This week’s reading of W or The Memory of Childhood was reflective and insightful about the author’s experience. At the start of the book, I was confused for a while about the significance of the second story about Gaspard Winkler, but as the story of W progressed I was able to start comparing it to Perec’s experience. I loved the style the author wrote this novel in. The autobiography paired with the fictional island of W gave the text different elements that provide the reader more to think about.
The narration from Perec’s perspective showed fragments of his childhood memories. He lost both of his parents to World War II at a very young age. I think the trauma caused him to repress his memories as he was often not sure about all the specifics in his own memories. A lot of the language in this narrative was hesitant, words like vague, hazy, and many I don’t remember or I don’t recall. The author says it himself on page 68, “What marks this period especially is the absence of landmarks: these memories are scraps of life snatched from the void. No mooring. Nothing to anchor them or hold them down. Almost no way of ratifying them. No sequence in time, except as I have reconstructed it arbitrarily over the years.”
In the second narrative the army deserter, Gaspard Winckler journeys to the island W, where a brutal version of the Olympic games takes place. This story combined with Perec’s life story highlights the fight for survival so many people, Perec included had to face. The brutality and cruelty in these games, I think, are somewhat of a metaphor for the concentration camps and the treatment of the Jewish people along with the other prisoners held by the Nazis. While reading about the W it seems impossible or only fiction for a society to function as this one does. I was slow to understand why it was even in this book, but from the middle, towards the end, it became clear that W was referencing power relations and the extent of oppression groups of people can be shown by other groups. On the last page, the excerpt from David Rousset’s Univers concentrationnaire we see that the harsh reality Perec illustrates in the fictional W is taken directly from real events.
My question for the class is: How does comparing the conditions faced in WW2 to W help Perec or the reader process these events?
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with life, memory, power, war
This week’s reading of W or The Memory of Childhood was reflective and insightful about the author’s experience. At the start of the book, I was confused for a while about the significance of the second story about Gaspard Winkler, but as the story of W progressed I was able to start comparing it to Perec’s experience. I loved the style the author wrote this novel in. The autobiography paired with the fictional island of W gave the text different elements that provide the reader more to think about.
The narration from Perec’s perspective showed fragments of his childhood memories. He lost both of his parents to World War II at a very young age. I think the trauma caused him to repress his memories as he was often not sure about all the specifics in his own memories. A lot of the language in this narrative was hesitant, words like vague, hazy, and many I don’t remember or I don’t recall. The author says it himself on page 68, “What marks this period especially is the absence of landmarks: these memories are scraps of life snatched from the void. No mooring. Nothing to anchor them or hold them down. Almost no way of ratifying them. No sequence in time, except as I have reconstructed it arbitrarily over the years.”
In the second narrative the army deserter, Gaspard Winckler journeys to the island W, where a brutal version of the Olympic games takes place. This story combined with Perec’s life story highlights the fight for survival so many people, Perec included had to face. The brutality and cruelty in these games, I think, are somewhat of a metaphor for the concentration camps and the treatment of the Jewish people along with the other prisoners held by the Nazis. While reading about the W it seems impossible or only fiction for a society to function as this one does. I was slow to understand why it was even in this book, but from the middle, towards the end, it became clear that W was referencing power relations and the extent of oppression groups of people can be shown by other groups. On the last page, the excerpt from David Rousset’s Univers concentrationnaire we see that the harsh reality Perec illustrates in the fictional W is taken directly from real events.
My question for the class is: How does comparing the conditions faced in WW2 to W help Perec or the reader process these events?
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with life, memory, power, war
This week, I read Georges Perec, W, or the Memory of Childhood a story about two characters, alternating between chapters. I found this style of narrative interesting because we can better compare the two. I expected the book to be confusing with two narratives, but Perec did a great job of making it clear and easy to read. While reading the second narrative of Gaspard Winkler, I sensed that some of the conditions being told had an underlying meaning that related to the first narrative of Perec. It was clear both the characters are going through their separate journeys but share a lot in common by witnessing similar conditions.
It was sad to read about the narrator trying so hard to remember his childhood memories. I felt a strong sense of displacement that the narrator was feeling from the impacts of the war. With the narrator being born in 1936, he spent many of his developmental years in the fear that being impacted by the second World War brings. Living in those circumstances and growing up in that environment has left him shattered as he tries to pick up the pieces and form memories from vague moments and photographs. This story could be one of many children at that time losing their parents, living in fear, and being too young to even understand why.
In the book, the narrator takes us to the island W where a similar competition like the Olympics takes place. This island W reflects the Nazi’s organized death camps. In the narrator’s interpretation of this island W, the competitors who win get awarded with food, the competitors who lose get nothing and starve, making them weaker. This creates a continuous cycle of the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker. It is a game of luck and misconduct that reflects the treatment of those suffering at the hands of the Nazi takeover.
I was unaware and found it shocking that the summer Olympics were hosted in Berlin in 1936, known as the Nazi Olympics. I was shocked when I searched it up and found out that such a huge event like the Olympics was held during these horrific times, especially in Germany. For this to occur, it showed such a lack of humanity and no recognition of the injustices.
