Hi everyone! My name is Kavya and I am 21 years old in my third year. I am originally from Singapore and grew up with lots of sun and humidity (that I miss everyday). I am majoring in Sociology with a minor in Special Education. I took a Romance Studies class last year and enjoyed it quite a bit and decided to take RMST202 to not only complete my literature requirement, but also learn more about translated texts from the modern and post-modern time periods. In the future, I want to have a career in education, more specifically, elementary education.
Honestly, when I first looked through the website for this class, I wanted to log into workday and drop it immediately. The tabs and information overwhelmed me. However, watching the videos, meticulously reading through all the information, and familiarizing myself with the syllabus made me realize that this class could actually teach me a lot about literature and it’s differences and similarities through different time periods. I also like the flexibility of the class and being able to pick the readings I want to work through each week is an added bonus!
I already have a basic understanding of what a Romance Studies class looks for as I took RMST 201 last year. I enjoyed reading different books and stories and delving into their deeper meanings. I remember speaking to my professor at the time and telling her about how freeing it felt to read fiction instead of academic papers or confusing journal articles. Although I read a lot of books for leisure, I rarely ever pick up a book written before the 1980s. Sometimes the language is too complicated, other times I read through one long, boring chapter that fails to capture my attention and abandon the book altogether. Looking over texts originally written in languages such as French, Spanish, or Portuguese is definitely going to be a challenge but I am excited to challenge myself and read more outside my comfort zone. It typically takes me a week to read through a book that I have picked out as a distraction so I am curious to see how long it will take me to read through one for a class. I am also looking forward to deeply analyzing the texts.
Onto the lecture… One idea from the first week’s lecture that stood out to me was the emphasis on literature as a form of writing that draws attention to language and also to the mechanisms of representation. I like the idea of framing literature as something that forces us to slow down and notice exactly how meaning is produced rather than simply looking at the texts at face value. This perspective connects closely to what I have learned in Sociology as we constantly look beyond surface-level meanings and examine how social realities are constructed through language, power, and context.
Overall, I am really excited to engage with the readings and lectures in a meaningful way. I also think looking at literature through a more critical lens will allow me to see how literature can actually challenge the ways we understand language, culture, and meaning.
7 replies on “RMST 202 Introduction”
Hi Kayva, and welcome to the course! I’m glad you didn’t end up dropping even after seeing the website… I agree it is at first a bit overwhelming, but you will find that you get into the swing of things pretty fast.
And I like a lot your restatement of literature as “something that forces us to slow down and notice exactly how meaning is produced rather than simply looking at the texts at face value.” This is a good way of putting things, I think!
Though there are of course many ways of reading even literary texts… there’s also nothing wrong, I think, with reading for enjoyment! But literary texts do tend to have little traps that make us think twice. I think of the books we are reading, a good example of this is Piglia’s Money to Burn: on one level, it’s a thriller. But on another level, it’s doing something else, making us question what it is doing and how.
Hey Kavya, when looking at the tabs for this class, I was also overwhelmed by the amount of information there was! But I’m sure that we’ll all get the hang of it soon. It is nice to meet someone who is also interested in Romance studies!
Welcome to the course!
Hi Kavya!
I am also majoring in Sociology with a minor in education. I totally relate to how the website was overwhelming, especially with the number of links and pages it has. However, I took some time to go through everything yesterday and I feel much better now! I look forward to learning alongside you!
Jennifer
Hello Kavya, I’m also from south east asia, the Philippines! I can’t believe I’m saying this myself, but to some extent, I miss the heat and humidity, especially at this time of the year in Vancouver, where it’s gloomy and raining nonstop. I definitely agree with you that literature makes us slow down to think. If we imagine the contexts of each period of time where the text was written, it makes it even more interesting to digest the nuance and meaning in each piece of literature and even understand how the writing has been shaped by history and one’s surroundings.
I liked how honest you were about feeling overwhelmed at first, because I felt the same way when I looked at the course site. It was interesting to hear how your background in Sociology connects to the way the lecture framed literature and language. I also relate to struggling with older texts and more complex language, so I’m excited to see how this class pushes us outside our comfort zones. Looking forward to reading and discussing the texts with you this term!
Hello Kavya,
I am also from a tropical country with lots of sun and humidity. I very much miss it too. Your blog post is genuine! I can’t wait to see what you decide to read. Challenging yourself to read books you may not like is always a good thing! Lastly, even if we like it or not, we still get to learn something!