10Apr / 2023

At the Last Chapter

I cannot believe that this is the last blog that I will be writing for Span 312. I have grown to be quite fond of this weekly ritual, and in some sense it has provided me some peace in the tumultuous nature of university workloads and schedules. In the beginning I did think the amount of reading might be overwhelming but in the blink of an eye, I have read more than 10 books, which is quite a feat. Im glad that I already surpassed my usual yearly reading goal!

Looking back at my first blog, I’m not quite sure how this happened, but every expectation I had has been met very firmly. I have now experienced literature across multiple cultural backgrounds, spanning across various themes and stories and styles. I got to read stories about all kinds of characters, from a cursed incest-ridden family to political activists or serial killers. Needless to say, I feel like my understanding of literature has enriched so greatly from the exposure to such diverse storytelling and I’m all for it, even though many of them were challenging reads. They certainly weren’t books I would pick up myself, and I’m glad to have found myself in a situation where I am forced to read them, and that I got to experience it with everybody else so we could help each either dive deeper.

Looking back, I feel like I had a good trajectory towards what I thought Latin American literature consisted of, and that’s largely because the books that I did read (Chronicles of a Death Foretold, The Bread the Devil Knead, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed) actually provided some good clues towards certain elements of Latin American literature, especially concerning the gender attitudes that come across. The machismo male archetype and the gender role that women fulfill often times were constructs that the novel we read in class all provided more context and evidence, that has now build to a more holistic knowledge of this notion. From Captain Pantoja, to 20 love poems, or even the underdogs, a plethora of novels has provided more insight into the overall cultural attitudes towards gender. But once again, this class did also affirm reading these books did break the box of what counts as “Latin American Literature”, as comparing and contrasting across the reading list, all of them provided something unique, and sometimes even contradictory notions of things, that a sweeping generalization is hard to make when the each offer something really different. What I can say is, I’m really glad that the overarching theme of this class was “play”, as I do think that is the biggest commonality across all the novels, so kudos to Jon to organizing it around something so clever.

It was an indescribable pleasure to come to class every week knowing that you guys would be there and we would get to talk about all of this together, as I truly believe that those are the university moments that we came to this institution for, and would remember back upon with great fondness. I look forward to being able to do this again this week, once and for all.

Cheers everyone!

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10Apr / 2023

Fever Dream

This book is probably my personal favourite read of the course so far, as I feel like it’s the most narratively enjoyable one to date. The entire pace of the book, the going back and forth between Amanda trying to recall what happened and tell David, to Amanda experiencing all these weird events with Nina was so tastefully paced that the tension builds very nicely and the focus of the book is very taut. In some ways this sort of reminds me of Jordan Peele movies, where the feeling of dread is very palpable and you cling on to each moment in an effort to figure out this situation. This is probably one of the only books that I read as quickly as I did. There are a lot of notable elements to this novel, such as the book opening with Amanda trying to recall back, or ending with her husband trying to figure out more what happened. All these “set ups” to the novel contribute something more to the effect of the story and adds a lot of dimension and richness to the method of storytelling; I really have a lot of admiration for the way this story was crafted.

After watching the lecture video, I realized there was a lot of contextual background that needed to be known if you wanted to understand the story much more clearly. And I think this sort of answers the question in the lecture video; the lack of explanation around what is going on magnifies the feeling of mystery and anxiety because you DON’T know what is going on, and you sure as hell wanna figure it out because it’s making you anxious. I think that the mystery of the circumstance also builds to the more mystical elements of the book, such as the later concepts of soul-switching and animals randomly dying. Altogether, the story reads more like you’re experiencing a fever dream 😉

Another interesting thing I noticed is, I somehow understood without knowing it that the author was female. I think this might come from the depiction of Nina and Amanda’s relationship, or the familiarity of the socialization between females when looking at the interactions between Amanda and Carla, but I think even beyond that this book’s worldview was very much portrayed through a feminine lens for me somehow.

To finish off with a question to you all, Im curious how you guys felt about the soul switching part of the book. Do you believe in the idea of souls and why or why not? To extend, what do you think about the woman’s ability to switch souls?

