Student Blogs

This week’s reading was challenging for me to understand. The main concept I gravitated towards during “Combray” is his multifaceted relationship and/or reliance on his mother. This is what I want to further unpack (from my understanding) and question in my blog post this week. Marcel spends a lot of time reflecting on his past […] read full post >>

This week’s reading was a bit difficult for me to fully understand the message around the story. For my blog post this week, I decided to focus in on the message surrounding the authors desire for affection from his mother, and memories. A big theme for the story was the idea of memories. Proust touches …

Continue reading "Proust “Combray”"

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The first thing that stood out to me was the ‘invalid at midnight’. He is excited because he thinks he sees the light, that his ‘journey’ is over, but it is the servants turning off the lantern, and he will have to suffer the whole night. At first, I thought this had religious undertones, but […] read full post >>

Hello all, My name is Suroor Mansouri and I am a Psychology major in my third year, trying to cover avenues outside the scientific and neurological domains of my field. I have been taking numerous creative writing and literature classes to study how moods, themes, and senses that we study in psychology intertwine in prose. […] read full post >>

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! read full post >>

When reading the "combray" part, I clearly understood the author's unique writing style and thus recorded some of my insights into the author's articles.The author takes his thoughts as the central point and combines his feelings and vague associations... read full post >>

When reading the "combray" part, I clearly understood the author's unique writing style and thus recorded some of my insights into the author's articles.The author takes his thoughts as the central point and combines his feelings and vague associations... read full post >>

My initial observation of ‘Combray’ included the overwhelming amount of detail the narrator uses to describe his feelings and his surroundings. I did not particularly enjoy such attention to detail, as the narrator’s descriptive language at specific parts of the novel did not seem pertinent. However, such vivid descriptions seemingly indicate the observant and perceptive […] read full post >>

Hello Everyone, Reading Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust reminded me greatly of Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I had to read the Notes from the Underground for a philosophy class; as challenging as it was, the moment I finally understood it, (though I feel that I could read it an endless amount of […] read full post >>

My name is Sam Wallace. I was born in North York, Ontario, but moved to what my parents affectionately refer to as the “wild west” long before my earliest memories. In school, I always wanted to major in English. I wrote a short story in second grade which my teacher went on to include in […] read full post >>

 Let me preface all this by saying that I did not understand what I was reading, and this was further emphasised to me when I read the sparknotes pages after finishing "Combray".

I really wanted to fall in love with this text. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust has an almost revered place in my home; my stepdad, who is at the beloved centre of our family first read Swann's Way when he was my current age (20), albeit in the Persian translation. Since then, he has read it in English too, and is learning French for the sole purpose of being able to read all seven volumes of this masterful novel in the original language. I'm not kidding, Proust is the reason why he is learning French, and why the act of language-learning is a constant for us all.

I didn't understand what was going on at all. I didn't even realise that things were going on. I didn't pick up a plot, I couldn't follow the paragraph-long sentences—may I refer to a 192-word long sentence about buttercups—I was just lost. I remember asking my stepdad, who is a very intelligent man, if he understood what was going on when he was reading it for the first time at my age. He said that he didn't, and that felt a little validating, to be honest.

Nonetheless, I did pick up a few small things. Now obviously, Marcel Proust and the narrator come from an affluent, upper-class background and, as with many writings from the early 20th century, there's going to be some analysis about social class. I really liked the part of the story where he speculates about the appearance of the Duchess. He has all these theories and ideas about what she's going to look like, before actually seeing her and being disappointed by her mundane-ness. She just looks like any other person in his social circle. She just looks like a person.

I'm sure that people have idolised the appearances of the upper class for many, many years. I think of European monarchs in the 1500s who would have portraits commissioned with their flaws concealed and their youth exaggerated, just to have the paintings taken around the country for their subjects to see what they supposedly looked like. I imagine there's always been this notion that higher class automatically means more beauty, so it's thought-provoking to see that notion shatter before the narrator's eyes.

Also, I didn't like that he pretends that Gilberte and the Duchess' eyes are blue, just because he associates blue eyes with beauty. Sure, go on about beauty standards and all that but let it be known that I stand with my fellow brown-eyed people and would like to make it clear that brown eyes are also very beautiful and they deserve as much hype as blue eyes.

My question upon reading this part of the novel is that to what extent is the narrator's relationship with each of his parents normal and/or healthy? Because I'm seeing some Oedipal subtexts and I can't say I enjoy it.

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 Let me preface all this by saying that I did not understand what I was reading, and this was further emphasised to me when I read the sparknotes pages after finishing "Combray".

I really wanted to fall in love with this text. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust has an almost revered place in my home; my stepdad, who is at the beloved centre of our family first read Swann's Way when he was my current age (20), albeit in the Persian translation. Since then, he has read it in English too, and is learning French for the sole purpose of being able to read all seven volumes of this masterful novel in the original language. I'm not kidding, Proust is the reason why he is learning French, and why the act of language-learning is a constant for us all.

