Category Archives: Uncategorized

April 4, 2022 · 3:47 pm

In sum..

As I end this semester, I am also ending an integral phase of my life- that of an undergraduate student. With a lot of goodbyes coming up, I am in a strange point of excitement and nervousness. This semester, I sort of ended up taking the RMST course because I no longer needed to meet the language requirement. It seems crazy to think that I could’ve been struggling to make my way in Spanish all this time, instead of reading all the incredible texts I had an opportunity to engage with in this class. What a relief, and what a great surprise-filled journey this was!

The most important takeaway for me through the semester has been to learn to open my mind to the structural and general understandings of what  novels are. It has also been so enjoyable understanding the authors, not just their work, and positioning them as agents and creators of the book. This practice invited us to have our own ideas, supplemented by the honour of knowing the context of the author’s life and general world events at the time of their writing. A memory from class that will stick with me long after it’s over is the zoom class with Norman Manea. It was such a delight to e-meet him, ask him a question and just watch him talk about the book, and his life with so much passion. His words of encouragement and high praise for the class and the instructors was so heart-warming. I believe that as people, we need role models ( to be inspired by), and I am certain Mr. Manea is one of mine.

I also really enjoyed readings books that were not meant to be primarily read in English. As a non-native English speaker, I often find it fascinating to see the structure, and expressions of authors whose works have been translated. Reading novels translates from languages like Spanish and French gave a unique window into experiencing these novels in a special way and also opened my eyes to a variety of contexts and perspectives of history that were foreign to me. My question is how you experienced translated works? Did it make a difference in how you interpreted them?

In sum, I am grateful to have taken this class, and excited that it contributed so many colourful and diverse books to my physical bookshelf (which I hold as a prized possession). I’d also like to extend my sincere gratitude to Jon, Jenifer and Patricio for helping me expand my mind with their brilliantly crafted questions, and their very careful curation of the course contracts, which were so creative and gave the students agency in their performance. Now, at the risk of my essay sounding like an acceptance speech, I will post this blog and log off.. sincerely hoping to cross paths with all the incredible students and the instructors of this course in the future! 🙂

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March 29, 2022 · 1:45 am

Cercas’ Fictional Writing 101

Cercas’ “Soldier of Salamis has a bewildering jigsaw puzzle- like structure and form, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It invited the reader to accompany the narrator on his quest to piece together fragmented information from the past, through archives, oral history and other resources. I would categorize Cercas’ writing style as historical fiction, in part due to the similarities in the public figures and themes of Francoism to the loom large in the accounts, and most of their stories are accounts of the historical truth. 

The narrator, who is divorced, childless and recently fatherless, begins a journey to uncover the truth of Sanchez Mazas story of survival in a historical event that took place in his life. He is gripped by uncovering this story, as a writer and a journalist and it awakens his passion to write again. All other aspects of his life, such as his formal job, and relationships, are depicted on the periphery of his narration- highlighting the importance of writing the story of Mazas for him. Personally, the facts I read about Mazas and his drive for fascism and a return of absolute dictatorship control was not for me. It was built on a dream of fascism – and I could not connect with his ideas, but the interesting part of this was, that I could easily admire his belief in his own ideas. This prompts the question (that the narrator investigates as well) of what makes a hero? As far as violence, radicalism and dictatorship is concerned, Mazas only had them, without ever fighting or engaging in violence for them. 

A key element in the narrator’s writing was that he was not writing a novel, but a “tale”. The distinction for him was clear (even in the face of it being obscure in other people’s minds). He hoped to uncover a parallel or close version of the truth; “if we manage to unveil one of these parallel secrets, we might perhaps also touch on a more essential secret”  (p. 12) which indicated his commitment to reaching closer to this ultimate form of truth. he hope being that the fictional invention will be more convincing in the end than any biographical memoir. It is as though he hopes being that the fictional tale will be closer to a more convincing account in the end than any existing memoir of Mazas. 

As a concluding thought, the book is a fascinating account of memory and history- and how they are both reliable, and unreliable and in the case of Mazas, can only truly be verified in some parts, leaving room for fiction. 

Food for thought: 

How do you approach the cautionary mark of fiction that lies in the opening pages of the book, as someone who knows the context?

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January 12, 2022 · 1:05 pm

An introductory note

Hello everyone!

I am writing this introductory note from an especially rainy day in Vancouver, which seems somewhat perfect for this occasion. My name is Astha Kumar, and I am a fourth year Sociology major, about 4 courses shy from graduating this spring. In my free time, I thoroughly enjoy reading, cooking and finding music from independent artists.

I took this course because it seemed like a great way to exercise my curiosity and break out of my comfort zone. My new year resolution this year was to broaden my horizons when it came to reading, and I believe the diverse RMST 202 reading list is a great way to exercise my commitment. Literary works are not only powerful sources of knowledge, but great informers of culture, language, people, traditions and ways of life. My primary expectation from this course is to be able understand, compare and contrast the unique voice in every text and make a genuine effort to learn something of value from each one of them– perhaps ideas I can carry with me, long after this course is finished. Every good book, in my opinion, is able to do this.

In reference to the introductory lecture, Professor Jon’s passion was captivating and infectious. I especially appreciated how he practiced reflexivity in explaining his choice of the texts, and made sure to acknowledge areas, topics, and aspects that were missing from the diverse collection. He also viewed the translated nature of texts from an extremely unique standpoint. I often believe that there is an original essence of the work lost to the reader when reading a translated text, but Jon reassured us that it was an opportunity to re-make, re-imagine and travel with the texts. Hence, I embark on this journey, and brace myself as I travel across the world through the texts in pursuit of understanding what underpins romance in our world.

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