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As a philosophy major, I really enjoyed the opening of the novel, however, this book very quickly turned into nonsense for me and I found myself uninterested to even try to follow along. I think this is probably my least favourite novel thus far, and what made it difficult to read personally was a lack […] read full post >>

 To me, the book read as if a philosopher was attempting to merge a book of existential meditations with a series of poems into a long-form fiction novel. In one sense, trying to decipher some of the more abstract passages, the journey read exactly like that. I'd begin to pick it apart in a more logical sense, searching for the p's and q's beneath the words, before realizing that it was underscored by a more mystical thought process, and dig through the imagery of the line, before circling back and comparing to the "story" as a whole. The whole process of this left me a bit winded, to be honest.

Along these ramblings and soul-searches, bits and pieces can be pulled out to illustrate how the philosophical slides into the poetic, and in many parts, the down-right strange and intense. Here are some of the more existential "proofs" I enjoyed, where there is an idea of logic underpinning the sentence, and it builds to a realizing point. 

“courage isn’t being alive, knowing that you’re alive is courage”

"a world fully alive has the power of a hell"

“Experiencing that taste of the nothing was my damnation and my joyful terror.”

“When one is one’s own nucleus, one has no more deviations. ”

At points, these series of ideas, imagery and inner dialogue can push into really poetic and beautiful territory, where in few words, contrasts and ideas and given more clarity and power. Here are a few choice "poems"--to me some of the most beautiful lines--lines which could be sung:

“No longer even fear, no longer even fright.”

“Amidst the liquid din, our mouths were moving speaking, and in fact we only saw the moving mouths ”

“Neutral love. The neutral was whispering.”

Where it branches off truly into strange-land, the ideas are thrown at the reader like a toddler throwing paint at a wall, except the paint is full of grim imagery. Here the dialogue is reaching it's boiling, climactic points, and the visceral wordplay accentuates that idea. These passages come together in intense and wierd passages that are pushing both the existential and the poetic into an omen of the realization to come.

“To build a possible soul — a soul whose head does not devour its own tail — the law commands us to keep only to what is disguisedly alive. And the law commands that, whoever eats of the unclean, must do so unawares”

“Hell is the mouth that bites and eats the living flesh with its blood, and the one being eaten howls with delight in his eye”

“The secret of my millennial trajectory of orgy and death and glory and thirst until I finally found what I had always had, and for that I had had to die first.”

Overall, I enjoyed the writing, but I read a bit about how the interplay with the language itself was very important in reading Lispector, so I wonder how some of it would have translated back into Portuguese.

Question: Was the monologue deliberately so drawn out so as to bring these ideas out in an abstract and natural light, or could it have been delivered more succinctly? Would it have had the same impact?

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 To me, the book read as if a philosopher was attempting to merge a book of existential meditations with a series of poems into a long-form fiction novel. In one sense, trying to decipher some of the more abstract passages, the journey read exactly like that. I'd begin to pick it apart in a more logical sense, searching for the p's and q's beneath the words, before realizing that it was underscored by a more mystical thought process, and dig through the imagery of the line, before circling back and comparing to the "story" as a whole. The whole process of this left me a bit winded, to be honest.

Along these ramblings and soul-searches, bits and pieces can be pulled out to illustrate how the philosophical slides into the poetic, and in many parts, the down-right strange and intense. Here are some of the more existential "proofs" I enjoyed, where there is an idea of logic underpinning the sentence, and it builds to a realizing point. 

“courage isn’t being alive, knowing that you’re alive is courage”

"a world fully alive has the power of a hell"

“Experiencing that taste of the nothing was my damnation and my joyful terror.”

“When one is one’s own nucleus, one has no more deviations. ”

At points, these series of ideas, imagery and inner dialogue can push into really poetic and beautiful territory, where in few words, contrasts and ideas and given more clarity and power. Here are a few choice "poems"--to me some of the most beautiful lines--lines which could be sung:

“No longer even fear, no longer even fright.”

“Amidst the liquid din, our mouths were moving speaking, and in fact we only saw the moving mouths ”

“Neutral love. The neutral was whispering.”

Where it branches off truly into strange-land, the ideas are thrown at the reader like a toddler throwing paint at a wall, except the paint is full of grim imagery. Here the dialogue is reaching it's boiling, climactic points, and the visceral wordplay accentuates that idea. These passages come together in intense and wierd passages that are pushing both the existential and the poetic into an omen of the realization to come.

“To build a possible soul — a soul whose head does not devour its own tail — the law commands us to keep only to what is disguisedly alive. And the law commands that, whoever eats of the unclean, must do so unawares”

“Hell is the mouth that bites and eats the living flesh with its blood, and the one being eaten howls with delight in his eye”

“The secret of my millennial trajectory of orgy and death and glory and thirst until I finally found what I had always had, and for that I had had to die first.”

Overall, I enjoyed the writing, but I read a bit about how the interplay with the language itself was very important in reading Lispector, so I wonder how some of it would have translated back into Portuguese.

