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Thoughts on Mercé Rodoreda’s “The Time of the Doves”: An Acidic Apathy
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The time of doves blog post
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The time of doves blog post
This week I chose to read the time of the doves. When I first began to read this novel, it was definitely a bit more difficult for me to engage myself. I found it more challenging and less of a page turner in comparison to Agostino or Bonjour Tristesse. Thankfully it was ‘reading’ week, because it ended up taking me the whole week on/off with splitting up the text. But overall, I found the storyline to be a bit more depressing for sure, which could partially explain why it took me longer than normal.
What stood out the most to me was the relationship between the characters Quimet and Natalia. It was definitely frustrating to read their relationship and to see the type of power he held over her. From the start, he was following his own agenda and would not be considerate for the time she spent waiting for him, his schedule and orders,. Not only that, but he was disrespectful towards his mother which in turn makes sense in regards to his aggressive nature towards Natalia as well if he was somehow able to get away with it towards her. This is an unfortunate dynamic in relationships when one individual is overly apologetic and forgiving, while the partner remains strictly focused on themselves. Moreover, when someone in Natalia’s life comes along who is genuinely more positive for her, she is so emotionally wrapped up with Quimet that she chooses to stay. I think this really stood out to me because I think that Quimet is an excellent example of many types of men in this world that are often in relationships with women similar to Natalia. (but definitely a bit more extreme). This unhealthy and abusive dynamic between the two keeps one another attached, but thankfully not forever. Additionally, I find it very unfortunate that Natalia is unable to find the strength within herself to leave a man this toxic for her. This is something that now that I have gotten older, I have watched others around me experience and it is simply awful, with either Quimet or Natalia’s role in it.
Overall, it was not my favourite read in comparison to the previous two novels, but I am excited to discuss and listen further in class. My question for this novel is whether Natalia should've taken it upon herself to remove herself sooner from her relationship with Quimet?
The time of doves blog post
Posted by: feedwordpress
The time of doves blog post
This week I chose to read the time of the doves. When I first began to read this novel, it was definitely a bit more difficult for me to engage myself. I found it more challenging and less of a page turner in comparison to Agostino or Bonjour Tristesse. Thankfully it was ‘reading’ week, because it ended up taking me the whole week on/off with splitting up the text. But overall, I found the storyline to be a bit more depressing for sure, which could partially explain why it took me longer than normal.
What stood out the most to me was the relationship between the characters Quimet and Natalia. It was definitely frustrating to read their relationship and to see the type of power he held over her. From the start, he was following his own agenda and would not be considerate for the time she spent waiting for him, his schedule and orders,. Not only that, but he was disrespectful towards his mother which in turn makes sense in regards to his aggressive nature towards Natalia as well if he was somehow able to get away with it towards her. This is an unfortunate dynamic in relationships when one individual is overly apologetic and forgiving, while the partner remains strictly focused on themselves. Moreover, when someone in Natalia’s life comes along who is genuinely more positive for her, she is so emotionally wrapped up with Quimet that she chooses to stay. I think this really stood out to me because I think that Quimet is an excellent example of many types of men in this world that are often in relationships with women similar to Natalia. (but definitely a bit more extreme). This unhealthy and abusive dynamic between the two keeps one another attached, but thankfully not forever. Additionally, I find it very unfortunate that Natalia is unable to find the strength within herself to leave a man this toxic for her. This is something that now that I have gotten older, I have watched others around me experience and it is simply awful, with either Quimet or Natalia’s role in it.
Overall, it was not my favourite read in comparison to the previous two novels, but I am excited to discuss and listen further in class. My question for this novel is whether Natalia should've taken it upon herself to remove herself sooner from her relationship with Quimet?
Week 7, The Passion According to G.H
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The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda
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The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda
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“The Passion According to G.H” by Clarice Lispecter
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The time of Doves, Rodoreda
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The Passion According to G.H
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Philosophy, Poetry and Passion According to GH
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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?
