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Romance Studies Conclusion
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I can't believe this is my last post for Romance Studies 202 ☹️ This term flew by. This course has been an amazing experience. I enjoyed having complete control of my learning and choosing how many and what kinds of books I got to read. With that control, it was nice to push my boundaries and be exposed to books I would not have picked on my own outside of this class. Romance Studies was nothing I was expecting, but it exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to taking similar classes to this in the future.
Reflecting on my first introduction post, my expectations for this course were to read as many books as possible and try reading different books from different areas of the world. I also wanted to be able to see similarities and differences between the novels. Looking back at all twelve posts, I am happy to say that I have met and fulfilled my expectations of this course. This course has been heavy with history about war and revolutions, making it an overall learning experience not just with the types of genres of books, but I have also been opened to learning about history. As also said in the lecture by Professor Jon Beasley-Murray that we may never read another Chilean, Brazilian, Romanian, or Catalan novel in our lives. This experience of reading these books every week will definitely make me keep an eye out for these types of books on bookshelves!
My favourite books in this course were Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan, The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal, and The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda. I found these books to be where I was the most captivated and could easily write 400-500 words on these blog posts. These three novels share a strong female narrative and reading about these powerful women showcasing their vulnerability was really interesting to me. All three of them were different in their own ways as well but all had deep moments that left an impact on me and had me thinking about how I would deal if I were in their situations.
Thank you, Jon, Patricio, and Jennifer, for an amazing term and for expanding my bookshelf in a fun and innovative way! And thank you to all my fellow classmates. It was really interesting reading everyone's thoughts and comments on the books we read. My final questions for this class are: What was your favourite book(s)? What specific themes stood out to you from these books?
Conclusions
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The Society of Reluctant Dreamers
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Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend——Week12
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Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend——Week12
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Concluding Blog——Week12
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It was a blessing for me to be able to choose RMST202 out of the many courses I took. I initially chose this class for the credit requirement, and I had no idea about the content of the type. But when I participated in the class, I was pleasantly surprised by the new grading format and the amount of class discussion. In this situation, I found that I could read every novel recommended by the professor without the pressure of a grade, and the weekly blog I was required to write was a lighter load than in my other classes. This assignment felt less like mandatory learning and more like developing good reading habits. When I learned that I needed to complete a book each week, I would schedule my time wisely and read for two hours a day, Monday through Friday, to complete the book in an even but modest way. These two hours of reading allow me to quiet my mind, feel the words, and start my college day. In fact, it had been a long time since I had read a book in its entirety and carefully, and the existence of this class added an extra layer of reading to my schedule.
On the other hand, I was able to read different perspectives and questions from my classmates' blogs for each book, which deepened my understanding and thinking about each novel. It doesn't stop at the end of a book; it's just as important to reflect deeply on what you've read afterwards. I learned a lot of different perspectives on reading from talking with my classmates.
In addition, the class recommended many books that were worth reading. Some of these books I had heard of, some I hadn't, but without exception, greatly increased my knowledge and understanding of the author of each book after completing them. In the reading process, some of the books were relatively difficult for me to read, so I needed to extend my daily reading time to understand these somewhat difficult novels. My favourite of these books was Roberto Bolaño's Amulet. I was fascinated by Auxilio Lacouture's interesting way of speaking and his identity as the storyteller, and the time structure of the book was worthy of careful consideration. Auxilio Lacouture's role as a historical inscriber added to my admiration and understanding of the history that has passed. In other books, we can also find a search for history and its exposition. Although these books tell different stories, they all give me a sense of mission to remember history as the main character.
All in all, the course was advantageous for me.
read full post >>Concluding Blog——Week12
Posted by: feedwordpress
It was a blessing for me to be able to choose RMST202 out of the many courses I took. I initially chose this class for the credit requirement, and I had no idea about the content of the type. But when I participated in the class, I was pleasantly surprised by the new grading format and the amount of class discussion. In this situation, I found that I could read every novel recommended by the professor without the pressure of a grade, and the weekly blog I was required to write was a lighter load than in my other classes. This assignment felt less like mandatory learning and more like developing good reading habits. When I learned that I needed to complete a book each week, I would schedule my time wisely and read for two hours a day, Monday through Friday, to complete the book in an even but modest way. These two hours of reading allow me to quiet my mind, feel the words, and start my college day. In fact, it had been a long time since I had read a book in its entirety and carefully, and the existence of this class added an extra layer of reading to my schedule.