Question: Was the monologue deliberately so drawn out so as to bring these ideas out in an abstract and natural light, or could it have been delivered more succinctly? Would it have had the same impact?

read full post >>

This was a difficult read for me and I struggled to grasp the true meaning of the book. However, the novel was beautifully written, and almost sounded or flowed like poetry. Lispector’s use of poetic style created a mystical and eccentric atmosphere when reading.    It appears as if the narrator, “G.H”, is going through an existential …

Continue reading "Blog Post 6- Lispector"

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I found this novel exceedingly difficult to read. Sure, I liked individual lines amid the stream-of-consciousness style of prose, such as the early line, “I thought that throbbing was being a person” (6). However, for the most part, I found it to be an unnecessarily redundant read. Point blank, it said a lot of nothing. […] read full post >>

 The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda is a captivating story with a unique protagonist. Initially, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about Natalia, the narrator. My emotions swung from sympathy to shock to frustration while reading about her. However, as the book progressed, her character developed as she learned to adapt to her circumstances. Oddly enough, this made me enjoy the book even more. It was interesting to see how she navigated life in a begrudging marriage and during a war. 

I found the dynamic that Rodoreda created between Natalia and Quimet symbolic of the traditional 'submissive woman/dominating man' dynamic. Quimet was a controlling man who more or less declared that Natalia would be his wife after one encounter in the town square. Additionally, he finds ways to measure up the pain that she has felt with himself to prove that she cannot outdo him in any way. This was evident when he compared having a tapeworm to childbirth, claiming that they had been through a similar level of pain now.

What is noteworthy during their interaction is his nickname for her, Colometa, which means dove. Throughout the book, we see Quimet's obsession with doves through collecting and breeding them in their house. I find this to be symbolic of how he views his relationship with Natalia as well, his so-called dove. He views her as his property, something he can collect and control. 

Thus, Natalia's hatred for the doves is a powerful indication of her rebellion against him and his behavior. When she receives news of Quimet's death, the last dove also dies, marking the end of their relationship too. 

Additionally, it is also important to note how the author has described the effects of war on an average civilian. Natalia never goes too in-depth about the war and who is fighting; this could indicate how she does not care for the politics of the war. All she focused on was her children and keeping them alive. It was devastating to read about her consideration of killing her and her children so that they would die of their own will and not because of the effects of the war. 

Overall, I found this book to be a fascinating read, despite the certain level of predictability it possessed. My question for everyone else would be: what do you think of Natalia's relationship with her children? Do you think she was a good parent?

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 The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda is a captivating story with a unique protagonist. Initially, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about Natalia, the narrator. My emotions swung from sympathy to shock to frustration while reading about her. However, as the book progressed, her character developed as she learned to adapt to her circumstances. Oddly enough, this made me enjoy the book even more. It was interesting to see how she navigated life in a begrudging marriage and during a war. 

I found the dynamic that Rodoreda created between Natalia and Quimet symbolic of the traditional 'submissive woman/dominating man' dynamic. Quimet was a controlling man who more or less declared that Natalia would be his wife after one encounter in the town square. Additionally, he finds ways to measure up the pain that she has felt with himself to prove that she cannot outdo him in any way. This was evident when he compared having a tapeworm to childbirth, claiming that they had been through a similar level of pain now.

What is noteworthy during their interaction is his nickname for her, Colometa, which means dove. Throughout the book, we see Quimet's obsession with doves through collecting and breeding them in their house. I find this to be symbolic of how he views his relationship with Natalia as well, his so-called dove. He views her as his property, something he can collect and control. 

Thus, Natalia's hatred for the doves is a powerful indication of her rebellion against him and his behavior. When she receives news of Quimet's death, the last dove also dies, marking the end of their relationship too. 

Additionally, it is also important to note how the author has described the effects of war on an average civilian. Natalia never goes too in-depth about the war and who is fighting; this could indicate how she does not care for the politics of the war. All she focused on was her children and keeping them alive. It was devastating to read about her consideration of killing her and her children so that they would die of their own will and not because of the effects of the war. 

Overall, I found this book to be a fascinating read, despite the certain level of predictability it possessed. My question for everyone else would be: what do you think of Natalia's relationship with her children? Do you think she was a good parent?

read full post >>

This week I decided to read The Time of the Doves by Mercé Rodoreda. I really felt a difference engaging with the novel by having the paper copy rather than a PDF. I really enjoyed reading Rodoreda’s detail and uses of literary devices such as “cool as a cucumber”(pg.25) and “raining cats and dogs”(pg.67). At …

Continue reading "The Time of the Doves by Mercé Rodoreda"

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    Introspection, dread and existentialism: these were the primary themes which came to mind while reading Lispector’s “The Passion According to G.H.” The story itself is a strange piece of fiction. It reads more as a frenzied confession from a madwoman—or if not mad, recently informed of life’s secrets through some traumatic event and left unable […] read full post >>

Clarice Lispector’s article is indeed very obscure for someone like me who doesn’t have much exposure to literature. In the article, she asked herself “could I now start thinking”? But the whole book is full of profound and philosophical thinking, making readers unable to help thinking along the author’s words. She discusses every little detail … Continue reading Reply on The Passion According to G. H → read full post >>