Marcel Proust has written a truly in-depth and meticulously detailed story with Swann’s Way. When I first began reading the chapter Combray, I honestly resented it a bit. This is because every sentence seemed to be enriched with too much detail. It was confusing to read or fully immerse myself in the next. More frustratingly, I was flip-flopping […]
Posted in Blogs, Proust | Tagged with Awe, blog, nostalgia, Resentment, swanns way
I would like to start off by saying I really had no idea what I was getting myself into as I started reading “Combray” by Marcel Proust but, I will say that I was both pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised. As with almost all things, “Combray” had both pros and cons, both of which I would […]
Being sick and dealing with a headache while reading this book is like trying to make sense of the obscure patterns of a plaster ceiling while you lay in bed unable to sleep. As someone who isn’t usually challenged by works of literature like Combray or Swann’s Way, I often struggled to piece together the … Continue reading Thoughts on Combray
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with blog, reflection
Hello everyone! My name is Fiona Zeng and I am a third-year Economics and Commerce student here at UBC. After completing my post-secondary studies, I plan to work remotely in business while travelling around the world to explore new countries and create unforgettable memories. During early childhood, I was raised in Toronto before moving to […]
Posted in Blogs, Introduction | Tagged with blog
I can’t believe it’s already the last week. Wow, this semester went by quickly and I will miss this class. I initially took this class to fulfill my literature credits but I did enjoy it, along with the novels! There are very few university classes that I would consider “fun”, but this class would definitely […]
Posted in Blogs, Conclusion | Tagged with blog, end, reflection
In this final week of class, I have chosen to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers, which I found was an interesting story that ties in dreams, memories, and politics: the rich that benefit, the poor that suffer, and the quiet ones. The novel starts out with Daniel Benchimol who was getting a divorce from […]
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with blog, Dreams, love, memory, politics, protest
This week’s novel, Soldiers of Salamis written by Javier Cercas definitely felt like such a long read. Although, I was extremely thankful that I had a physical copy for this long novel because reading on a computer screen would definitely strain my eyes, and make the reading process longer. I found that it was interesting […]
Posted in Blogs, Cercas | Tagged with blog, dishonesty, soldier, traitor, war, writer
This week’s novel was Amulet, written by Roberto Bolano. The novel begins with the line, “this is going to be a horror story” (1), and my mind instantly thought of ghosts, demons, creepy dolls (watching Chucky at 5 years old has forever changed the way I see dolls). However, the narrator also claims that “it […]
Posted in Blogs, Bolaño | Tagged with blog, horror, memory, repetition, student movement
For this week, I have chosen to read “The Old Gringo” written by Carlos Fuentes, which from the book cover I thought this novel would be mainly focused on the Mexican revolution. However, there seemed to be so much more themes in this story. One of them was an unexpected love triangle of some sort […]
Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with blog, love, memory, repetition, war
This week’s novel, W, or the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec, contains two alternating texts. The author claims these two texts merge together into one to tell a story that can’t be told without the other. At first, I thought it was an interesting idea, especially since one of the texts is an autobiography, […]
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with blog, memories, repression, trauma
