To be honest, I am not a fan of this novel. I found it quite confusing and a bit difficult to follow. As discussed in the conversation video with professor Farid Laroussi, time in this novel is not linear. For such a long book to never mention the precise time is crazy to me. I […]
Proust’s “Combray” was definitely challenging for me to follow along, with its lengthy sentences and extremely detailed descriptions of his own memories. I found the plot dreary at first. That said, I appreciated how Proust depicts the scenes where he drowns in his own thoughts, creating a gloomy atmosphere right from the start that signals […]
Posted in Blogs, Proust | Tagged with childhood, memories, narrative, reality, time
This week I decided to read My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. I thought it was an enjoyable read. I found the short chapters very motivating to keep engaged. I’m the type of the person to track my reading by setting time to finish a few chapters. For this book, it was easy to convince …
Posted in Blogs, Ferrante | Tagged with childhood, friendship, memories, wedding
Over the course, we have read many texts that have overarching themes of war, violence, and memories. We have even reflected on our own and focused on discussions of motherhood, growing up, betrayal, and context differences. My favourite conversation this far was when we talked about Amulet and connected mothers from the other texts like the Shrouded Woman or Time of the Doves. Some of the books I hadn’t read but diving deep into motherhood, the different types of mothers, and values they held, and what it truly means to be a mother was very eye-opening. For example, one book that I didn’t read had a mother who wanted to kill her children for their benefit, which seems very wrong in our definitions of motherhood. I loved all the books we read over this term, and connecting them was a great way to understand further what romance studies is and how you can connect themes and language styles to send a message.
Childhood was a big theme in many of the texts and growing up to adapting to be an adult, especially in Proust, W or Memory of Childhood, and Agostino. Many new experiences changed them to be more mature and develop their identity. Even though each story was set in a different time and place, the process is still somewhat the same. There are things to learn, achieve respect and maturity, and go through cultural events to shape you to become an adult. However, these stories are not neat; they are messy and come with betrayal, confusion, lost memories from trauma, and childhood experiences that hinder one from maturing. Children’s voices show us a new perspective that adults lack. The innocent curiosity and gratefulness to the world are essential childlike values that adults stray away from. Children are dreamers, and constantly focussing on reality takes us away from life, and we don’t take time to enjoy the little things children notice because they are seeing things and experiencing things for the first time. Children will ask questions, adults are too scared to, and they miss the true truths of life.
Unlike childhood, some texts focus on the present time being more important than memories, like the Society of Reluctant Dreamers, Bonjour Tristesse and the Shrouded Woman. In these texts, children take power and betray their parents/guardians. It doesn’t focus on the childhood memories but on the child’s ambitions, which most of the time end up hurting people because they are immature. It challenges the theme of ordinary parents always being in power over their children. In Bonjour Tristesse, Cecile plans to betray Anne, her guardian and does not care about any wisdom Anne has given her; instead lets her ambitions get the best of her and end in a sad betrayal.
All these texts challenge our world traditions and challenge language by revealing things that are not natural. They use words that uncover themes that the real world does not fully understand. Romance studies is not a representation of the real world. It represents the uncovered, unconscious, not natural world, as these texts travel around and are read in different contexts. Romance studies opens up this world and challenges the perspective of the real world. Romance studies is not separate; it fits into the world’s history and movements.
I loved the quote from the concluding lecture, “A minor literature doesn’t come from a minor language; it is rather that which a minority constructs within a major language” (Deleuze & Guattari)
Romance studies may be a minor language, not seen by the naked eye. Still, it is that minority that emerges itself into a majority language (ex. French) that all can understand so that Romance studies is shared throughout the world. Romance studies is ever-changing and growing, fighting its way to stay in the world, especially as a minor language, because everything today is read in English. Romance studies is connected and unconnected to this world; it is full of memories, dreams, hidden feelings, thoughts, revolutions, and betrayal. Most of all, Romance studies is hidden in everything.
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with childhood, context, dreamers, hidden, language, memories, perspective, reality, relationships, theme, war
Over the course, we have read many texts that have overarching themes of war, violence, and memories. We have even reflected on our own and focused on discussions of motherhood, growing up, betrayal, and context differences. My favourite conversation this far was when we talked about Amulet and connected mothers from the other texts like the Shrouded Woman or Time of the Doves. Some of the books I hadn’t read but diving deep into motherhood, the different types of mothers, and values they held, and what it truly means to be a mother was very eye-opening. For example, one book that I didn’t read had a mother who wanted to kill her children for their benefit, which seems very wrong in our definitions of motherhood. I loved all the books we read over this term, and connecting them was a great way to understand further what romance studies is and how you can connect themes and language styles to send a message.
Childhood was a big theme in many of the texts and growing up to adapting to be an adult, especially in Proust, W or Memory of Childhood, and Agostino. Many new experiences changed them to be more mature and develop their identity. Even though each story was set in a different time and place, the process is still somewhat the same. There are things to learn, achieve respect and maturity, and go through cultural events to shape you to become an adult. However, these stories are not neat; they are messy and come with betrayal, confusion, lost memories from trauma, and childhood experiences that hinder one from maturing. Children’s voices show us a new perspective that adults lack. The innocent curiosity and gratefulness to the world are essential childlike values that adults stray away from. Children are dreamers, and constantly focussing on reality takes us away from life, and we don’t take time to enjoy the little things children notice because they are seeing things and experiencing things for the first time. Children will ask questions, adults are too scared to, and they miss the true truths of life.
