introduction

I am compelled to think that to write an introduction about oneself may fall into two broad categories: A long-drawn, soul-searching analysis on the self and one’s innermost feelings, or a small paragraph simply introducing conventional facts, such as one’s name, school, and year of study. Since the former would be too novel, and the latter perhaps too plain, this is my attempt to write something which could be defined as a midpoint between the two.

My name is Melissa Zhou. I study international relations and political science at UBC. I was raised here in the world of glassy buildings, sound bridges, solid trees, healthy children, and concrete park-benches here in Vancouver, BC. This may sound absurd, but since I have never really been to many other parts of the world (partly due to never having a chance to travel, and partly due to my tendency for clinging to familiar routines), I feel that a substantial portion of my knowledge about the world is derived from books, films, and academia, rather than first-hand experience. The world itself seems to have a significantly fictional quality, not simply the material that I read, and this makes it so that there is a dualistic quality about it all — about the infinite perceptual experiences, political rants, and philosophical explications that dwell in books, and the way that they reflect not concrete objective reality itself, but the subjective intricacies of the mind and the human experience. And perhaps this dualistic quality is what makes literature such an enthralling art form for me. Literature has always been of primary interest to me from a young age, and my bookish tendencies have shaped my perception of the world through introspection, amateurish philosophy, and poetic self-expression.

Given that literature has tickled my fancy for quite a long time, I can safely argue that the acts of reading and writing has always been my outlet for understanding, expressing, and contending with the puzzling intricacies of human life. If I must be honest, however, the time that I allocate to these two activities have dwindled since arriving in university, owing to other responsibilities that have settled into my life. But my interest in literature has never left me. Within the realm of literature, furthermore, I have always been intrigued by this tendency to break established norms; to confront the fact that the human condition is not fixed, but in fact fluid and subjective; and to not simply ‘experience’ the world, but to express these experiences in an explorative manner, especially in the use of experimental language structures.

Thus, in the video lecture introducing Romance studies and languages, what intrigued me deeply was this idea of the Romance languages “pushing at limits and constructing something new”. I feel that a glimpse of my own stance on literature rings through this statement, simply because I have always had a bias for reading modernist and experimental literature, which are categories that often disregard conformity to traditional plot structures. However, I must admit that I have never read literature belonging to Romance world — aside from a tattered copy of Proust that I own, whose pages are yellowed and almost unreadable — and this is something that I am excited to be doing.

Although I am aware that there is a rigorous amount of work to do in order to achieve my desired grade, I am sure that this class will reinforce my interest in literature, and contribute to my familiarity with a much broader amount of texts!