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03Apr / 2023

Papi: from the eyes of a child

The book this week was quite a change a pace compared to the other reads in this course. The narration from the child’s perspective is quite a unique one compared to other books with a youthful and innocent narrator; there are a lot of nice stylistic touches that reminded me of my own childhood as well. In particular, the narrator created a list (I’m not quite sure what the point of it was) that detailed how the world is broken up into 3 places, or types of “spells” such as yawning and “attacks”. I don’t know where the childhood fixation on creating weird lists of things comes from, but I think the effect of the text was very strong. It certainly reminded me of all the goofy things I was up to as a child, and really brought me back to how you view life when you are younger. Perhaps that is a child’s own way to figure out and establish some control for the world around them, as if to say “I was here, and I experienced all of this, and I want you to know that I figured all this out”.

One thing I didn’t expect from this book was for the focus to not be solely on how parental roles influence the way our lives play out, or to outline the different ways different parents and their actions influence the way children grow up (basically, some form of trauma dump). Obviously the focus of the book is the relationship between these characters within this family, but the personal relationship (or emotional development, better put) between the narrator and Papi are quite distant at times, speaking from seeing a choppy focus of her emotional journey with these parental figures through all these tumultuous events. I think a better example/ piece of evidence would be how Mami is portrayed throughout this story, and how her significance to the narrator is not really conveyed, as if they way they live together isn’t moulding who she is as a person. They merely appear as “figures”. To some effect, the distance does highlight that gap between her and Papi, in that he is often not there when he says he will be or shows up when it wasn’t expected of him to. This probably reveals a message about distant fathers and the fascination and admiration that comes with such an enigmatic figure. But I think another reason for this portrayal is to convey a broader message that isn’t limited to the theme of “family” or “parental figures”, as Jon said in the lecture video, maybe it is to convey other effects such as the portrayal of the macho cacique archetype, or some broader societal meaning.

To end with a question, how did you feel about the narrator’s childlike storytelling; did it remind you of anything, or was there anything especially notable to you about it? Why so?

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27Mar / 2023

Distant Star

I. Do. Not. Like. Poets.

This was my first impression halfway into the book. I don’t like their worldview, or the way they write about experiencing things. I bet these people would’ve been been miserable to hang out with. As the book opened in the setting of college, something about the mood of this book greatly reminds be of the movie “In the mood for love”. I think theres something very distinct about the tonality of college students hanging out and figuring things out in uncertain political times that seem to transcend cultures.

The question from the lecture was something I was thinking about, even as I was reading the book. I was confused why the narrator referred to these people as poets (Weider, Lorenzo, etc) when their explicit circumstance didn’t consist of writing poetry (lexical art I guess) themselves anymore. I think this ties into the broader question asking if the photographs that Weider showed counts as art. Personally, I think at the core of art is this notion of creation, or birthing something new. In this sense, Lorenzo just living out his life is art, because he is creating all these possibilities despite his limiting circumstance; this notion is what he himself recognizes as ingenuity. In a similar vain, the act of Weider to collect these photos and present them in the way he did was an artistic move. His action birthed this sort of effect, and was meant to be a statement. What precisely he was trying to convey, I am not certain. As I said, I do not like poets and they way they convey experiences. But regardless, it was meant to create a sort of reaction, and doing it the way he did meant something more than just “submitting a document to spread information” and thus in my eyes, it counts as art. Maybe not the images solely, but the act itself. Personally, I am not educated enough about the different kinds of art to make a claim on what kind of artistic category it falls under, but I think a fair point can be made that art often crosses these boundaries and that boundaries often times do not work well in the realm of art.

A question everyone: In your view, what counts as a poet, or what makes a poet a poet? How has reading this book influenced your perspective on this matter?

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20Mar / 2023

I, Rigoberta Menchu

As the first non-fiction novel of the list of texts, “I, Rigoberta Menchu” stands out greatly, and has been one of the more challenging reads so far in terms of the content that makes it upsetting to ruminate upon.

