My name is Kelly and I am a second year student planning to major in economics and political science. I really enjoy reading in my spare time, although my Want to Read list is always outpacing my Read list and I never end up reading as much as I want. So hopefully, this course can remedy this to some extent as now I get to read and have it be part of my academics!
Along with being able to read more books, I hope to be exposed to different kinds of literature, both across their contextual backgrounds, as well as different writing styles and stories. More personally, I’m excited to encounter different kinds of characters within these novels and get to know them better over the course. For the readings themselves, I did expect to encounter magical realism some way or another, merely because I have read a book for high school by Gabriel Garcia Marquez titled The chronicle of a death foretold, who also happens to be the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude. Personally I did not enjoy (oops) reading this book, especially because of the use of magical realism, so I am quite reassured after watching the lecture video that seemed to steer focus away from that.
When thinking about Latin American literature, I tend to first think of its history of colonization and its many revolutions and conflicts that inevitably trickle into the daily lives of the people, even removed from its direct impacts on livelihoods. These include things like religion, or living environment or just overall cultural attitudes that develop depending on the happenings within the region. My other preconceived notion of Latin American literature is based on more recent books I have read, one being The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by the Argentinian author Mariana Enriquez, as well as The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini which has the story set in the Caribbean (both books are quite interesting reads if you’re interested). Both these novels are published much more recently, and have somewhat given me the impression of an unfamiliar gender attitude that I still have trouble figuring out the nuances of today, especially in recognition of my own Western understanding of gender. I have a feeling that this theme might carry through into some other books in this course, and I am especially keeping an eye on that one story about prostitutes in the special service.
From this course with all of its diverse selection of books, I hope to understand all of the identities represented within these books better, and gain a new found understanding of Latin American literature, or maybe a new understanding that deconstructs the box of Latin American literature entirely.
To conclude, my question to whoever reads this is: which book are you all the most excited to start reading and why?
I look forward to reading the comments!
Until next time,
Kelly