Final Post

 At the start of this semester, I was unsure of what to expect from the texts. I was excited at the prospect of reading new books every week by authors that I would not have explored otherwise. This course allowed me to become acquainted with more cultures, literary movements, and geographical regions. Moreover, it allowed me to explore new themes such as betrayal, family, and death in unique ways. 


I also thoroughly enjoyed the discussions in class because of the varying opinions that we got to explore. More than anything, I appreciated the fact that we were able to express all of our opinions, both negative and positive. I believe that allowed us to really understand the various layers of the text and analyze the texts in the best way possible. I also enjoyed writing the blog posts and how they allowed us to explore whichever part of the text we felt the strongest about. 


The text that stood out to me from this course would be The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal. I enjoyed her writing style and the storyline immensely. Moreover, I enjoyed the narration of the plot from beyond the grave. It was unlike anything that I had ever read before, and I enjoyed reading about the family dynamics and relationships of the narrator. 


All in all, I really enjoyed this course and am super glad to have come across it! It allowed me to step outside my comfort zone with the books I read and definitely honed my critical thinking skills. It was great meeting and interacting with everyone :)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Proust's 'Combray'

I dived into Proust's Combray completely unaware of what to expect. The first thing that caught my attention was the language. It was very descriptive, thus allowing me to envision every room and meal as the narrator experienced it. Secondly, I noticed the stream of consciousness that the narrator seemed to be traveling along while narrating. What started in a room with an insight into the intricacies of sleep and wakefulness turned into a formative childhood memory. This form of writing intrigued me immensely because of how naturally it flowed. I almost did not notice the transition until I read about the narrator's next idea! I must confess that I did get a little bit confused when the narrator switched to talking about his childhood experience from his ideologies as an adult. However, once I picked up on the difference I was able to enjoy the innocence with which the child craved to be with his mother. As seen in the scene below, Proust's description of the raw emotion
Read more

Rodoreda's 'The Time of Doves'

  The Time of the Doves  by Mercè Rodoreda is a captivating story with a unique protagonist. Initially, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about Natalia, the narrator. My emotions swung from sympathy to shock to frustration while reading about her. However, as the book progressed, her character developed as she learned to adapt to her circumstances. Oddly enough, this made me enjoy the book even more. It was interesting to see how she navigated life in a begrudging marriage and during a war.  I found the dynamic that Rodoreda created between Natalia and Quimet symbolic of the traditional 'submissive woman/dominating man' dynamic. Quimet was a controlling man who more or less declared that Natalia would be his wife after one encounter in the town square. Additionally, he finds ways to measure up the pain that she has felt with himself to prove that she cannot outdo him in any way. This was evident when he compared having a tapeworm to childbirth, claiming that they had been thro
Read more

Aragon's 'Paris Peasant'

  Paris Peasant was an unexpected read, to say the least. The first thing that caught my attention was Aragon's use of descriptive language. I've never particularly enjoyed excessive description, so I did find it kind of challenging to read certain portions of the book.  However, the irregular structure of the text was fascinating to discover. It was interesting to see the paragraphs broken up by newspaper articles, pictures, and municipality warnings. As stated in the video lecture, the retention of the original fonts and motifs in the book adds a layer of authenticity and charm. This makes readers feel as if they are exploring the city of Paris with the narrator.  Additionally, I found the blurring of the lines between reality and imagination intriguing. It would catch me completely off-guard - the sentence would start off as a description of a real place or person and end with a fantastical twist. In this sense, I truly do believe that Aragon was able to craft a wonderful su
Read more