This novel recounts the life story of Rigoberta, and divides sections of the chapters based around themes that she has spoken about with an authoethnographer. I find that there are strengths and weaknesses in grouping the information this way. With each chapter surrounding a theme, the impact and narration is so focused that you can’t help but be absorbed in the story. As the audience, this way of telling the story was incredibly immerseful into the life of Rigoberta. The inclusion of her culture’s customs alongside her experiences with exploitation and activism provides solid building blocks into understanding the development of her political consciousness. Understanding the wisdom Rigoberta has learned from her experience allowed me to understand the depth of her activism, which culturally often time seems like an ignited emotional response at mistreatment (deservingly, obviously) and demands the perpetrators to be punished. However, with Rigoberta’s testimony, activism takes a much different perspective, in the form of growth, and a bridging of worldviews that is necessary to undergo change, such as the beginning when she explains how she learned Spanish for herself, or finding solace in the stories of the Bible. These approaches appear much more holistic and intimate to the personal journeys of the activists, and I think it also commends their journeys and growth in a significantly profound way, that takes into account the nuances of their situation. I agree wholeheartedly with the authoethnographer’s praise about Rigoberta’s bravery, because being self-conscious to the degree that Rigoberta is about her mental development through all these experiences is incredibly hard.

On the other hand, because each chapter is heavily centred on a theme, certain issues pertaining to earlier chapters were suddenly gone in later chapters. For example, in earlier chapters all members of Rigoberta’s family would be breaking their backs working just to get an abysmally small pay at the end of the day and suffer malnutrition and hunger, but this issue with income wasn’t consistent in later stories when Rigoberta would travel to other villages and teach them self defence, where making an income and finding food didn’t seem to be a prevalent concern anymore. I think having the narration be organized and carried out like this somewhat contributes to the feeling that Rigoberta’s testimonies may be doubtful, beyond the fact checking done to her background. But much like Jon said, the malleability of her story does reveal the agency she has, especially with her expertise in secret-keeping.

Lastly my question is: After hearing about the contradiction between Rigoberta’s account and the people who looked into the background of Rigoberta, how has the feelings towards her story changed for you? Do you believe her, and what is you take away from the novel now that this has come to light?

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13Mar / 2023

Captain Pantoja and the Secret Service

Reading the first few pages of this novel already made me nauseous; needless to comment on the rest of the book which was only more and more outrageous as it went along. From the descriptors of the maths that are required to run a brothel, to completely grotesque descriptors about Captain Pantoja’s hemorrhoids, or cult like activities of sacrificing humans. The content was abhorrent, although the writing itself was quite interesting.

One thing I do appreciate is the changing form of writing format, for a letter, to a mission report (?) to just a dated narration. The different formats that is utilized adds so much dimension to each characters perspectives and their jobs. With each format change, the language also changes drastically, which is not always achieved across authors, so it was quite impressive that the tone of the story shifts so much depending on what context you were hearing it from. I personally enjoyed the bits where you would jump back and forth between 2 situations; I could visualize it like a movie with its jump cuts and I thought the effect of that choice was very special.

Regardless, I find the way the book deals with the subject matter a bit alarming, since there is a certain sense of dehumanization when describing the prostitutes and women broadly, and I think that might raise some red flags about the way this book was intended as “comedy”. I know of many people, on justifiable grounds, who wound find this completely inappropriate, and I think that is why “black comedy” remains controversial. To some degree, I recognize that might be the point of this book, as I have read that the author had his work based on facts, but it is still appalling to see sex work described as going on “convoys” or taking about servicing 20 men a day as if it’s just a statistic. The only image I have from that is a woman tired out on a mattress, just used, waiting for it to start over again and again and again. Frankly, I can’t find anything comedic about that. The depiction of the circumstances of the prostitutes weren’t depicted all disingenuously though; even at the core of these stories, its made clear that poverty was the root cause of prostitution, and that only coupled with the abhorrent conditions they are forced to work in, whether in slave-driving brothels, or walking door to door with no semblance of security in their jobs. Thats why it wasn’t only a steady stream of money that allured the prostitutes to join the secret service, but also the respect that is given with the position. In this sense, the novel reminds us about these real events in history and provides a thought provoking depiction of it.

Lastly a question to all: what do you think the broader significance of the cult was, with the place it has within this story?

