Please use categories and/or tags when writing your blog posts. Use categories to indicate the author (Proust or Arlt etc.), and tags for key concepts or topics covered. Remember also to include a question for discussion.
Check out the Blog Post Awards 2024 for further inspiration.
Javier Cercas, Soldiers of Salamis
Posted by: feedwordpress
This week's reading, Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas, was a long but entertaining read. The three parts and the switch between fact and fiction made it stand out from the previous novels we have read.
The fictional Cercas describes his growing fascination with the story in the first part when he learns about the night Sánchez Mazas is to be executed in the forest, and the Republican soldier who hunts for him amongst the trees finds in him yet turns away and lets him live. The second part tells the story of Mazas before his capture and intended execution. The third part is more fiction, where the journalist Cercas is determined to seek out the Republican solider who let Sánchez Mazas go free. These three parts and the switch between fact and fiction, although confusing, made me an attentive reader and helped me remain interested through this long read.
This book had a lot to do with history and took place during the Spanish Civil war. I don't read many books about war or know much history about the context of this book, so all the content was new. Still, with the book switching between fact and fiction, it had me at parts confused or searching things up to put them in the proper context of the book. However, after reading books that are so different from what I normally read during this class, I have been made more open as a reader and it has also become a learning experience.
Getting closer to the end of this term, it's hard not to create connections with the past readings. It was interesting to see Bolano make an appearance in the last section of the book, it definitely made reading his name more interesting after reading Amulet last week. Also, memory again was a huge theme in this novel and is a theme that has been brought to attention in most of the books we have read so far. From coming across this theme of memory quite a lot this term, it is interesting to compare and contrast how each author interprets memory in the novels. For W., we are told the memory of childhood can go on affecting life. For Amulet, we are shown the memories of how a single instance of trauma can affect memory and the future. Then in Soldiers of Salamis, we are seeing how memories can be formed by other people’s recollections.
My question for the class is: How do you think the authors in our previous readings interpret memory in comparison to Cercas?
Soldiers of Salamis
Posted by: feedwordpress
Cercas, Soilders of Salamis
Posted by: feedwordpress
Soldiers of Salamis, Javier Cercas
Posted by: feedwordpress
The Game of Two Truths and a Lie in Soldiers of Salamis
Posted by: feedwordpress
Soldiers of Salamis
Posted by: feedwordpress
‘Soldiers of Salamis’
Posted by: feedwordpress
In the books we’ve been reading there has been a recurring theme of distrust in the information being presented. This distrust could be due to faulty memories, trauma, or merely the truth changing over the years after being told and retold. This book was no different, its a fiction that almost didn’t feel like fiction. All three parts of the book were enjoyable in different ways, with the last part being my favorite. We start reading about an unhappy journalist who has a writer inside him waiting to be unleashed. He tried to become the writer he wanted to be and even published books that people actually read, he didn’t see himself as a real writer. Every time he came across someone who mentioned his books, he’d make a joke that they were the only person who bought his books. The narrator then decides that if he were to write another novel, it would be a 'true tale' and he went on pursuing the facts. I was rooting for him. Even though I was not too excited about the topic of his novel. Why this seemingly insignificant moment about an unheroic fascist?
When the second part of the book came along, I wasn’t too excited. Did I really want to read about Mazas? It was still interesting, as war stories often are. The best part about it was perhaps the very end. When we see Mazas amounting to nothing. He did not succeed at being a politician nor the best writer he could be. I think the best description of him is - unheroic.
The third part was my favorite. The conversations with Balano were great and were especially enjoyable after having read Amulet last week. Talking to Balano led him to get in touch with the most important person he’d interviewed the whole time. He had to make a ridiculous amount of phone calls to meet him but he was the part of his story that had been missing. He was the missing piece of the puzzle. He was the person who gave him more clarity and helped him envision the novel he always wanted. He was the hero. My question to you is: in the novel, three people shared their thoughts on what it means to be a hero. What is your definition of a hero?
‘Soldiers of Salamis’
Posted by: feedwordpress
In the books we’ve been reading there has been a recurring theme of distrust in the information being presented. This distrust could be due to faulty memories, trauma, or merely the truth changing over the years after being told and retold. This book was no different, its a fiction that almost didn’t feel like fiction. All three parts of the book were enjoyable in different ways, with the last part being my favorite. We start reading about an unhappy journalist who has a writer inside him waiting to be unleashed. He tried to become the writer he wanted to be and even published books that people actually read, he didn’t see himself as a real writer. Every time he came across someone who mentioned his books, he’d make a joke that they were the only person who bought his books. The narrator then decides that if he were to write another novel, it would be a 'true tale' and he went on pursuing the facts. I was rooting for him. Even though I was not too excited about the topic of his novel. Why this seemingly insignificant moment about an unheroic fascist?
When the second part of the book came along, I wasn’t too excited. Did I really want to read about Mazas? It was still interesting, as war stories often are. The best part about it was perhaps the very end. When we see Mazas amounting to nothing. He did not succeed at being a politician nor the best writer he could be. I think the best description of him is - unheroic.
The third part was my favorite. The conversations with Balano were great and were especially enjoyable after having read Amulet last week. Talking to Balano led him to get in touch with the most important person he’d interviewed the whole time. He had to make a ridiculous amount of phone calls to meet him but he was the part of his story that had been missing. He was the missing piece of the puzzle. He was the person who gave him more clarity and helped him envision the novel he always wanted. He was the hero. My question to you is: in the novel, three people shared their thoughts on what it means to be a hero. What is your definition of a hero?
Cercas’ “Soldiers of Salamis”
Posted by: feedwordpress
Week 11 – My thoughts on Javier Cercas’ “Soldiers of Salamis”
Posted by: feedwordpress
