Day: April 10, 2023

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The End.

Phew almost forgot about writing this blog post.  I was thinking about how funny (to me) it would be if I did what Jon brought up in class before (how to his surprise, no student has just written cuss words 400 times to meet the word count for the blog) but I have decided against it! I thought it would be an injustice to how far I’ve come throughout this course, and the amount of literature I can reflect on in this post.

To start off, one of my favourite novels we explored this term was definitely Clarice Lispector’s “The Hour of the Star.” The novel’s theme of poverty and identity really stuck out to me, and I felt quite sad for Macabéa as the story of her life was laid out in front of me. Tragedy after tragedy, until finally something good was coming out of it for once, and as she was happy, she suddenly dies. Unfortunate. This term has been quite the rollercoaster for me but the end of this course is bittersweet. Sure, I’m happy I don’t have to deal with any of my other courses I’m taking this term (I’m looking directly at you macroeconomics!) but I am going to miss the chats we had in class, and the people I have met and connected with through these books. I also want to show some appreciation for Jon and Daniel, who have made this course an amazing experience. When I first registered into this course, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I was not too familiar with reading literature, and the usual texts I encounter are in the form of articles and papers assigned in class. This class has reignited my interest in novels as I have forgot how much joy comes with reading a novel, and connecting with the imaginative characters in the stories.

These blog posts have also been a joy of mine. At first, I kind of dreaded having to write a blog post every week for every book I read, but over time I found myself wanting to write down my thoughts, and just spilling out any ideas that came to my mind. I’ve never really gotten a chance to do this, so thank you.

My final question to you all is: nothing. I hope you all have an amazing summer break and get to enjoy the things you love. Take care everyone!

Okay I lied, I am actually interested in which book you would recommend reading from this term? As I only got to read 1/2 of the books each week.

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Blogs

Week 13: The Taiga Syndrome

Well, what a way to end the course! With its mentions of fairytales, while also stating it wasn’t a fairytale in the book (17), Cristina Rivera Garza’s “The Taiga Syndrome” was an interesting, but often times confusing read due to the theme of time and what was real or not. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the book and was first drawn in from the fact it was a quest novel, in which the narrator has to find a man’s wife who has disappeared with another man.

Just like in many novels we have explored this term, we never get to know the name of the narrator. Before taking this course, I probably would not have thought much about not knowing the names of the narrator, but I have learned that names are indeed important and can be a central theme to the book, as names carry a lot of weight.

The novel reminded me of “Papi” by Rita Indiana, in the sense that there are certain parts of the book where reality is blurred and it’s hard to differentiate the real from the fake. Past memories of Lupe haunt her, and she frequently questions whether they’re real or not. And in”Papi” the narrator’s innocence and view of her father as a superhero cloud her judgement, and we are unable to know if some of the things she is saying in the novel are true, or are a figment of imagination through the lens of an 8-year old child.

I found the conversation video with Rivera Garza to be very captivating. I enjoyed how she explored the theme of distance, and how far she can take it, through the location of the novel in the boreal forest. Her use of “que” or “that” in the novel really caught my attention, as she explored the use of its repetition and importance in the novel to get her point across. I also found it interesting that the novel was translated to English many years after being first published in Spanish. I wonder how translation affects the power of the words seen in Spanish, and then translated into English. I am also looking forward for her new book that just came out in February, “Liliana’s Invincible Summer” will definitely be in my future reading list!

My question to you all this week is, how does the taiga landscape function as a metaphor or symbol in the novel? And what themes do you think it represents?

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