Until next time,

Kelly

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06Mar / 2023

Part 2: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Jon was right, the ending of the book was such a shattering surprise. Now looking back at the entirety of the novel, magical realism is done here like no other, and I certainly cannot imagine any book written of a similar nature that can even live up to, much less overtake the writing of Garcia Marquez. In my opinion, this book is undisputed as a must read and deserves an immortal place in the literature canon. Another thing I have noticed now is how intentional his method and style of writing is. Having read his other works allowed me to realize that the narration and writing style of Garcia Marquez isn’t exactly fixed, and much of the magic encapsulated in “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is actually restricted, and thus intention to this novel solely. This is to say that its design choices were much more conscious than I would imagine. I think this book has a very solid place in being one of the best books I have read so far not just in this course but in life general, although I would hesitate to describe it as one of my personal favourites, just based on the contents and extravagancy of the book but would rather call it a must read. To some degree, reading the words on the page is almost like reading the title to news articles- you anticipate it and no doubt value its significance but you wouldn’t really say that you love reading the news.

To pick up on last post regarding characters, I have stated that the one that stood out to me the most is Ursula. I think her significance to me is almost the concentrated essence of female characters and the overarching role of women in the show. In some sense the role of women may be established in this book due to the repetitions in circumstance that characters find themselves in, thus maybe the role says less about the idea of women, as much as it is another symptom of repetition. But regardless, a new character has taken place over Ursula as the one that stood out to me most- Remedios the beauty. Because what even was that. I guess the fate of those named Remedios is broadly described as being “taken away” whether from mysterious illness, a mental hospital or the heavens themselves. But either way, I think her existence is an outlier.

As a hilarious side note, I have been describing the plot spottily to my boyfriend, and he is vaguely aware of the general themes of this book. So to clarify the characters to him, I decidedly showed him the family tree, to which he responded with “I expected the family tree to be drawn in a circle”. I think that is a worthwhile note that the editors and translators of the book can take into account.

To finish, a question to you all: What do you all think about Remedios the beauty and everything that happened to her?

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28Feb / 2023

Part 1: One Hundred Years of Solitude

The writing of Garcia Marquez is so especially unique that I feel as if I’ve experienced 100 lifetimes from following all the events, when really I’ve only read 40 pages. This book is probably my favourite read so far in the course, and I am decently surprised that this book reads so much better than his other book “Chronicles of a Death Foretold”. I am also decently pleased that despite all the characters sharing approximately 3 names, I can discern them fairly well, and I think that credit also goes to the storytelling of Garcia Marquez.

The entirety of the book follows the bizarre adventures of every character, and in each corner there is magical realism and an interesting morphing with temporality to be found. At the centre of the story is a family, which I think also signifies a key feature of the book, that being human relationships. With the use of naming each children after some other figure before, I think that highlights the inherent connections and ultimately the tangled threads of fate belonging to each member of the family. Another notable feature of the book was the repetition in describing the experiences of each family member that ultimately fall to this feeling of “solitude”. I think in some ways, as the little things that occur in their lifetime are chained to one another, it all eventually trickles into this state of solitude that each character experiences, and no doubt we would experience at some point in our lifetimes, hopefully magnitudes weaker than the tragedies they experience.

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” carry on the torch of Latin American Literature’s proclivity for extravagant drama, which permeated a decent chunk of the books we have read before, only this one is much more bizarre and overwhelming, and pays special attention to the intricacies of human relationships, whether between father and son, husband and wife, or even between a family and other townsfolk. An additional feature that joins later on in the book is when war eventually breaks out, and the impact of that period of Mexican history on its people is once again illustrated very poignantly. From a personal standpoint, I was on the down low rooting for Aureliano to overcome his foreboding mortality when facing the firing squad as I was following his story in the first half of the book, but once it did actually get there I couldn’t care less about his demise, or at the very least I felt no remorse if he had died.

Altogether, this book has provided me with a reading experience like no other before, and pushed the bounds of fiction for me, and for that will always remain memorable. Which sort of leads me to my question to you all: Which character out of all of them is the most unforgettable to you? It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone you like or dislike, but rather the character you find yourself caring about the most. (For me, it was Ursula)

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13Feb / 2023

Pedro Paramo: Life Among the Dead

Pedro Paramo has been my favourite read out of the entire course so far, unsurprisingly, as it did come with the recommendation that it may be “the best Mexican novel ever written?” by Jon himself. This book has been filled with narration spanning from multiple different perspectives, each with a unique link to the village or Pedro Paramo himself. The way the story jumps perspectives and is told in a non-chronological order comes with a unique charm that honestly enhances the story itself in my eyes, as thankfully each instance the setting of time or character changed in each paragraph, it was easy enough to follow along. I think it was really effective in garnering my curiosity to figure out more about the Media Luna and Pedro Paramo himself.

