This was by far the most interesting literature course I have taken so far. The format allowed me to be flexible in the way I was reading the novels. While in previous literature classes I have taken I was required … Continue reading →
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with culture, Dreams, format, literature, reality, romance, translation
I really enjoyed this book. Maybe the most interesting (hey, I’ve used this word in all my blogs so far, why break the trend now?) thing I found in this story was the relationship between Elena and Lila. With both of them beginning in a poor neighbourhood in 1950s Naples, there is an seemingly unbreakable […]
Posted in Blogs, Ferrante | Tagged with coming of age, literature, reflections, social situations, week 12
Hey Everyone, I can’t believe this is the last time I’m adding to this 20 paged google doc. After 11 readings and 13 blog posts, we have finished this course! I remember being so intimidated by the contract at the beginning of this course that I was ready to drop the course before I started. […]
Posted in Blogs, Conclusion | Tagged with literature, romancestudies, romanceworld, romanticliterature, ubc
Hey Everyone, Wow, this novel had a lot to unpack. It covers sociological concepts like the reproduction of inequality, as well as romance, betrayal, and jealousy through the story of friendship. The friendship between Lila and Elena reminded me of the Gossip Girl characters Blair and Serena, as these young women navigate their changing lives […]
Posted in Blogs, Ferrante | Tagged with Elena Ferrante, friendship, gossip girl, literature, memory, My brilliant friend, romancestudies, romanticliterature, ubc, Womanhood
Although I’m happy to be ending this exhausting and long semester I’m sad to conclude this course. I have found Romance Studies interesting and eye-opening and I loved the format of the course. I liked the use of contract grading and wish I had more classes that used the same format, as it was a […]
Posted in Blogs, Conclusion | Tagged with expectations, literature, modernism, Romance Studies
Throughout the past few months, this course felt like an endless seesaw ride, bouncing against different – yet similar – themes and cultures. In the beginning of the course, I questioned what “Romance Studies” was, or rather, what it could have meant. However, right from the introductory lecture, I realized I won’t be able to […]
Posted in Blogs, Conclusion | Tagged with adulthood, Bricolage, family, literature, Magic Realism, recollection, Relationship, temporality, war
Jose Eduardo Agualusa’s The Society of Reluctant Dreamers was a very interesting read. It felt surreal in one hand, but also had a lot of relatable, applicable lessons to take away as a reader. The first thing that stood out to me was protagonist Daniel Benchimol’s unstable state. Although in the early pages Benchimol stated […]
Posted in Agualusa, Blogs | Tagged with Democracy, dictatorship, Dreams, family, literature, politics, Relationship, Surrealism, temporality, war
The stories of these girls growing up are both familiar and unfamiliar. Maybe I haven’t experienced what happened to them, but the little thoughts of their girls seem to be the ones we’ve had. Girls feel anxious about their body changes during puberty and share secrets with their friends. Elana has a fatal attraction to … Continue reading Review of My Brilliant Friend →
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Elena Ferrante, literature, My brilliant friend, Nier, Romance Studies, week12
Hey Everyone, Writing this week’s blog post has been the absolute worst for me. To start off, I read and completed my blog post for next week by accident. Then, WordPress stopped working. Anyways, I found this reading really interesting. I finished it in about 3 separate sittings (with some short breaks on my phone), […]
Posted in Blogs, Cercas | Tagged with ethics, literature, repetition, romancestudies, romanceworld, romanticliterature, ubc, writing style
Reading Javier Cercas’ Soldiers of Salamis was filled with many different emotions. At first, reading about Cercas’ – the narrator – detachment from his literary career made me sad. However, upon quickly realizing that he had found a new impulse to write again, I felt excited for the narrator. This quote in page 55 resonated […]
Posted in Blogs, Cercas | Tagged with Bricolage, Falangism, fictionality, history, literature, modernism, narrative, recollection, war, writing
