The theme of memory has been consistent throughout all of our course readings. While reading Amulet, I started to find some similarities to the other readings. Specifically, W, or the Memory of Childhood because with regard to memory, the two are centred around a traumatic event and cause the narrators to struggle to remember an entire situation with certainty. Also, the shrouded women and the Old Gringo because they each have a woman as the narrator looking back on their life events.
For Amulet, the story is taken from Auxilio Lacouture, an Uruguayan woman who moved to Mexico and became the “mother of poetry.” I found the timeline of this novel a little confusing at first, but after reading more and watching the lecture video, I realized that Auxilio was recalling memories from the past and also the future while she was trapped in the fourth-floor bathroom of the National Autonomous University of Mexico for almost two weeks. I found Auxilio very likable and easy to sympathize with. While trapped in the bathroom during the violent army occupation, she begins to immerse herself within these memories or dreams to cope with her situation. Her memories are based on her life in Mexico City and her interactions with the poets she befriends.
I thought it was interesting how Amulet, like the Old Gringo, provided a new perspective on historical events. Until I watched this week’s lecture I was unaware of the Tlatelolco Massacre and the Mexican student movement of 1968. Both Bolano and Fuentes gave us new perspectives on these historical events. However, where Amulet and the Old Gringo differ Amulet starts to compare to the Time of the Doves because while we are made aware of the political situation going on, it centers around one woman’s experience. In both Amulet and the Time of the Doves, we see the impacts these movements have on a person, but the story does not revolve around the violence or the actual fight. Instead, we see Auxilio and Natalia’s life and what these events mean for their lives and how it changes them. I am interested in seeing how the next two readings will relate and compare to what we have already read.
My question for the class is: Since we are on week ten of our readings, how do you compare this text to the others? What similarities have you been noticing throughout the term?
Posted in Blogs, Bolaño | Tagged with history, memory, violence, war
Amulet, to me, was a simple read. It did not feel as though the story was as hard to follow as some others we have read this term. Just like many other novellas we’ve read, the story focused a lot on the past and reflection of important moments of the narrators life, primary being locked […]
The Amulet was a book that surprised me. Initially, I thought we would be looking at a typical horror story with detailed violence, but this one was a different kind of horror. I believe that I can call this book a horrific one because being stuck in one place and not able to leave is claustrophobic. On top of the movement that was going on, the fact that someone could take her is terrifying. Especially if you are a young student trapped, I couldn’t imagine how scared and confused I would be. She was stuck in the Philosophy and Literature section of the university, which she repeated a lot in the text. This repetition is significant because she was able to read literature and occupy her time in remembering her past and engaging in poetry. In the time she spent locked away, she was lonely, and feeling needs of deprivation and hunger started to arise in her. As human beings, we seek out interaction and personal relationships. A human cannot survive in isolation; it has significant detrimental effects on the brain. One of Auxilio’s coping skills was to immerse herself in her past life and remember all her memories as if they were occurring now to occupy her brain in this time of loneliness. It was her comfort tool. I am still confused by the book’s chronology as she talks about her past as if it was in the past, but over time, the chronology gets blurred as her memories become more fragmented. She talks about things occurring in the future which makes me think. How does she know this? The question I have is, what was the significance of the future? Was she talking about the future or recollecting her past from the point of view of her past self before it occurred?
After watching the lecture, I know that the themes and feelings of the movement are memories of the survivors of this attack. Bolano creates this book as a time capsule for future generations to see and uncover how it felt to be alive in that time. The future dates appearing in the novel create this feeling of a time capsule and that things will be discovered in later years. Exactly what a time capsule is. A quote that made me genuinely think that this book represents a time capsule was:
“And although the song that I heard was about war, about the heroic deeds of a whole generation of young Latin Americans led to sacrifice, I knew that above and beyond all, it was about courage and mirrors, desire and pleasure.”
This quote mentions how the movement affected the lives of the Latin American youth and how it was brutal and a sacrifice (which is obvious). But later, people would find out the true story hidden behind the movement. It was about their courage and ability to survive in such a hard place. This story is the time capsule Bolano has created for future generations to read and learn.
Posted in Blogs, Bolaño | Tagged with dreaming, future, literature, memory, Poetry, politics, violence, war
The Amulet was a book that surprised me. Initially, I thought we would be looking at a typical horror story with detailed violence, but this one was a different kind of horror. I believe that I can call this book a horrific one because being stuck in one place and not able to leave is claustrophobic. On top of the movement that was going on, the fact that someone could take her is terrifying. Especially if you are a young student trapped, I couldn’t imagine how scared and confused I would be. She was stuck in the Philosophy and Literature section of the university, which she repeated a lot in the text. This repetition is significant because she was able to read literature and occupy her time in remembering her past and engaging in poetry. In the time she spent locked away, she was lonely, and feeling needs of deprivation and hunger started to arise in her. As human beings, we seek out interaction and personal relationships. A human cannot survive in isolation; it has significant detrimental effects on the brain. One of Auxilio’s coping skills was to immerse herself in her past life and remember all her memories as if they were occurring now to occupy her brain in this time of loneliness. It was her comfort tool. I am still confused by the book’s chronology as she talks about her past as if it was in the past, but over time, the chronology gets blurred as her memories become more fragmented. She talks about things occurring in the future which makes me think. How does she know this? The question I have is, what was the significance of the future? Was she talking about the future or recollecting her past from the point of view of her past self before it occurred?
After watching the lecture, I know that the themes and feelings of the movement are memories of the survivors of this attack. Bolano creates this book as a time capsule for future generations to see and uncover how it felt to be alive in that time. The future dates appearing in the novel create this feeling of a time capsule and that things will be discovered in later years. Exactly what a time capsule is. A quote that made me genuinely think that this book represents a time capsule was:
“And although the song that I heard was about war, about the heroic deeds of a whole generation of young Latin Americans led to sacrifice, I knew that above and beyond all, it was about courage and mirrors, desire and pleasure.”
This quote mentions how the movement affected the lives of the Latin American youth and how it was brutal and a sacrifice (which is obvious). But later, people would find out the true story hidden behind the movement. It was about their courage and ability to survive in such a hard place. This story is the time capsule Bolano has created for future generations to read and learn.
Posted in Blogs, Bolaño | Tagged with dreaming, future, literature, memory, Poetry, politics, violence, war
Roberto Bolaño’s Amulet is indeed a story of a terrible crime, as the introductory paragraph of the novel indicates. The story is associated with painful memories that are difficult to talk about. In the narrative point of view of an Uruguayan woman named Auxilio Lacouture, a tale of poetry, trauma, and political resistance is told. […]
Posted in Blogs, Bolaño | Tagged with idealism, politics, trauma, violence
Well.. although this may have love within the story, I did not consider it a love story. While I initially chose this novel as the mention of love within its description, I continued reading it captivated by tragedy (and because I had to!) It still astonishes me the assumptions I had before starting this course […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with love, notlove, romance, tragedy, violence
