the literature credits, I would have liked to take it anyway. In my introductory post, I thought that my favourite novels would be the ones about revolution and power, with a special attention to the Spanish Civil War. Having reached the end, I don't think I was wrong, per se. Nada was set in Spain around the time of the war, and I did like it. However, the other books that were more directly about revolution such as The Old Gringo or Soldiers of Salamis didn't quite enamour me as much as I expected. What does that say about me? Probably not much, to be fair. Maybe that I enjoy books with strong characterisation and more inter-character relationships. 

As already mentioned, a dominant theme throughout the novels we've read this term is that of memory. Hopefully this blog will serve to keep my memories of these books fresh. I wish I could say that I was able to integrate reading these books sensibly into my daily routine, but honestly, I treated it a little like my other classes in that I would leave the books to the last couple days of the week and cram them in rather than reading them incrementally throughout the week. Perhaps if I'd contracted for fewer books then I would've been more organic about my reading, but hey this is what I signed up for. All in all, I'm just glad that I took this course and was held accountable for reading more books. I still have to take another literature class for graduation requirements and after this one, I'm definitely looking forward to it. 

I've had a great time taking this class and writing this blog, and again - if you have any suggestions for what I could write about in the future please let me know! (and keep the link to this website handy!)

read full post >>

 We're done! This term was as good as I hoped it would be, and this class definitely contributed to it. Now, let me preface this blog post by saying that I hope/intend/plan to keep this blog going. As I mentioned in my introductory post, I'd been looking for a push to start a blog for quite a few years now, and I don't want to let my current momentum to stop. That said, I'm not entirely sure what to write about. Should I continue writing about the books I read? Should I branch out and write about other things? If you have any suggestions then please let me know!

My favourite books this term were probably The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by Jose Agualusa, and The Shrouded Woman by Maria Luisa Bombal. I thought they were engaging and enjoyable, and Nada by Carmen Laforet also gets a shoutout too. My least favourites were probably Paris Peasant and W Or A Memory of Childhood. I found them a little confusing and I never really got into the plots. 

Overall, I'm glad I took this class. Though it was primarily to fulfil the literature credits, I would have liked to take it anyway. In my introductory post, I thought that my favourite novels would be the ones about revolution and power, with a special attention to the Spanish Civil War. Having reached the end, I don't think I was wrong, per se. Nada was set in Spain around the time of the war, and I did like it. However, the other books that were more directly about revolution such as The Old Gringo or Soldiers of Salamis didn't quite enamour me as much as I expected. What does that say about me? Probably not much, to be fair. Maybe that I enjoy books with strong characterisation and more inter-character relationships. 

As already mentioned, a dominant theme throughout the novels we've read this term is that of memory. Hopefully this blog will serve to keep my memories of these books fresh. I wish I could say that I was able to integrate reading these books sensibly into my daily routine, but honestly, I treated it a little like my other classes in that I would leave the books to the last couple days of the week and cram them in rather than reading them incrementally throughout the week. Perhaps if I'd contracted for fewer books then I would've been more organic about my reading, but hey this is what I signed up for. All in all, I'm just glad that I took this course and was held accountable for reading more books. I still have to take another literature class for graduation requirements and after this one, I'm definitely looking forward to it. 

I've had a great time taking this class and writing this blog, and again - if you have any suggestions for what I could write about in the future please let me know! (and keep the link to this website handy!)

read full post >>

It is hard to believe that this is the last post I will make for this class, the term has gone by quite quickly. At the same time, it feels so long ago when our classes were being held on Zoom! Having read eleven books this term was self-satisfying – reading a book once a […] read full post >>