Category Archives: war

March 21, 2022 · 6:34 pm

Bolaño’s treasure; a review of Amulet

Bolaño’s “Amulet” caught my interest with its gripping first line – “This is going to be a horror story”. The narrator, Auxillo is an unlikely choice and voice of a book. She is far from ordinary; impulsive, thoughtful and ambivalent. It is fascinating to follow her writing style, which is a stream of consciousness,  because she seems interested in all her mundane details and instances of quiet rebellion that grips the youth of Mexico and is reflected in her own thoughts. The novel is told in a strange manner, with scattered thoughts and loops within loops of time being created.

Bolaño challenged the linear model of passage of time in a person’s life, and introduces us to think about life, as “ full of enigmas, minimal events that, at the slightest touch or glance, set off chains of consequences, which, viewed through the prism of time, invariably inspire astonishment or fear” (p.23). This perspective is reflected through Auxillo’s experience of being stuck in the bathroom of the UNAM university during the siege by the Riot Police. 

In the novel, Auxillo, an Uruguayan woman living in Mexico,  moves through her bohemian lifestyle, referring to herself as the “mother of all poets” in a non-traditional Mexican way of life. Her vivid descriptions of young poets she encounters and takes under her wing were fascinating to read. The importance of poetry in Auxillo’s life remains explicit in the book, and I particularly liked its relevance when she is stuck in the bathroom of the university, surrounded by the riot police. She remarks “the laws of tyrannical cosmos are opposed to the laws of poetry”, highlighting the importance of art, the comfort provided by poetry and the chance encounter with a riot police member where she remains unfound.  

With Amulet, it is difficult to not view the writing, or the use of words and diction, as anything short of extraordinary. On p. 86, Auxillo describes the setting of Guerrero as a “cemetery..bathed in the dispassionate fluids of an eye that tried so hard to forget one particular thing, that it forgot everything else”. This idea can be traced back to Auxillo’s own attempt to try and escape her experience in the bathroom stall  university, as well as the broader landscape of Mexico- where many things are forgotten or lost. 

To end, the erratic tone of the book may make some wonder if Auxillo is crazy and doubt her sanity. But upon closer examination, we may find that her poetically charged account may be a woman’s way of seeing the world and its intricate details by sharing her observations. 

Food for thought: 

How did you interpret the “birthing” scene on page 31, within the broader context of the story? 

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March 7, 2022 · 10:49 pm

Perec’s “W or The Memory of Childhood”; inconclusive evidence on why I enjoyed the book so much..

For reasons that are not entirely within my grasp, W or the memory of childhood was one of my favorite reads this semester. The duality of the narratives and the two parts of the books had a unique sense of a surprise element to them. While reading the book, especially as the narrator tries to recount his childhood, I felt as though I was unlocking the puzzle of his life with him. 

The fragmented and unstable nature of the narrator’s memory really appealed to me in the book. The narrator seemed to be on a quest where he was negotiating with his mind, and it’s ability to hold memories. On page 42, he articulated an essentially reflexive feature of why he chose to write in order to re-trace his childhood memories, and it’s a quote that stuck with me from the book- “ I write because they left in me their indelible mark, whose trace is writing. Their memory is dead in writing; writing is the memory of their death and the assertion of my life.” There is a powerful sense of agency in Perec’s account of remembrance, and the way he chooses to build his memory. His writing taught me that the gaps in memory, and the imperfection of remembering is itself a vital part of the process. 

The account titled “W” in the book, that is described as an island city governed by the spirit of the Olympics, begins as a euphemism to the brutal conditions that political systems create for citizens. Although seemingly distinct from Perec’s memories of childhood at first, we see the two accounts intimately intertwined with each other as we unlock the horrors of World War 2 in Perec’s account and the brutal conditions of survival in the land of “W”. All games, in essence, where the powerful actors exert control for resources for the common man, can have deadly consequences. 

To conclude, the two accounts are not a master-class in symmetry, nor do they have a connection that is obvious and pleasant to its readers. Nevertheless, they teach us important lessons in how connections can be made across different epochs and socio-historical circumstances, and the missing puzzle pieces of memory that we seek to find may not make a perfect whole, but a fragmented mosaic. They teach us that after all, we’re all human, with a set of undeniable failings and pitfalls. 

Food for thought: 

I am interested to understand how readers perceived the impact of war and catastrophe on Perec’s recollection of memories, and his writing in general?  

 

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February 28, 2022 · 9:53 pm

An Idle Dove; Rodoreda’s “The Time of the Doves”

The time of the Doves by M. Rodoreda follows the story of Natalia, and the tumultuous tale of romance, war and the harsh realities that grip her life. In the first half of the book, I was often left feeling confused about Natalia’s agency as a woman, mother and wife. I found it hard to come to terms with her decision to marry Quimet, given his controlling and obsessive nature and her early comprehension of these  flaws. I felt like there were vivid descriptions of her despair, and the mental and emotional pressures being put on her, but I felt like there was an overall lack of explanation behind her reasoning and thought processes that governed her actions. 

 

Another interesting observation I noticed was how the book’s title “The Time of the Doves” alluded to a larger theme in the text, which was the liminality between animals and humans. The blurry lines that were crossed between the realm of the human and animals were evident in instances such as men being torn up from war (like the grocer), Natalia scrounging for food and shelter, Natalia’s decision to kill herself and her children due to her instincts taking over. Additionally, the doves housed in her home, where she was “killing herself cleaning up after them”, and desperately wanting to separate her “heaven[ly]” house and the “hell it became” (p.100). The novel perhaps creates this blurring of boundaries to foreshadow how war brings out the animal in human beings, with humans being morphed into aggressive, uncontrollable creatures of instinct and conflict.

 

In addition to these broader themes, I noticed a sub-theme of isolation that ran through the book, carried by Natalia’s feelings of intense alienation. A particular instance where she described her role on p.82- “I was selling him my work..wholesale” highlighted the everyday commodification of humans, and reducing them as mere objects to be used, leading to a loss in sense of self for Natalia and others. It also connects to the broader themes of “things” in the book- the furniture, the markets, the house of the bourgeoisie family Natalia works for, and many more. War creates an image of the world disintegrating – like the things and people that occupy that world are living on the brink of destruction.like they are things that can be and will be destroyed. 

 

However, not all bad things come out of destruction. Natalia eventually does fall in love with the grocer, in imperfect ways (who suffers infertility and cannot bear children) and marries him to create a non-traditional family structure. She lovingly refers to him as her “little cripple” towards the end of the book, in a warm tone that lies in stark contrast to the tone implied in the rest of the book. Her found family has an inorganic solidarity, and it leaves us wondering whether the best stories are ones that are also inherently imperfect. 

 

Food for thought: 

In your opinion, do politics, war and societal standards mentioned in the book (and derived from its context) stand at the periphery of Natalia’s life, or the center of it? Why or why not? 

 

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