I didn't understand what was going on at all. I didn't even realise that things were going on. I didn't pick up a plot, I couldn't follow the paragraph-long sentences—may I refer to a 192-word long sentence about buttercups—I was just lost. I remember asking my stepdad, who is a very intelligent man, if he understood what was going on when he was reading it for the first time at my age. He said that he didn't, and that felt a little validating, to be honest.

Nonetheless, I did pick up a few small things. Now obviously, Marcel Proust and the narrator come from an affluent, upper-class background and, as with many writings from the early 20th century, there's going to be some analysis about social class. I really liked the part of the story where he speculates about the appearance of the Duchess. He has all these theories and ideas about what she's going to look like, before actually seeing her and being disappointed by her mundane-ness. She just looks like any other person in his social circle. She just looks like a person.

I'm sure that people have idolised the appearances of the upper class for many, many years. I think of European monarchs in the 1500s who would have portraits commissioned with their flaws concealed and their youth exaggerated, just to have the paintings taken around the country for their subjects to see what they supposedly looked like. I imagine there's always been this notion that higher class automatically means more beauty, so it's thought-provoking to see that notion shatter before the narrator's eyes.

Also, I didn't like that he pretends that Gilberte and the Duchess' eyes are blue, just because he associates blue eyes with beauty. Sure, go on about beauty standards and all that but let it be known that I stand with my fellow brown-eyed people and would like to make it clear that brown eyes are also very beautiful and they deserve as much hype as blue eyes.

My question upon reading this part of the novel is that to what extent is the narrator's relationship with each of his parents normal and/or healthy? Because I'm seeing some Oedipal subtexts and I can't say I enjoy it.

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 Hi, 

My name is Shanaya Acharya and I am in my 3rd year at UBC. I am majoring in Psychology with a minor in Commerce. I am originally from Nepal but I have lived in Dubai my whole life and I consider it my home. Fun fact: I also have a twin sister who studies with me at UBC which made the whole process of going off to university a lot more fun and less scary. 

Honestly, I have always been nervous about taking any Literature courses. I have always shied away from literature courses because of how heavy the reading lists are and how difficult the readings can be. Additionally, although I enjoy reading,  I have always found it challenging to write essays evaluating and analyzing what I have read. However, this course really captured my interest because of its diversity in readings and I'm very intrigued to read novels that have divergent origins, such as those from France and Spain and from Africa as well. I am excited to read novels written by men and women from different time periods, exploring a wide range of topics. Even though there are quite a few readings, they seem very interesting and I am excited to explore the differences and similarities between these texts. 

I found it really interesting how, in the lecture, Romance studies was described as "belonging nowhere". I like how we are not being tied down to literatures from specific places and are learning literature in a more global perspective. I also liked how we analyzed "Romance languages". Rather than focusing on their relation to Latin, we focus on how they are diversified themselves away from Latin. Overall, I really liked how the lecture emphasized how Romance languages and learning and reading texts regarding Romance languages is something we can all share and does not have to be solely focused on a certain part of the world. I am excited to explore these texts and learn more about literature from so many various parts of the world. 

I am hoping that by the end of this course, I become more attuned and aware of literature from diverse parts of the world. I am excited to learn about literature stemming from different languages can be so different, yet, so similar as well. I expect this course to make me a more well-rounded individual and hopefully, make me less intimidated and scared to take other literature courses in the future. 

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 Hi, 

My name is Shanaya Acharya and I am in my 3rd year at UBC. I am majoring in Psychology with a minor in Commerce. I am originally from Nepal but I have lived in Dubai my whole life and I consider it my home. Fun fact: I also have a twin sister who studies with me at UBC which made the whole process of going off to university a lot more fun and less scary. 

Honestly, I have always been nervous about taking any Literature courses. I have always shied away from literature courses because of how heavy the reading lists are and how difficult the readings can be. Additionally, although I enjoy reading,  I have always found it challenging to write essays evaluating and analyzing what I have read. However, this course really captured my interest because of its diversity in readings and I'm very intrigued to read novels that have divergent origins, such as those from France and Spain and from Africa as well. I am excited to read novels written by men and women from different time periods, exploring a wide range of topics. Even though there are quite a few readings, they seem very interesting and I am excited to explore the differences and similarities between these texts. 

I found it really interesting how, in the lecture, Romance studies was described as "belonging nowhere". I like how we are not being tied down to literatures from specific places and are learning literature in a more global perspective. I also liked how we analyzed "Romance languages". Rather than focusing on their relation to Latin, we focus on how they are diversified themselves away from Latin. Overall, I really liked how the lecture emphasized how Romance languages and learning and reading texts regarding Romance languages is something we can all share and does not have to be solely focused on a certain part of the world. I am excited to explore these texts and learn more about literature from so many various parts of the world. 

I am hoping that by the end of this course, I become more attuned and aware of literature from diverse parts of the world. I am excited to learn about literature stemming from different languages can be so different, yet, so similar as well. I expect this course to make me a more well-rounded individual and hopefully, make me less intimidated and scared to take other literature courses in the future. 

read full post >>

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog. I would like to start by formally introducing myself. My name is Yasmin and I am second year student majoring in political science with a minor in sociology. I am originally from Afghanistan but immigrated to Canada back in 2009. I have always grown up with reading and writing […] read full post >>