Hopscotch: Topics in Hispanic Literature

Hey everyone,

I don’t usually partake in poetry, but Pablo Neruda’s “Twenty Love Poems” was an interesting read and really allowed me to paint a picture of how Neruda believes love to be. Neruda used such descriptive imagery to convey the emotions he was feeling. These selection of poems were all over the place, but they all shared such a compelling view of love. One of the poems I was particularly interested in was the fourth poem, “The Morning is Full.” His description of love relating to nature was powerful, and I liked how he compared such drastic seasons together such as “the morning is full of storm in the heart of summer.” (I am reading from an e-text and there aren’t any page numbers). I like to think of poetry as at times being quite abstract, and the reader having the final say as to what they poem means. In this case, I think it is quite clear though that Neruda is facing some hardships in his relationship, and even in the summer, his heart and mind are filled with sorrow through the storm.

After watching the lecture video and conversation video, I find it very interesting that Neruda was only 19 years old when he wrote the “Twenty Love Poems”; to be able to write such descriptive poetic imagery at such a young age was interesting to me. When analyzing the 20th poem, the lecture video along with the conversation video allowed me to see the sheer way in which he treated the woman he was describing. The use of the preterite when describing his love towards her was a focal point in how I was able to understand the ruthlessness of Neruda’s words.

Although I am not fluent in Spanish, if I have the time, I would love to read the poems in its original form and be able to notice exactly what words Neruda was using to describe the woman through imagery and the idea of love. Often times, words are lost in translation and the English meaning may mean something similar but not quite exact. I think it is important to analyze the text in its original form in order to understand the way Neruda feels about love at the tender age of 19.

Now to end off with a question: Did your view of Neruda change after watching the lecture and conversation videos? Why or Why not?

Having some prior knowledge on the Mexican Revolution, I think that the Underdogs portrays a real sense of what was going on at the time through this fictional story. Mariano Azuela’s writing is easy to follow and I enjoyed reading The Underdogs. At times it was quite graphic, but it really painted a picture of how things were going at that time.

Usually in history books, revolutions and wars are depicted through a more historical sense, just summing up the main occurrences and the results of that victory/defeat. With the Underdogs, Azuela shows us the real grit and grime through the eyes of men like Demetrio.

I enjoyed the wordplay of dogs throughout the text. After first week’s class, I have noticed many more instances where wordplay affects the story and makes it a lot more interesting. Demetrio states they’ll track him down like dogs (p.9) and “he’ll shoot you down like a dog!” (p.62). were just a couple examples. They also used the term dogs as human-like. On page 3 it goes “listen to the dog barking! It must be a human being.” Throughout the novel the similarities between dogs (underdogs) and humans were prevalent, as they were the “underdogs” in the revolution fighting against the oppressive government at the time. Near the end they also were hiding like dogs and “fleeting with tails between their legs” (p.120).  The dog like instinct in them could be reminded of the feral behaviour they started to partake in and became so animalistic when they attacked others, basically becoming the feral animals they thought the government was, by killing Demetrio’s dog in the beginning.

In my previous course, I learned about Las Soldaderas and their roles in the Mexican Revolution. I enjoyed reading about War paint’s role in the underdogs, especially during that time period where women were rarely seen actively fighting in a revolution. These Soldaderas were fierce warriors and represented the women who wanted to fight alongside the men for the greater good. I found it interesting to see how Warpaint interacted with her allies but would have hoped to have read more about her personality and why she wanted to partake in the revolution in the first place, instead of just her romantic flings with her comrades. But that could be in part due to the time period the book was written at.

My question to you all is, do you think the female characters in this novel were well represented of women in the Revolution through the likes of Camila and Warpaint?

I personally enjoyed reading the work of Teresa de la Parra this week, and some key themes that stuck out to me included the idea of play we discussed in week 1. There were many times where play was seen in the literature, and connecting them together through the form of play on words and jokes throughout the memoir. The play on names such as Violeta being nothing similar to Violet, and how her overall being was more on the masculine side of things. All the names seemed to be quite funny to Blanca Nieves, due to the irony that each of their names contained. The idea of play/games we discussed in week 1 I found related to the youthfulness that Mama Blanca possessed in her younger days. The amount of joy and charm as she recollected with her past shows that our youthfulness is always with us, no matter the age, so long as we actively seek it out. Reminiscing on growing up with her family brought her joy, as compared to her present life where her sons live away from her and her daughter’s in law are ashamed of Mama Blanca’s living situation.

I loved the way that the memoir was written, and it has been a while since I read anything other than research papers so this was a nice break and a great way to start off the term. To be honest, I forgot how enjoyable reading could be and how you can get engulfed in a good story like Mama Blanca’s. De la Parra used powerful imagery and made it easy to picture the scenes happening in real life, and the stark differences between the sisters were beautifully captured.

Beauty was another key component of the memoirs. The idea that Mama Blanca and her siblings had to always look presentable when guests were around, as to not paint a bad picture about their parents was very true in our society. So long as you look groomed and tidy, everyone assumes you are amazing and can handle your own. But that may not be the case, and we live in a time where everyone is moving very fast and no one bats an eye unless something looks very peculiar.

Overall this reading was intriguing and I am excited for what’s to come with the following books.

My question to you is do you think play is necessary in literature? Why/why not.

Hi everyone, my name is Kenward Tran and I am a fourth year student in the LFS faculty majoring in Global Resource Systems. My specializations include Environment, focusing on its impacts in Latin America. What better way to expand my knowledge about Latin America in the form of literature! I am excited for this course as this is the first time in my life where I will be experiencing “contract grading.” It puts good pressure on myself in terms of accountability, and I won’t be shocked at the end of the term when I see the letter grade, as I have chosen it. I am excited to dive deep into Latin American Literature and understand how authors were feeling at that point in time.

A little intro to me – I was born in the good ol’ prairies of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and moved to BC when I was in grade 4. (I don’t know what age that was but grade 4!) I was always interested in the environment and was very curious on the surroundings I often found myself in. BC is an amazing place for hikes with amazing views and I’d say it makes up for the amount of rain we get. If the hikes aren’t enough, in the winter we can do winter sports with all the mountains we have. Coming from Winnipeg where it is flat farm lands I was amazed by this and love snowboarding now mainly at Cypress and Grouse Mountain. I have previously taken a Latin American Studies course with Tamara Mitchell, and it was very interesting. Tamara would use Professor Beasley-Murray’s lecture videos so I already have an idea of how his teaching style is, and I personally enjoy it. The drink pairings set the tone of how reading is a stimulant and the drinks can set the vibe to make you want to read even more.

The first lecture was intriguing, and the idea of literature and how it can be a play of words in terms of puns and jokes made me realize the connections they had with one another.  It was unfortunate we never got to play hopscotch outside, but at least now I understand why the course is called hopscotch!

I have a question for everyone, do any of you speak more than one language? If so, which languages? (Bonus if it’s spanish. I took up to SPAN 202 so I am algo bueno en español.)