Bonjour, Hola, Ciao!

Hello Everybody,

My name is Kelly and I am a 3rd year student doing a combined major in Economics and Political Science. As used as we are to introducing ourselves that way, I doubt that fact is that integral to my self introduction especially for this class. So here’s some other facts that you might find more interesting about me. Some of my favourite books I have ever read are Circe, The Handmaids Tale, and The Giving Tree. I don’t know if The Giving Tree has any business being here but it was rated very highly on my Goodreads list so I thought to include it.

I have taken a class with Jon before (Span 312) so my expectations for this class are a lot more adjusted- I foresee a lot of exposure to texts rooted in various regions featuring different kinds of stories- some great, most weird, very few unenjoyable. On that note, I am excitedly expecting a lot less magical realism (which I am scared will be replaced by surrealism) and a lot less texts similar to Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges. Hopefully. For those unaware what that book is about, just know that I’ll bet my entire life savings ($2) that you will be confused by the book at some point. For this class, Im really excited to read The Lover and The Book of Chameleons. I’ve heard things (not all good) about The Lover before so I’m excited for the opportunity to be able to discuss it with other people and see what they think. On the other hand, the Book of Chameleons has a very interesting plot setting so I’m excited to see how it’s going to play out.

In the lecture, the question mentioned was “Where is the Romance World?”. My first instinctual thought was what even is the Romance World? Is it just an amalgamation of countries that have linguistic ties to an ancestor language that is dead now? If it’s that simple then it should just be those countries geographically. However that seems hardly significant. So I guess the best answer is that the Romance world exists in our heads, at the very least. In response to the conversation video, I’m excited to hear the conversations between members of the unruly family, and hopefully most of them will be interesting.

My question to everyone this week is: What book are you the most excited for and why? Or if you aren’t excited about any of them, which one were you the most set on avoiding and what was the reason?

4 comments

  1. Hi Kelly!,
    I think your point about the Romance world existing in our head is a great response, I hadn’t really thought about it like that but it makes sense to me now that you’ve said it.
    To answer you question, I am most excited to read “Agostino” by Alberto Moravia, I guess I am mainly excited to read what seems to me as a coming of age book from the 1940麓s and comparing it to modern ones.
    Hope to see you around 馃檪

  2. Hi Kelly!
    When you mentioned The Giving Tree, I was instantly transported to the first time I read that book and bawled my eyes out. Such a powerful picture book and almost underrated? Regarding your question, that鈥檚 something I look forward to answering this week. I鈥檓 definitely very indecisive so I鈥檒l have to do some digging and see which book I鈥檒l be interested in most!

  3. Will there be something Borgesian in this course? Maybe… but also good surprises. Welcome back!

  4. Hello Kelly!

    Reading someone who has taken a similar class of Jon’s is intriguing and gives me an idea of what to expect from the class and the works we are called to read. I’m also most excited to read The Book of Chameleons!

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