This week’s reading on Carlos Fuentes’ The Old Gringo wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be almost something similar to an autobiography like last week’s read of W, or Memory of Childhood. Although, I was much happier reading something that wasn’t an autobiography. I found this story really …
Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with death, love, memory, reflection, repetition
Regarding the text; The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes, the novel is about the memories of a woman named Harriet Winslow during the time that civil war had begun and was occurring in Mexico. Firstly to start, I love reading novels that have historical aspects to them as I am incredibly interested in history. Another […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with history, memory, repetition, war
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
For this week, I decided to read The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes. It touches on themes including memory, regret, war, and family. The Old Gringo, who turns out to be the American author Ambrose Bierce, travels to Mexico at the time of the civil war to die in the revolution. I found this reading to be a little difficult to read, but still quite interesting.
I enjoyed how we were able to trace how each The Old Gringo, General Arroyo, and Ms. Winslow’s pasts played a role in how they all ended up encountering each other. For the Old Gringo, his past actions and the downfall of his family and the lifestyle that led to the death of his sons brought him across the border. It is often repeated in the text how “to be a gringo in Mexico is one way of dying,” (89). The old man comes to Mexico with the intent to die, but before he does he builds a relationship with Ms. Winslow. There are many times within the story that we see one of the character’s identities being impacted by their parents. Especially for Ms. Winslow and Arroyo who were abandoned by their fathers and try to compensate for this through their respective relationships with the old man. This is made clear when Ms. Winslow has the old gringo buried as her father, I think it’s an act of closure for her to have someone to put to rest in that grave. However, because of this father/daughter dynamic, I was confused by their suggested romantic relationship.
I found it really interesting to learn that this story was based on a real American short story writer, journalist, and soldier. Also, the concept that Carlos Fuentes used of taking a real narrative and filling in the gaps with a fictional story to answer the mystery of the circumstances of his death. This along with the poetic style Fuentes wrote in, made it a unique narrative that allows the reader to reflect on the greater themes. I think because the story was told from Ms. Winslow’s point of view, the readers were able to have a better understanding of both the old man and General Arroyo from the perspective of a woman who understands and was exposed to both their perspectives.
My question for the class is why do you think Fuentes used Ambrose Bierce’s story as a point of view for the Mexican revolution?
For this week, I decided to read The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes. It touches on themes including memory, regret, war, and family. The Old Gringo, who turns out to be the American author Ambrose Bierce, travels to Mexico at the time of the civil war to die in the revolution. I found this reading to be a little difficult to read, but still quite interesting.
I enjoyed how we were able to trace how each The Old Gringo, General Arroyo, and Ms. Winslow’s pasts played a role in how they all ended up encountering each other. For the Old Gringo, his past actions and the downfall of his family and the lifestyle that led to the death of his sons brought him across the border. It is often repeated in the text how “to be a gringo in Mexico is one way of dying,” (89). The old man comes to Mexico with the intent to die, but before he does he builds a relationship with Ms. Winslow. There are many times within the story that we see one of the character’s identities being impacted by their parents. Especially for Ms. Winslow and Arroyo who were abandoned by their fathers and try to compensate for this through their respective relationships with the old man. This is made clear when Ms. Winslow has the old gringo buried as her father, I think it’s an act of closure for her to have someone to put to rest in that grave. However, because of this father/daughter dynamic, I was confused by their suggested romantic relationship.
I found it really interesting to learn that this story was based on a real American short story writer, journalist, and soldier. Also, the concept that Carlos Fuentes used of taking a real narrative and filling in the gaps with a fictional story to answer the mystery of the circumstances of his death. This along with the poetic style Fuentes wrote in, made it a unique narrative that allows the reader to reflect on the greater themes. I think because the story was told from Ms. Winslow’s point of view, the readers were able to have a better understanding of both the old man and General Arroyo from the perspective of a woman who understands and was exposed to both their perspectives.
My question for the class is why do you think Fuentes used Ambrose Bierce’s story as a point of view for the Mexican revolution?
I really really really liked this book. W, or the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec is part traditional novel, part autobiography, part whatever Perec felt like writing and damn convention. The novel revolves around two disparate narrative, one being … Continue reading →
I found W or the Memory of Childhood to be a fairly fascinating and enjoyable read. I felt that the story was interesting to follow, however, I cannot say that I find it flowed very well. Something as a reader … Continue reading →
I found this novel to be quite unusual and interesting. One never expects to find two parallel narratives in a novel where one is autobiographical and the other fictional. But that is implied in the title “W” and it seems that this is an autobiography for an author without one. The stories merge into one […]
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with Biography, Gaps, memory, Silences
Hey everyone! This week I will be reflecting on my reading of Georges Perec’s novel, W or The Memory of…
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with childhood, form and structure, memory, reflection, title page
Georges Perec’s novel, “W, or the Memory of Childhood” is an interesting mix of reality and imagination. I found the writing style to be quite similar to Proust’s and Aragon’s as Perec often jumped between different memories and thoughts. Something I found intriguing was how Perec describes the relationship between writing and the people from … Continue reading Week 8: Perec’s “W, or the Memory of Childhood” →
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with autobiography, childhood, family, history, Imagination, memory, narrative, perspective, relationships, Romance Studies