My question for the class is: How do the two narratives compare regarding the two men witnessing and being a part of injustice in their environment?
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with life, memory, postmodernism
This week, I read Georges Perec, W, or the Memory of Childhood a story about two characters, alternating between chapters. I found this style of narrative interesting because we can better compare the two. I expected the book to be confusing with two narratives, but Perec did a great job of making it clear and easy to read. While reading the second narrative of Gaspard Winkler, I sensed that some of the conditions being told had an underlying meaning that related to the first narrative of Perec. It was clear both the characters are going through their separate journeys but share a lot in common by witnessing similar conditions.
It was sad to read about the narrator trying so hard to remember his childhood memories. I felt a strong sense of displacement that the narrator was feeling from the impacts of the war. With the narrator being born in 1936, he spent many of his developmental years in the fear that being impacted by the second World War brings. Living in those circumstances and growing up in that environment has left him shattered as he tries to pick up the pieces and form memories from vague moments and photographs. This story could be one of many children at that time losing their parents, living in fear, and being too young to even understand why.
In the book, the narrator takes us to the island W where a similar competition like the Olympics takes place. This island W reflects the Nazi’s organized death camps. In the narrator’s interpretation of this island W, the competitors who win get awarded with food, the competitors who lose get nothing and starve, making them weaker. This creates a continuous cycle of the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker. It is a game of luck and misconduct that reflects the treatment of those suffering at the hands of the Nazi takeover.
I was unaware and found it shocking that the summer Olympics were hosted in Berlin in 1936, known as the Nazi Olympics. I was shocked when I searched it up and found out that such a huge event like the Olympics was held during these horrific times, especially in Germany. For this to occur, it showed such a lack of humanity and no recognition of the injustices.
My question for the class is: How do the two narratives compare regarding the two men witnessing and being a part of injustice in their environment?
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with life, memory, postmodernism
blog#7 – a woman and her Cockroach — Reading The Passion According to G.H. was one of the closest moments that I felt like I was reading a well-composed transcript of my own thoughts. The way the Clarice Lispector seamlessly yet abruptly changes from concept to concept is mind-bogglingly impressive – all the while articulating […]
Posted in Blogs, Lispector | Tagged with 4th wall, agency, anxiety, Brazil, cockroach, death, divinity, existence, human, life, maid, monologue, neutral, Rio, The Passion According to G. H, time, Womanhood
The novel “The Time of the Doves” by Mercè Rodoreda is a powerful novel that tells a story of Natalia’s life as she grows a family and lives through war and loss. I liked this novel despite its sad undertones. Everything goes downhill for a bit, but it seems to have a content ending. While … Continue reading Week 7: Rodoreda’s “The Time of the Doves” →
Posted in Blogs, Rodoreda | Tagged with family, fiction, life, narrative, relationships, Romance Studies, story, war
This definitely wasn’t my favourite book that we’ve read probably do to the constant theme of cruelty and punishment that carries out during the novel. However with that being said I do think that this is a very important read because it further educates its readers about the tough and brutal realities of slavery and […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with cruelty, Joseph Zobel, life, trauma
The novel, “Bonjour Tristesse” by Françoise Sagan was quite a rollercoaster of a story. Just from a brief description of the novel, I expected drama similar to “The Shrouded Woman”, focusing on family and relationships. However, after reading the text (and thanks to a warning from last week), I found it was also quite similar … Continue reading Week 6: Sagan’s “Bonjour Tristesse” →
Posted in Blogs, Sagan | Tagged with family, life, manipulation, perspective, relationships, revenge, Romance Studies, story, thought, tragedy, translation
I think Cecile would have benefited greatly from the positive influence Anne brought with her. It was hard to see her destroy Anne and her father’s relationship especially once she began to bond with Anne. The environment Céline was raised in blinded her to what Anne’s intentions were, even after the time they spent together after her mother’s death and how “embarrassingly fond of her” (7) she was. Her actions came from fear and selfishness to keep her way of life from changing. Without giving praise to the main character I will say I found her scheming and frivolous lifestyle to be quite entertaining. On page 18, Cécile declared that she tried to base her life on Oscar Wilde’s quote “Sin is the only note of vivid colour that persists in the modern world” and Anne came in as a representation of everything Cécile hated. With the best intentions, Anne wanted to marry her father, but Cécile’s lifestyle and fundamental identity were immediately threatened. First with Anne’s involvement in her studies and then her interference in Cécile’s relationship with Cyril. I thought after the conversation Anne and Cécile had about the future on pages 104-5 along with some other bonding moments between the two, Cécile would put an end to her plans. Even though it was in her nature, I was disappointed that Cécile could not grow from the idea of how she was supposed to live and make room for Anne and her preparations for the future.
Overall I like how this reading depicted Cécie and her father’s inability and unwillingness to change. The ending was sad, but it left me wondering if the three of them would work as a family or if Cécile would continue to find new ways to get rid of Anne? Cécile was heartbroken losing Anne, but if she never felt the loss, she would have probably never fully realized the consequences of her actions.
My question for the class is Would Cécile be better adjusted to cope with the changes Anne brought to her life if her father raised her to be more disciplined?
Posted in Blogs, Sagan | Tagged with family, life, relationships
