I now realize that since the last book I read was “Love Me Tender” by Debre, I should’ve titled that blog post “Love Me Sweet” and then titled this conclusiatory one “Never Let Me Go”. But alas it is too late now. I digress.
Regardless, I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like this course at first. I mean I like reading and discussion as such, but this was a lot of texts and I didn’t know what the expectations of these discussions and blog posts were, and admittedly I just overthought everything… However I was pleasantly surprised overall. It felt more doable (even if I most definitely procrastinated the reading until the weekend before it was due…) than before and honestly I enjoyed reading the other blog posts and such, it felt basically like a big book club in some ways. Though admittedly talking in class scared me, there’s nothing that makes you feel more incompetent than putting your hand up and speaking in class.
I would say overall my favourite texts were Nada, The Lover, Faces in the Crowd, and Black Shack Alley. They were relatively readable and honestly interesting even if I didn’t like a number of the characters. I’d argue that the dislike is what made a lot of these texts engaging, there’s nothing that drives one to continue with something more than spite! In all honesty all of the texts in this book seemed to have three to four main things in common: war, memory, social class, and shitty men. Even if they weren’t primary topics, to my recollection essentially all were present in one way or another barring a few exceptions.
Oh, it also taught me that Freud goes far beyond my own major of psychology and permeates everyone and everything else somehow. I really thought I was free from him while in my electives, it appears that I was wrong.
I would say that my thoughts on literature and reading haven’t changed all that much. That being said my thoughts on literature have been expanded I think. Though I read a good amount even prior to this course, I didn’t necessarily have a whole lot of background knowledge regarding the development of literature during these periods. I read a lot but I didn’t necessarily classify the type of writing (surrealism, modernism, etc.) so this has kind of let me look back on other texts that I have read and understand more context regarding them, as well as refine what kinds of books I like and why.
Honestly over all, I would read another romance language book or a few willingly. Which I hadn’t totally considered before. Or at least I would find some in audiobook form.
All in all thank you so much all of you for your time and effort during this course! I have enjoyed meeting and talking to all of you!
7 replies on “Conclusion! (That felt way shorter than I thought)”
“Oh, it also taught me that Freud goes far beyond my own major of psychology and permeates everyone and everything else somehow. I really thought I was free from him while in my electives, it appears that I was wrong.” It happens! But yes, I hope you’ll be encouraged to keep reading books in Romance languages… each one is a world you can continue exploring 🙂
“Honestly over all, I would read another romance language book or a few willingly. Which I hadn’t totally considered before. Or at least I would find some in audiobook form.”
That’s awesome! Encouraging reading is one of the objectives of the course. Glad you enjoy it.
See you tomorrow.
Julián.
“talking in class scared me, there’s nothing that makes you feel more incompetent than putting your hand up and speaking in class.”
Who would have thought! I thought your interventions in class discussion were often great! Thanks for these and all your contributions!
Hii Ava I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I agree with over thinking the course hahahaha I did the same ngl. I also found procrastinated the readings but overall it was a fun journey!
Lovely to meet u Ava!!! Glad we decided to stay in the course. I really appreciate how strongly you hated some characters we read about it made me laugh
I really enjoyed reading your post, especially because it was so fun and honest. I liked how you talked about being unsure of the course at first but then ending up enjoying it more than you expected. I also really related to what you said about overthinking discussion posts and feeling nervous speaking in class.
Hi Ava! I fully get you about the overthinking part, I even got to thinking I wasn’t smart enough at some points, but discussing with everyone and feeling part of a group where you get to share your ideas without being judged really helped me not only get out of my comfort zone a bit but also learn different ways to interpret books and authors. Thanks for your post and sharing a bit about your experience!