Category Archives: Week 4

Nada, Week 4

Carmen Laforet’s Nada

Although I made the choice of choosing to read Carmen Laforet’s Nada over Alberto Moravia’s Agostino weeks ago, I began to question whether I made the right decision when I saw the amount of blogs written on Moravia’s novel instead of Laforet’s.

What drew me to read this book initially was the description that the professor gave. The “Which texts” page on the course website mentioned how we might relate to the protagonist since she is also a university student. Since this book was published in 1945, I was curious to find out whether the protagonist’s experiences would still be relevant today.Nevertheless, I continued to read Nada and was not disappointed at all!

To start, although it was interesting to follow the story of a young woman in university, I was quickly more intrigued by the gothic and mystery tone of this book. For instance, on just the fifth page, the protagonist, Andrea, goes from describing her stay at Barcelona to be an “exciting adventure” to a “nightmare” (5).

Since I have a tendency to visualize books while I’m reading them, many of the passages in this text also set a haunting tone and image in my head. For instance,  Andrea’s first impression of how the home “seemed like a witches’ house” and how her bed “resembled a coffin” leads me to imagine the apartment to be similar to a haunted house (8) (9). In addition, with descriptions such as Juan having a “face full of hollows, like a skull in the light” and Andrea’s aunts being “ghostly women”, I could also imagined them to resemble characters from a Tim Burton movie (6).

Also, I noticed how many of the chapters left on a cliffhanger of some sorts that made the story feel engaging and exciting to read. This was a shift from many of the other books, because there was an actual narrative structure to follow through. Furthermore, after every chapter, the reader is able to learn a little bit more about every character and what their intentions are. One character that I was particularly intrigued about was Román. Since the beginning of the book, there was a lot of mystery revolving around him and I was confused about what his intentions were.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and here are some questions for the class:

Do you think the comparison of the characters and tone to a Tim Burton movie is valid? Also, for those who read Agostino, I’m curious to know why you decided to choose that book instead!

 

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Bombal, Shrouded Woman, Week 4

A Shrouded Woman’s Wake

Although it may be premature since we’re not even half way through the reading list, I personally really enjoyed reading María Luisa Bombal’s The Shrouded Woman and can see it being a text that I’ll remember this course by. With the combination of having a faster pace and being a short read, I was able to finish the book in just one sitting, in about two hours or so.

With every page read, I was excited to move on to the next to learn about the different relationships that the narrator, Ana María, had with the individuals present at her funeral. In addition, as the narrator takes on different roles (ie. as a mother, wife or lover) in each of her relationships, it was interesting to see how those positions affected how she interacted with the people around her. This gave a lot of depth to Ana María as a character which was refreshing to read (especially since the last reading had a protagonist who would objectify women)!

On the course site, the songs listed for this week are “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads and “It’s the End of the World” by REM. However, while reading this text, I also couldn’t help but think about the song, “My Tears Ricochet” by Taylor Swift instead.

There are many parallels between the story that the novel and the lyrics of the song are telling with the most obvious similarity being that they both feature a deceased woman who’s looking around at attendees to her funeral and recalling memories that she’s had with them. In particular, many lyrics of the song draw comparisons to the relationship that Ana María had with her husband, Antonio. For instance, I found that the lyrics in the chorus,  “And if I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake?/Cursing my name, wishing I stayed/Look at how my tears ricochet” really similar to passage about how Antonio “buries his face in his hands” and is “crying at last” when he is near his deceased wife’s bed (229)(230). This undoubtedly  comes to a surprise to Ana María as Antonio had a “lack of love” for his wife when she was alive (227).

I had this song stuck in the back of my mind the whole time I was reading this text so I’m wondering if anyone else in the class can relate to associating certain readings with songs! If you do, do you find yourself finding similarities that the story has with the lyrics or the overall “vibe” of the song instead?

 

 

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