I cannot believe this is the second to last book for this course. I’m surprised how fast this semester has flown by. I’m also excited that I can honestly answer someone if they ask, “when the last time you’ve read a book?” and I reply by saying one of these books. I decided to push myself at the beginning of term and complete this week’s book of “Soldiers of Salamis” by Javier Cercas. Considering this has been a hectic week, it has been nice to take the time to read this book. I watched the video lecture before reading this book and I was intrigued to read about Bolaño since we just read his book “Amulet” last week. I was interested to see how this narrative portrayed Bolaño. I was also expecting the “[t]here’s nobody over here!” scene was going to be mentioned way further within the book. I found myself wondering about this scene as to why the soldier did that and sparked it inside him to feel the need to protect him?
The video lecture also stated from the book, “not a novel” but a “true tale”. This reminded me of the very beginning of the semester when Professor Beasley-Murray said in the lecture video of January 24, “a novel-that-was-not-a-novel” which is something that stood out to me then so when I heard “not a novel” I made the immediate connection. However, once I referred to that phrase, it was elaborating on the structure of the plotline within the “Paris Peasant” by Louis Aragon. While this novel uses that phrase to explain that “[i]t’s a story with real events and characters. A true tale” (p. 192). This also made me think of “W, or the Memory of Childhood” by Georges Perec. They both a story mixed with the truth but had a twist of fiction. W, or the Memory of Childhood had an autobiography and the other fictional story of the island. Soldiers of Salamis was based on true events reminded me of the autobiography portion, especially the narrative tone.
I was also intrigued by the statement, “I’m lying” on the very first page. I thought it was a fascinating introduction that really caught the reader’s attention. It reminded me of the icebreaker activity called two truths and a lie.
The questions I pose to my fellow classmates is, did you recognize any connections between previous books we have read? Also, do you have a theory why the title is “Soldiers of Salamis”?