Unlike childhood, some texts focus on the present time being more important than memories, like the Society of Reluctant Dreamers, Bonjour Tristesse and the Shrouded Woman. In these texts, children take power and betray their parents/guardians. It doesn’t focus on the childhood memories but on the child’s ambitions, which most of the time end up hurting people because they are immature. It challenges the theme of ordinary parents always being in power over their children. In Bonjour Tristesse, Cecile plans to betray Anne, her guardian and does not care about any wisdom Anne has given her; instead lets her ambitions get the best of her and end in a sad betrayal.
All these texts challenge our world traditions and challenge language by revealing things that are not natural. They use words that uncover themes that the real world does not fully understand. Romance studies is not a representation of the real world. It represents the uncovered, unconscious, not natural world, as these texts travel around and are read in different contexts. Romance studies opens up this world and challenges the perspective of the real world. Romance studies is not separate; it fits into the world’s history and movements.
I loved the quote from the concluding lecture, “A minor literature doesn’t come from a minor language; it is rather that which a minority constructs within a major language” (Deleuze & Guattari)
Romance studies may be a minor language, not seen by the naked eye. Still, it is that minority that emerges itself into a majority language (ex. French) that all can understand so that Romance studies is shared throughout the world. Romance studies is ever-changing and growing, fighting its way to stay in the world, especially as a minor language, because everything today is read in English. Romance studies is connected and unconnected to this world; it is full of memories, dreams, hidden feelings, thoughts, revolutions, and betrayal. Most of all, Romance studies is hidden in everything.
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with childhood, context, dreamers, hidden, language, memories, perspective, reality, relationships, theme, war
Reading through Amulet definitely pulled me in many different directions than I expected! From the beginning it introduced fear and tension, then it quickly delved into a series of memories from Auxilio’s life and the different friends and people she encountered as she hid in the bathroom stalls of her university. It was different from […]
Posted in Blogs, Bolaño | Tagged with Conflict, history, memories, war
I found this week’s reading Amulet by Roberto Bolaño a captivating read. I personally don’t read a lot of books about war or know much history about this context in the book, but Bolaño made it enjoyable with the narrator Auxilio. I was quickly grasped by the book because of her captivating narration. Throughout this class, I was surprised by how much these books made me more aware of the history and the brutality of war and revolutions. The writing in this book and its details made it easy for me to visualize her thoughts and these different scenarios in my head.
The narrator Auxilio hides in the lavatories of her university, fearing that soldiers will come and discover her there. She begins to recall memories of her friends, literature, and life. She is seen as unsure about her purpose and roots, trying to re-imagine herself as she says, “one day I arrived in Mexico without really knowing why or how or when.” These memories and reflections of her friends seem like she is a sideline character in her own life. Auxilio does not fit into any of the Mexican cultural roles, so she finds herself taking on a nurturing role to the young poets. She seems to find her purpose in life and lives through her friends and their experiences and this is what she holds onto while stuck in the lavatories, along with the visions of the future. I found it surprising that Auxilio remained calm despite her fear in the lavatories. As a reader, I was distracted and somewhat stressed out by this scenario as I was worried about what was going to happen to her.
As we have talked about in our class lectures a concept that is a reoccurring theme in every book we have read is memories. These memories that we follow from these characters show a pattern that we can start to connect and compare each of them with each other. The shrouded woman was one that stuck out to me as they both revolve around a woman who is reaching and guessing about what possibilities could have come from their lives. Also comparing Amulet to W, both main characters are experiencing displacement due to the impacts of their respective traumatic events.
My question for the class is: How do you think her memory and the event of the occupation impact her visions about the future.
Posted in Blogs, Bolaño | Tagged with history, memories, war
I found this week’s reading Amulet by Roberto Bolaño a captivating read. I personally don’t read a lot of books about war or know much history about this context in the book, but Bolaño made it enjoyable with the narrator Auxilio. I was quickly grasped by the book because of her captivating narration. Throughout this class, I was surprised by how much these books made me more aware of the history and the brutality of war and revolutions. The writing in this book and its details made it easy for me to visualize her thoughts and these different scenarios in my head.
The narrator Auxilio hides in the lavatories of her university, fearing that soldiers will come and discover her there. She begins to recall memories of her friends, literature, and life. She is seen as unsure about her purpose and roots, trying to re-imagine herself as she says, “one day I arrived in Mexico without really knowing why or how or when.” These memories and reflections of her friends seem like she is a sideline character in her own life. Auxilio does not fit into any of the Mexican cultural roles, so she finds herself taking on a nurturing role to the young poets. She seems to find her purpose in life and lives through her friends and their experiences and this is what she holds onto while stuck in the lavatories, along with the visions of the future. I found it surprising that Auxilio remained calm despite her fear in the lavatories. As a reader, I was distracted and somewhat stressed out by this scenario as I was worried about what was going to happen to her.
As we have talked about in our class lectures a concept that is a reoccurring theme in every book we have read is memories. These memories that we follow from these characters show a pattern that we can start to connect and compare each of them with each other. The shrouded woman was one that stuck out to me as they both revolve around a woman who is reaching and guessing about what possibilities could have come from their lives. Also comparing Amulet to W, both main characters are experiencing displacement due to the impacts of their respective traumatic events.
My question for the class is: How do you think her memory and the event of the occupation impact her visions about the future.
Posted in Blogs, Bolaño | Tagged with history, memories, war
