Student Blogs

In my previous post, “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers”, I mentioned that I am currently feeling a little foggy because of Covid. Today is supposed to be my last day of exile… I mean quarantine… so hopefully, I will see you all in class tomorrow? Anyway, my thoughts on the class; I really enjoyed this […] read full post >>

I must say this course was a breath of fresh air (cliche, I know…). But for real, being able to guide ourselves through each week was nice. It wasn’t just sitting in a lecture hall with a professor talking at you and expecting you to retain all information imaginable for a test in a couple […] read full post >>

I am going to be honest, I tested positive for Covid on Wednesday of last week and because of that reading, this book was quite difficult. I don’t know if it’s the book or the illness my body is trying to fight off but I found the plot very difficult to follow. I am half-tempted […] read full post >>

I really liked how this book begins. It made the read more intriguing that it began with the disappearance of... read full post >>

After reading Elena Ferrante’s “My Brilliant Friend”, a novel I found out late is the first in a four part series titled the “Neapolitan novels”, I found myself completely spellbound and enraptured by a novel in a way that I hadn’t been in a while. On its surface this feeling perplexed me, as I found […] read full post >>

This novel was, in a sense, eye-opening for me. I find this to be mainly due to the unfortunate circumstances that Lila and Elena endured from such a young age. From poverty to violence and just a struggle of trying to find a way to be something when surrounded by negativity. It really brought a […] read full post >>

I am honestly having a minor crisis about nearly being done with my first year of uni because I basically feel 16 still but I going to ignore that for now. This term has been genuinely awful in many way but this class was actually not a contributer for that which was very pleasant for me. I have not read as much as I did this term in so long and while I definitely did not enjoy all the books I picked I always found them interesting. Not even going to try to pretend I always closely read the book of the week, sometimes it was more of a 'yes I am certainly reading a book right now' vibe when I really just wanted to get the general plotline down and finish a blog post but, there was more times than I expected when I genuinely sat down and got really into what I was reading. Great example would be me curled up under my desk (it just seemed right) to read the entirity of Bounjour Tristesse with only a small break in order to cringe at everything I just read. 

Anywayyy. I literally said this in my last blog post but I was incredibly skeptical of how on Earth these books could share similarities when they are all so different in origin. It was really interesting to begin to make connections between them all, even the ones I didn't understand too well. I am not going to even try to speculate ~why~ they all share these things because it honestly makes no sense and I almost feel like without also reading texts from not romance languages theres no way to tell that this isn't just like a overall thing I hadn't thought about before. Language is really weird, the fact that a common language family could be the cause of like an underlying similarity isn't exactly surprising to me but it's still really cool. This class will probably stick in my mind a bit for the rest of my life, I do not think I'll be able to read any book again without taking a moment to see if it also shares similarities or not. Not upset about it by any means, usually I forget everything I learn as soon as I am done with a class but it is always nice when something sticks with me, makes me feel accomplished I guess. My final question relates to this, does anyone else think these similarities and connections we learnt about will affect the way they look at literature from here on out? 

Thats enough rambling from me 😀 

Good luck on finals everyone :)) 

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I am honestly having a minor crisis about nearly being done with my first year of uni because I basically feel 16 still but I going to ignore that for now. This term has been genuinely awful in many way but this class was actually not a contributer for that which was very pleasant for me. I have not read as much as I did this term in so long and while I definitely did not enjoy all the books I picked I always found them interesting. Not even going to try to pretend I always closely read the book of the week, sometimes it was more of a 'yes I am certainly reading a book right now' vibe when I really just wanted to get the general plotline down and finish a blog post but, there was more times than I expected when I genuinely sat down and got really into what I was reading. Great example would be me curled up under my desk (it just seemed right) to read the entirity of Bounjour Tristesse with only a small break in order to cringe at everything I just read. 

Anywayyy. I literally said this in my last blog post but I was incredibly skeptical of how on Earth these books could share similarities when they are all so different in origin. It was really interesting to begin to make connections between them all, even the ones I didn't understand too well. I am not going to even try to speculate ~why~ they all share these things because it honestly makes no sense and I almost feel like without also reading texts from not romance languages theres no way to tell that this isn't just like a overall thing I hadn't thought about before. Language is really weird, the fact that a common language family could be the cause of like an underlying similarity isn't exactly surprising to me but it's still really cool. This class will probably stick in my mind a bit for the rest of my life, I do not think I'll be able to read any book again without taking a moment to see if it also shares similarities or not. Not upset about it by any means, usually I forget everything I learn as soon as I am done with a class but it is always nice when something sticks with me, makes me feel accomplished I guess. My final question relates to this, does anyone else think these similarities and connections we learnt about will affect the way they look at literature from here on out? 

Thats enough rambling from me 😀 

Good luck on finals everyone :)) 

read full post >>

To conclude the term, I want to say that this course is different from what I had initially expected. I did not expect to be exploring the themes that I have in this class, including but not limited to; memory, war, betrayal, and loss. To start off, I enjoyed most of the texts in the […] read full post >>

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! 

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      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.

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