April 2024

The End !

Conclusion, View all 2 comments

Hi everyone!! This would be my last blog post for this class. I honestly feel proud of everyone and myself for reading all the books that we had contracted for, and I hope that we have at least found one novel that we resonate with!

This course was definitely one of my favourite classes for the entire year. I have never taken any literature courses at UBC before, but I genuinely hope that other classes can adopt the same structure as well. Apart from its flexible grading structure, I find the class discussions generally help generate precious, insightful ideas. While I already had some thoughts on the novels in mind, it was a great experience to exchange thoughts with our peers in small groups as well as listen to what others had to say in class. Class discussions have immensely broadened my preconceived conceptions of the novels. In particular, I really liked our discussion of the significance of bodies in “Black Shack Alley”. While I only thought about how the bodies of Black people were viewed as economic assets that were instrumentalized to fulfill white settlers’ financial needs, I had never given much thought to the aesthetic element of it. I vividly remember that some of my classmates gave impressive analyses regarding the aestheticization of Black bodies when the labourers are swimming in the sea, and how bodies symbolize the temporary repossession of autonomy under a white supremacist societal structure. This notion strikes me as an extraordinary one, and I am truly grateful that their insights have deepened my understanding of the novel.

Most of the books that we covered in class had somewhat a grim yet realistic worldview. I find the novels “Mad Toy”, “Black Shack Alley”, and “The Shrouded Woman” speak to this the most. These three novels depict the harshness of reality, human nature, and societal themes such as poverty, patriarchy, the continuity of white supremacy etc. Among them, my favourite book would be “The Shrouded Woman”. I am confident to say that I have achieved my goal set in my introductory blog post as Bombal’s novel very much resonates with me. I appreciate how Bombal deconstructs the conventional, rigid dualism of life and death. Since it is written from the perspective of a deceased woman, it very much reminds me of how death illuminates Ana Maria in the sense that she gets to re-configure and reflect on her relationships, which is something that she wouldn’t have a chance to do so while she’s alive. It is as if death is only a stage, but not the termination of life. I also admire Bombal narrative style as she collectively depicts the struggles of women under patriarchy, and at the same time reflects on her dysfunctional relationship with her husband, highlighting her own conflicted emotions as well.

As for my least favourite novel, it would be “Combray” by Proust. Though Proust exemplifies the intricacy between love and melancholy in that relationship, adding complexity to emotions and rejecting binary assumptions that misery cannot be associated with love, it is a bit challenging for me to follow along with the lack of commas and lengthy sentences. I would lose track of the plot and narration and had to re-read it afterwards.

I never once regretted my decision to take this course, and I would definitely recommend this course to my friends 😀

Thank you for everything, and hope you have a restful summer!

My question for this final blog post is: Which book do you resonate with the most and why?

Faces in the Crowd – What Did I Just Read???

Luiselli, , , View all 10 comments

“Faces in the Crowd” was undoubtedly one of the most challenging books I have ever read in this class. This novel requires immense attention and sophistication as the narrator constantly switches back and forth from the perspective of the narrator to Gilberto Owen, a Mexican poet who is featured mostly in the latter half of the novel. Initially, I thought that the narrator and Owen have separate storylines featured in the same novel. However, upon further reading and reflection, I noticed that this trend has become more complex. On several occasions, I had to rewind and re-read the parts that I had overlooked, but seemed rather significant to the plot. For instance, Luiselli writes, “But the days those things begin to arrive – the blindness, the cats, the ghosts, the pieces of furniture… I knew it was the beginning of the end” (37), and “All novels lack something or someone. In this novel there’s no one. No one except a ghost that I used to see sometimes in the subway” (38). As for Owen, he says, “He replied that I was a ‘subwanker’ and that instead of going around looking for ghosts where there weren’t any, I should send him a poem about a subway…” (48). The multiple references to ghosts from both voices evoke a sense of unconsciousness and the blurred boundaries between fictionality and facts. The element of “ghosts” is shared by both voices as if they form a parallel narrative with one another. The fragmentation of memories from both characters brings about realism; at the same time, I don’t think it’s entirely appropriate for me to categorize Luiselli’s novel as a work of fiction. This novel transcends the conventional boundaries of what constitutes fiction or not.

The convergence of the two voices is most prominent toward the end of the novel, especially when the narrator and Owen seem to be in conversation with one another. The narrator says, “Autumn leaves are falling down and Papa’s missing” (76), and this is instantly replied by Owen “I feel the blazer that covers my eyes rising, the heart of the room entering and shaking my body, the excited voice of a little boy beating my face: Found!” (77). I think that this key scenario is when the two storylines ultimately converge as one; no one is stealing anyone’s light here. As the narrator’s son plays hide and seek in his own space, he discovers Owen, as evident by Owen’s line above. It seems that Owen has even become the father in the narrator’s storyline. Owen physically senses the boy beating his face; this makes me wonder if the characters finally perceive each other’s existence in the same space now. The idea of space alludes to the constant references to ghosts that I have previously mentioned since ghosts are not constrained by time and space. Hence, this allows Luiselli to deconstruct the linearity of time and utilize the idea of space to develop a parallel plot.

My question for this reading is: How does the anonymity of the narrator contribute to the idea of fictionality and fact featured in the novel?