Student Blogs

At the beginning of this course, I didn’t even know the full breadth of what “Romance Studies” was, let alone... read full post >>

I don’t think I’ve ever taken a course like this before, but I very much enjoyed both the content and the structure this term. Getting introduced to new literature was quite exciting, of course; and I think the focus on the “Romance World” or lack thereof made me even more curious about the languages, cultures, […] read full post >>

This week I decided to read My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. I thought it was an enjoyable read. I found the short chapters very motivating to keep engaged. I’m the type of the person to track my reading by setting time to finish a few chapters. For this book, it was easy to convince …

Continue reading "My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante"

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blog#11 – Time and the way She swims through Dreams — As soon as I finished the book, I fell asleep. I read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers in a period where I was (and am) sleeping a lot. I clocked in about 14 or 15 hours straight the other night. I’m not quite sure why […] read full post >>

I am so happy I took this survey course which introduced me to European and Latin-American authors writing in the “Romance languages”. Some of the readings were definitely challenging and different, but I believe that the only way one can learn and grow is by forcing oneself to read challenging texts in different genres. I […] read full post >>

Conclusions RMST 202 Well here it is, the final blog post of this class. Before I start, I want to say thank you to the professor and to both the Tas of this class and also to all the people who took this class alongside me. My first blog of this class talked about how […] read full post >>

The society of reluctant dreamers, Agualusa I Think this book could be considered surrealist because it brings things that are not real into reality, in the way that Daniel is able to speak with different people throughout his dreams which is a thing I enjoyed a lot. Another thing I liked is how you can […] read full post >>

Hey Everyone,  Wow, this novel had a lot to unpack. It covers sociological concepts like the reproduction of inequality, as well as romance, betrayal, and jealousy through the story of friendship. The friendship between Lila and Elena reminded me of the Gossip Girl characters Blair and Serena, as these young women navigate their changing lives […] read full post >>

After the experience of reading 13 books this semester, I feel that I have a new understanding of reading. This semester is a process. For the first few weeks, I was excited about the articles I was about to read and felt a constant ability to support myself towards them, but when the interest became … Continue reading Conclusions → read full post >>

Although I’m happy to be ending this exhausting and long semester I’m sad to conclude this course. I have found Romance Studies interesting and eye-opening and I loved the format of the course. I liked the use of contract grading and wish I had more classes that used the same format, as it was a […] read full post >>

 At the start of this semester, I was unsure of what to expect from the texts. I was excited at the prospect of reading new books every week by authors that I would not have explored otherwise. This course allowed me to become acquainted with more cultures, literary movements, and geographical regions. Moreover, it allowed me to explore new themes such as betrayal, family, and death in unique ways. 

I also thoroughly enjoyed the discussions in class because of the varying opinions that we got to explore. More than anything, I appreciated the fact that we were able to express all of our opinions, both negative and positive. I believe that allowed us to really understand the various layers of the text and analyze the texts in the best way possible. I also enjoyed writing the blog posts and how they allowed us to explore whichever part of the text we felt the strongest about. 

The text that stood out to me from this course would be The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal. I enjoyed her writing style and the storyline immensely. Moreover, I enjoyed the narration of the plot from beyond the grave. It was unlike anything that I had ever read before, and I enjoyed reading about the family dynamics and relationships of the narrator. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this course and am super glad to have come across it! It allowed me to step outside my comfort zone with the books I read and definitely honed my critical thinking skills. It was great meeting and interacting with everyone 🙂

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 At the start of this semester, I was unsure of what to expect from the texts. I was excited at the prospect of reading new books every week by authors that I would not have explored otherwise. This course allowed me to become acquainted with more cultures, literary movements, and geographical regions. Moreover, it allowed me to explore new themes such as betrayal, family, and death in unique ways. 

I also thoroughly enjoyed the discussions in class because of the varying opinions that we got to explore. More than anything, I appreciated the fact that we were able to express all of our opinions, both negative and positive. I believe that allowed us to really understand the various layers of the text and analyze the texts in the best way possible. I also enjoyed writing the blog posts and how they allowed us to explore whichever part of the text we felt the strongest about. 

The text that stood out to me from this course would be The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal. I enjoyed her writing style and the storyline immensely. Moreover, I enjoyed the narration of the plot from beyond the grave. It was unlike anything that I had ever read before, and I enjoyed reading about the family dynamics and relationships of the narrator. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this course and am super glad to have come across it! It allowed me to step outside my comfort zone with the books I read and definitely honed my critical thinking skills. It was great meeting and interacting with everyone 🙂

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This is another surreal novel，which are often associated with those ethereal things, just like the theme of this novel-dream or a dreamer. Under Jose’s pen, his articles are very beautiful and colorful. You can see rainbows, blue houses, blue whales in the sky, avocado trees and more. We found a reunion of four different type … Continue reading Review of The Society of Reluctant Dreamers → read full post >>

I really enjoyed this book and I wish I had more time to spend reading and enjoying it. I found there to be a lot of different dimensions within it, such as the relationships and dynamics between the girls and the other characters, the opposing classes, the use of language and education, the violence, the […] read full post >>

Hi there, It’s been a long 13 weeks of intense reading, writing thought-provoking posts, and commenting on others’ interpretations of... read full post >>