Georges Perec, W, or the Memory of Childhood
Posted in Lecture Videos, Perec lecture | Tagged with C20th, childhood, France, life, politics, postmodernism, postmodernity, resistance, war, writing
Reading this book was pretty different from what I expected out of a wartime novel! It focussed a lot more on the daily, domestic aspects of Natalia and those around her, so much so that I almost forgot about the war until the book reminded me halfway through(´∇`”)I was also growing increasingly frustrated with Quimet, […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with agency, life, Uncategorized
A lively swing of events rolls into place at the beginning of the novel, full of musical brilliance, unknown voices, and objects scattered across empty spaces. This is a book of wavering stars. And in this midst of it all there is a shadow of contempla…
Posted in Blogs, Rodoreda | Tagged with childhood, death, family, Home, life, literature, love, memories, poverty, reality, reflection, relationships, The Time of The Doves, war
Françoise Sagan, Bonjour Tristesse
Posted in Lecture Videos, Sagan lecture | Tagged with affect, bodies, C20th, desire, France, gender, judgement, language, life, morality, surfaces, translation
To start, I think there is so much to unpack in Agostino. I enjoyed how Moravia framed the story as it was easy for me to follow the protagonist’s experience. It was so good that I finished it all in one sitting and actually think it is potentially my favourite out of all that we […]
Posted in Blogs, Moravia | Tagged with Belonging, childhood, class, desire, life
With the first chapter of the book we are at once conscious of the unspeakable absurdities of life, of a thumping rhythm of isolation carrying its beat across desolate roads, into unsolved conflicts, and through crowds of unknown faces, leading us towa…
Posted in Blogs, Laforet | Tagged with family, fiction, Home, life, literature, nada, poverty, reality, reflection, relationships
María Luisa Bombal, The Shrouded Woman
Posted in Bombal lecture, Lecture Videos | Tagged with agency, C20th, Chile, death, gender, life, modernism, narrator, patriarchy
I went into this book expecting it to feel devastating, depressing, and sob-inducing based solely on what I knew about the premise, but I actually gained a more positive perspective on a lot of things in my life. On friendship: “Friendship, a sentiment in which one never knows solitude as one does in love. Friendship, […]
Posted in Blogs, Bombal | Tagged with friendship, life, love
I really liked this book. The Shrouded Woman was such a refreshing shift from the other texts we’ve read so far, and honestly, it felt like a bit of a relief. Not only was it the first book written by a woman that we’ve read in this course, but it was also the one I […]
Posted in Blogs, Bombal | Tagged with death, life, The Shrouded Woman
From the books we’ve read so far, I can definitely say this stood out to me, and I think it is due to the unique narrative voice Bombal has used alongside the depth. The narrative style and structure, especially its beginning after her death, are very unique. The way her awareness lies in her corpse […]
Posted in Blogs, Bombal | Tagged with life, memories, memory, narration