On the other hand, I was able to read different perspectives and questions from my classmates' blogs for each book, which deepened my understanding and thinking about each novel. It doesn't stop at the end of a book; it's just as important to reflect deeply on what you've read afterwards. I learned a lot of different perspectives on reading from talking with my classmates.
In addition, the class recommended many books that were worth reading. Some of these books I had heard of, some I hadn't, but without exception, greatly increased my knowledge and understanding of the author of each book after completing them. In the reading process, some of the books were relatively difficult for me to read, so I needed to extend my daily reading time to understand these somewhat difficult novels. My favourite of these books was Roberto Bolaño's Amulet. I was fascinated by Auxilio Lacouture's interesting way of speaking and his identity as the storyteller, and the time structure of the book was worthy of careful consideration. Auxilio Lacouture's role as a historical inscriber added to my admiration and understanding of the history that has passed. In other books, we can also find a search for history and its exposition. Although these books tell different stories, they all give me a sense of mission to remember history as the main character.
All in all, the course was advantageous for me.
read full post >>Concluding Blog Post
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week12 – “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers”
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Final Reflections
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Jose Eduardo Agualusa, “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers”
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Agualusa’s The Society of Reluctant Dreamers
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The Society of Reluctant Dreamers was a unique read - but not for the reason that I expected. What fascinated me about this book is the setting, the Portuguese-speaking regions of Africa. This is an area that I am not very familiar with, so I do admit that it was difficult for me to follow the plot in certain parts.
Another aspect of the book that stood out to me was how modern it was compared to the other texts that we have read this semester. The period that the book was set in is fairly recent, with the epilogue taking place in 2017. Daniel's character was interesting, especially because of his dreams and how they were influenced by his reality. It made me ponder how our subconscious thoughts are often influenced by our life and the people in them. This is similar to the associations made in the lecture to Freud and his beliefs of dreams being a manifestation of one's unconscious thoughts.
Furthermore, I found it fascinating that the author decided to combine the political storyline of the book with magical realism. Politics are notoriously controversial and rooted in the 'harsh reality of life' - so it's quite interesting to see how the narrator's thoughts are largely communicated through his dreams. I found the politics a little hard to keep track of throughout the book, especially because I was completely unaware of the entire situation.
Also, I found the initial dialogue between Daniel and the hotel owner to be kind of odd, especially when they discussed Hitler's kindness to animals. I suppose it did achieve the purpose that the author intended, which was to make us uncomfortable at the idea of a truly terrible person having any goodness in him.
Overall, I found Agualusa's The Society of Dreamers to be a unique concept with an intriguing execution. By combining dreams with politics, Agualusa pushes readers to mull over how our reality can merge with something as stressful as politics. My question to the class would be: what do you think of the act of dreaming and what does it say about our subconscious?
read full post >>Agualusa’s The Society of Reluctant Dreamers
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The Society of Reluctant Dreamers was a unique read - but not for the reason that I expected. What fascinated me about this book is the setting, the Portuguese-speaking regions of Africa. This is an area that I am not very familiar with, so I do admit that it was difficult for me to follow the plot in certain parts.
Another aspect of the book that stood out to me was how modern it was compared to the other texts that we have read this semester. The period that the book was set in is fairly recent, with the epilogue taking place in 2017. Daniel's character was interesting, especially because of his dreams and how they were influenced by his reality. It made me ponder how our subconscious thoughts are often influenced by our life and the people in them. This is similar to the associations made in the lecture to Freud and his beliefs of dreams being a manifestation of one's unconscious thoughts.
Furthermore, I found it fascinating that the author decided to combine the political storyline of the book with magical realism. Politics are notoriously controversial and rooted in the 'harsh reality of life' - so it's quite interesting to see how the narrator's thoughts are largely communicated through his dreams. I found the politics a little hard to keep track of throughout the book, especially because I was completely unaware of the entire situation.
Also, I found the initial dialogue between Daniel and the hotel owner to be kind of odd, especially when they discussed Hitler's kindness to animals. I suppose it did achieve the purpose that the author intended, which was to make us uncomfortable at the idea of a truly terrible person having any goodness in him.
Overall, I found Agualusa's The Society of Dreamers to be a unique concept with an intriguing execution. By combining dreams with politics, Agualusa pushes readers to mull over how our reality can merge with something as stressful as politics. My question to the class would be: what do you think of the act of dreaming and what does it say about our subconscious?
read full post >>Concluding Post
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Conclusion to RMST 202
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