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While reading ‘The Trenchcoat’ by Norman Manea, I was reminded greatly of two books written in a similar time period and location. The first of which was, ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’, by Milan Kundera, and the other being, ‘The Reader... read full post >>

Norman Manea’s short novella called “The Trenchcoat” in the book “Compulsory Happiness” has a simple title that is straight to... read full post >>

There was a choice between Norman Manea’s The Trenchcoat and Carlos Fuentes’ The Old Gringo for this week’s reading. As the name of this blog post indicates, I chose the latter, but hen I heard about Norman Manea joining in on a class discussion, I questioned whether I made the right decision. However, although it would have […] read full post >>

 Similarly to Proust's novel, The Old Gringo was another novel that I already had on my TBR list before starting this class, so I'm glad to have had the opportunity/excuse to read it now. I did enjoy reading it, despite it feeling a little convoluted at times. The relationships in particular were a little difficult to follow because it sometimes felt like things changed and dynamics shifted without me really noticing. Somewhat like accidentally missing a couple episodes of a series and suddenly being confused. 

Harriet Winslow's relationships with Arroyo and the Gringo (who we later find is Ambrose Bierce unless you watch the lecture first) are notably difficult to follow. There were times when I couldn't figure out if Harriet was attracted to Arroyo, or faking it, or liked him, or hated him, or any combination of the four. The Gringo's relationship with her was strange too; an odd in-between of paternal and romantic that I can't quite decipher, though to be fair, neither can the characters themselves.

Other than romance, the main themes that stuck out to me in the novel were those of memory, trauma, bitterness, and revenge. All of those themes are tightly interconnected with each other, and also fit in nicely with many of the other books we have read as part of the course. I feel like almost (if not all) the novels we have read have had links with memory, predominantly negative memories and emotions, and this is no exception.

I know that others have mentioned the poetic aspect of the novel. Though my translation seems to have less of it than others', my favourite poetic snippet was at the end of Chapter 10 (my pdf has no page numbers :/ ) saying "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of felony". As far as I know, the usual lyrics of the song have the word "liberty" instead of "felony", so I find it very interesting that an American character would switch out the word used. I also find it apt because of the numerous examples, both contemporary and historical, of America and other Western countries being built off the backs of crime and injustice, where to hail freedom can be considered hypocrisy. 

As mentioned earlier, there seem to be times where two opposites are coming to a head, and we are confronted with both sides of one coin, so to speak. Love and hate, attraction and repulsion are two pairs, but the one that stood out to me most was Harriet's distaste for hiding jewels behind the figure of Jesus on the cross. I thought it was interesting because it was a contrast that wouldn't have immediately occurred to me without being pointed out, and it makes sense to me now that it has been pointed out. 

My question this week: what do you think could have driven the gringo to seek his death in Mexico?

read full post >>

 Similarly to Proust's novel, The Old Gringo was another novel that I already had on my TBR list before starting this class, so I'm glad to have had the opportunity/excuse to read it now. I did enjoy reading it, despite it feeling a little convoluted at times. The relationships in particular were a little difficult to follow because it sometimes felt like things changed and dynamics shifted without me really noticing. Somewhat like accidentally missing a couple episodes of a series and suddenly being confused. 

Harriet Winslow's relationships with Arroyo and the Gringo (who we later find is Ambrose Bierce unless you watch the lecture first) are notably difficult to follow. There were times when I couldn't figure out if Harriet was attracted to Arroyo, or faking it, or liked him, or hated him, or any combination of the four. The Gringo's relationship with her was strange too; an odd in-between of paternal and romantic that I can't quite decipher, though to be fair, neither can the characters themselves.

Other than romance, the main themes that stuck out to me in the novel were those of memory, trauma, bitterness, and revenge. All of those themes are tightly interconnected with each other, and also fit in nicely with many of the other books we have read as part of the course. I feel like almost (if not all) the novels we have read have had links with memory, predominantly negative memories and emotions, and this is no exception.

I know that others have mentioned the poetic aspect of the novel. Though my translation seems to have less of it than others', my favourite poetic snippet was at the end of Chapter 10 (my pdf has no page numbers :/ ) saying "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of felony". As far as I know, the usual lyrics of the song have the word "liberty" instead of "felony", so I find it very interesting that an American character would switch out the word used. I also find it apt because of the numerous examples, both contemporary and historical, of America and other Western countries being built off the backs of crime and injustice, where to hail freedom can be considered hypocrisy. 

As mentioned earlier, there seem to be times where two opposites are coming to a head, and we are confronted with both sides of one coin, so to speak. Love and hate, attraction and repulsion are two pairs, but the one that stood out to me most was Harriet's distaste for hiding jewels behind the figure of Jesus on the cross. I thought it was interesting because it was a contrast that wouldn't have immediately occurred to me without being pointed out, and it makes sense to me now that it has been pointed out. 

My question this week: what do you think could have driven the gringo to seek his death in Mexico?

read full post >>

This novel written by Carlos Fuentes really brought more questions for me than answers. Which is something I enjoy while reading. One thing that I did notice was that it was difficult to follow along with the story since it was difficult to stay engaged with the reading as I got lost in the words. […] read full post >>

Like some of my peers in the class, I also watched the lecture before reading the text, and I feel like I will continue to do so for the remainder of the readings. The context of the Romanian communism and the censorship that Manea had to endure to write and publish this story is something […] read full post >>

The start of this work interested me as it began in media res and I was excited to have a plot driven novella. At the beginning, with the talk of how people don’t have parties anymore and are ready to kill for a drop of gas, I was drawing parallels to our current situation today. […] read full post >>

In The Old Gringo, Mexican author, Carlos Fuentes, sets his story during the violence and war period of the Mexican Revolution. Peculiarly, instead of focusing on a Mexican protagonist, Fuentes instead chooses to focus the plot of his novel on a North American character named Ambrose Pierce, who was a real historical figure. In his […] read full post >>

The Old Gringo was definitely one of my favorite reads so far in this course. The book title really caught me off guard and I was surprised with how the storyline went. Knowing that the term “gringo” is used by the Latino community to describe a caucasian white male. If I may add, a caucasian […] read full post >>