Reflecting back on the lecture video, I can easily see how Gabriel Garcia Marquez found inspiration from this novel, as I personally liked this book more than his own creation Chronicles of a Death Foretold, which is the one I had read before. I think because it was told more simply and less flowery, that the stylistic choices that the author did use show through more clearly.

Within the book, the gap between life and death seemed completely unique, in people dead or alive, being able to hear or see the dead in some way or another, without the book making it completely certain if they themselves are dead or alive. Much of the book also reflects on the ideas of salvation, and the concept of sin and forgiveness, that push this constant tension between life and death forward. I think in some sense, Pedro Paramo and everything around him is tied to life, while Susana and the things that surround her ties to death. With her first husband dying, the shadow of death haunts her, and she is constantly tortured by visions and voices much like ghosts, then her father dies, then herself, then the entire village grows dead and deserted as Pedro takes his revenge. On Pedro’s side, much of everyone’s life is tied to him, with the Father constantly hearing about everyone’s confessions that tie back to his son, or others sorrowful dependency on him, or his capacity to take the lives of others away from them when he desires. In some sense, He took the life of Juan Preciado, the character that visits the village in the first place because of his mothers desire to “make him pay for the way he forgot us”, as the way he learns of Pedro’s life is the way his life is taken away by the voices. But these two things, life and death, are not polar opposites, but rather things that feed back into each other, and might be the same thing depending on how you look at it.

A question to all is, What are your thoughts on the Father? Did you like him or not and why? What kind of a character was he to you?

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06Feb / 2023

The True Labyrinth to Be Lost In: The Words on Borges’ Paper

The anxiety I have felt reading this books is a unique experience I have yet to have elsewhere. Truth to be told, I have no idea what’s going on in most of the stories, and that isn’t resulting from a lack of trying, I quite literally just cannot tell what is going on most of the times from the author’s leap of information from one line of thinking that merges into another one.

That aside, there are some notable stories in the section “Fictions” that I particularly enjoyed. I liked The Circular Ruins, Theme of the Traitor and the Hero, and I quite liked The Garden of Forking Paths .Everything else is somewhat of a mystery to me. I think there is something notable about the way he writes, that makes it read like a very intelligent but somehow tortured man’s ramblings as he’s going through some sort of withdrawal. Certain things are described with such detail and added information that is seems overloading, yet the significance of the details don’t seem as apparent to the happenings of the story, despite it being told as if each word is the vessel of some sort of uncovered treasure. Perhaps this is something that will resolve itself if I re-read the book and discover new things which I guess alludes to the idea of play. But I think the conclusion is that I probably won’t be able to wrap my head around his way of writing.

One story that particularly stood out to me is the Three Versions of Judas. I’ve never considered this idea that the book proposed. However, I do think there is something to be said about how Jesus would not be Jesus without Judas, and that both met similar ends, and there is something to be said about how both were sacrifices for this greater story to happen. I think it falls in like with something like “there is no knowing the light without first knowing dark”.

Another section (this time under “Parables”) that was particularly intriguing was Borges and I. This might be a very 21st century internet kid of me to say, but his thoughts somewhat remind me of how we think about how to curate “our existence” on social media. I think the parallels are they both experience this sort of weird boundary in our identities, where one seems more like a persona and the other is the one that “experiences things” but these things ultimately are taken by this persona and shaped into something else that is a part of it. Like maybe you like tennis, but the desire for this to pass into your “persona” and post it online as if that solidifies this “identity” shapes you to be “a person that plays tennis” and no longer someone that is just experiencing this game. Or maybe this thought of mine also reads like a withdrawing man’s ramblings.

My question to all is: What story made the biggest impression on you and why?

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← Older posts

Kelly’s Span 312 Bookshelf

At the Last Chapter

Fever Dream

Papi: from the eyes of a child

Distant Star

I, Rigoberta Menchu

Captain Pantoja and the Secret Service

Part 2: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Part 1: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Pedro Paramo: Life Among the Dead

The True Labyrinth to Be Lost In: The Words on Borges’ Paper

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