Before I read this week, I decided to watch the lecture before reading rather than afterward like I did last week. It really helped me to grasp at themes to expect while reading. I really kept in mind Professor Jon’s question of “how does Aragon view or depict the passage of time? What sense of time does the book present?”. I found the book quite challenging to follow allow as it is described in the lecture as “a novel-that-was-not-a-novel” which I found as an intriguing approach since I’m used to reading books that consist of the plotline, characters sort of structure. But having thought of the professor’s questions while reading, made me analyze why the author chose to do it like this. If I didn’t watch the lecture beforehand, I probably would have been more confused than ever. I’m not exactly sure how the time passes if it’s going by day or by hours. I think the book’s passage of time goes fast and scrambled to show the reality of everyday life. The daily routine of our lives doesn’t always go from one scene to the next. I’m curious how the narrator has so much detail to describe what he saw considering it seemed quite quick.
I did not expect to read the narrator to talk so much about his interests in blonds. The part that caught me off guard was on page 41. “But who can this sponge be?” (Pg. 41). This quote stood out to me as it confused me, as well as reminded me of people who referred to individuals who only marry for money like a sponge. The part that confused me was the name “Nana”, I had to search it up if that was an actual name since the narrator was romanticizing her movements. It is common for that to be used to call your grandmother, but I have never heard it as a name. Following back to the sponge comment, does have the same meaning as what I thought? Because it seems quite harsh compared to the narrator describing “[h]er walk was like laughter…” (pg.41).
I also remembered from the first lecture how Professor Jon mentioned there is an importance of drinks in some of the books. So, when I read page 77, I had a feeling to reread, however, I’m not exactly sure what the significance is of Certa’s port is. Which leads me to question what exactly the meaning of the drink is?
“If I didn’t watch the lecture beforehand, I probably would have been more confused than ever. ”
Good! I did before say you could read before watching, but now I do think it’s more helpful to watch first.
“Which leads me to question what exactly the meaning of the drink is?”
Ha. In some ways the “drinks pairings” are a bit of fun. But on the author pages (e.g. for Aragon: https://rmst202.arts.ubc.ca/authors/aragon/), I do write a paragraph or so about them.
Our first drinks-pairings related question! Fantastic! I’ve added this to the list of questions for in-class discussion, and I am curious to see how some of your peers may respond to this here…
Hi Arielle,
I also mentioned in my blog post how much the introduction video helped me guide through the text without trying to approach it by analyzing every detail, coming up with themes etc. This book was quite refreshing for me since it did not follow the traditional making of a story. That’s an interesting question. I have to find those readings myself on our home page!