Conclusion: A Semester’s Journey of Reading

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Hello everyone, I can’t believe how fast time has gone by and that this is actually my last blog post! With 11 readings and 13 blog posts, I have finished this course with much gain and insight!

From the beginning of the term, when I set myself a goal of finishing 11 books, I doubted it, thinking, would I be able to finish them? As I mentioned in my introduction, it has been a long time since I have been in the habit of reading, and I set an expectation for this class to start treating reading as a habit and start liking it.

In this course, I did, and I experienced some improvement in my understanding of literature after reading so many of them. At first, I thought it was because I was getting more practice with reading; however, I believe it was also the professor’s lectures that helped me a lot. I really find watching the lectures helpful after reading a novel because the analysis and quotes in the lecture often clarify some themes and concepts that I did not realize and understand.

With the lectures and the discussions with my classmates, I gradually understood the novels from a different perspective and acknowledged the importance of context before commenting on a novel. For example, in The Book of Chameleons, I would not understand the quote “some scars will not fade” until I learned about the context of Angola.

At the same time, I liked the structure of the course. This feeling of autonomy makes us value every blog post more when we choose what we are going to read by ourselves. For me, this blog website is precious, as it records my gradual growth after every novel. Moreover, I feel grateful that the class did not use quality to judge my grade for blog posts. As an international student, I am not good at writing, and I am afraid that I can’t write my own opinion clearly. However, in this class, I don’t have to fear my thoughts being too complex, thus giving up on expressing certain ideas. I can freely quote the novel and write my true internal insights!

After this class, I learned that romance studies are not just solely about romance, which I originally expected about the themes of “Love,” “France,” and “Italy.” However, I realized that it also includes many social, cultural, philosophical, and historical aspects. Writing reflects the values, experiences, and literary movements of a certain era, and being able to learn about them is definitely important. The historical context of colonization, societal inequalities, and surrealism is something I didn’t know at all, but now, I have gained much more understanding, and it aids my future reading. Specifically, I find the novel The Black Shark Alley very meaningful, and in class, we discussed how “body” occured mutiple times, with different symbols.

Out of all the books, my favorite book is The Shrouded Women because the plot is reflective and memorable of women’s status and situation of that era. My question for everyone is, what is your favorite novel and why?

Subway Illusion-Valeria Luiselli

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Faces In the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli is a unique novel that has stories intertwined in three time zones and seems to jump around in its thinking.  From the beginning of the story,  the story was from the perspective of a writer, who is the mother of two kids.  “I have a baby and a boy. They don’t let me breathe. Everything I write is—has to be—in short bursts.” (p.4). From what I’m feeling, she constantly was interrupted by home chores and the children, and these tasks deprived her of the basics of life as a writer. In her writing,  she talks about her past in New York, and I believe she misses her past and was sophisticated in her current life. At the same time, she had a dead-end marriage. Every person has troubles in reality, and the narrator expresses her life in writing.

 I find it interesting with the “ghosts” mixed in her story, and how she focused on Gilberto Owen.  “Yes, I say, it’s a book about Gilberto Owen’s ghost.”（p.57). Owen was a Mexican poet, but there’s a point where I can’t understand whether he’s from the past, now, or the surreal. The narrator claimed she had seen Owen’s face among the many other faces on the subway, but she never saw him. It reminded me of Nadja, both mysterious and spiritually like. They all seem to be a real presence to the narrator, but not to other people The narrator knows everything about him and it seems that she lives in Owen’s mind, how they think, reflect, and view the world parallelly. 

By the second half of the novel, it seems like Owen came into narrating the plot, where the narrator and himself take turns to talk. Owen talked about how he takes the subway every day and finds himself losing weight, just as the narrator has noted. 

“I was able to see the woman with the dark face and shadows under her eyes.” (p.108) Their narrative is like a closed loop, where Owen can see the narrator as well. That’s one of the things I like about this book, the narrators in this novel are bi-directional, they see each other, blend into the world of each other’s troubles, and their unique voices overlap in perfect harmony, as if becoming each other’s. As Owen is losing weight, he is rubbing himself out, and blending into the narrator and taking voices in the novel. 

Other than the parallel narrative Valeria Luiselli had used, I find that the novel also repeatedly mentions death. However, these deaths are abstract and poetic, and for me, they do not necessarily mean the physical cessation of life, but they can be spiritual and emotional death, and resurrection. “Naturally, there are a lot of deaths in the course of a lifetime. Most people don’t notice. They think you die once and that’s it.” (p.61) When we let go of some of our past, hatred, and sadness, is this not a form of death and rebirth? 

My question for everyone about this book was since the perspectives and storyline are complex and ambiguous,  whose perspective do you think the novel is from, and whose is most accurate and reliable about true facts of their lives?

‘The Book of Chameleons’ — José Eduardo Agualusa

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The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa is beautiful and unique to read. The book was also very dreamy and it seemed like I didn’t know what was true and what was a lie or dream throughout the book. We follow the gecko’s point of view back and forth between reality, dreams, and the past.

The narrator of this novel is very interesting, his name is Eulálio, who reincarnated into a gecko. However, he still has the memory is man, and can think and observe what happens around him. Eulálio had always lived in Felix Ventura’s house, who is an albino.  Felix Ventura’s work is what I found most interesting in this book. He is a genealogist who makes up a new identity and family tree for people who have money and status but don’t have a good past. “He provides them with photographs of their grandparents and great-grandparents, gentlemen of elegant bearing and old-fashioned ladies”. (p.25)

Reading up here, Felix Ventura’s job makes me wonder, is it possible for people themselves to accept a brand new identity and get used to it? In the next scene, my question was answered. The foreigner came to Felix for a brand new identity, and he was given the name of José Buchmann and his Angolan identity. “Perhaps it’s like you see with a chrysalis, and the secret buzz of enzymes has been eating away at his organs.” ( p.63) Does a beautiful butterfly remember that it was once a small chrysalis? Why is this foreigner able to sooo easily adapt and embrace a new identity within a few months? I believe the novel also gives us an answer:  “Reality is painful and imperfect, and that’s just the way it is, that’s how we distinguish it from dreams.” (p. 94)  Similarly for us, if our past reality is ambiguous and painful, it is easier to replace and change.

In addition to the theme of dreams, truth and lies, the character Angela Lucia also adds romantic elements to this novel. She has a past she doesn’t want to talk about, but she has a future to pursue. Eulálio’s series of dreams was also fascinating. In these dreams, she was able to communicate with Felix, like a real man. This added the elements of fantasy and a more dreamy style to the novel. 

Moreover, this novel was set on Angola, and before reading this novel, I knew almost nothing about it. After finishing reading, when I searched and learned about the background of Angola, I realized how many painful memories of colonization and wars have brought to the people of Angola. Perhaps it is important it is for them to weave a false but beautiful past.  While the novel did not discuss much about Angola and war, the existence of Edmundo Barata dos Reis uncovered a real history of civil war, and the death of innocent children.

“Truth has a habit of being ambiguous too” (p 122). Referring to the title of this novel “ chameleon”, who changes itself into their surroundings to get closer to their prey. What do you think this reflects about human life? Do we hide our identity for our benefits?

$$$ To Burn—Ricardo Piglia

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This week’s reading was the novel Money to Burn by Ricardo Piglia. To be honest, I can’t say I enjoyed reading the overall plot due to the violence, sexuality, drugs, and gang life embedded in it. However, I do enjoy the narrative techniques and the underlying ironic themes of inequality within the system and injustice. 

The story begins surrounding the main characters, Malito the boss; Dorda, who is heavy and quiet with a ruddy face; and Brignone, who has thin and black hair. They were called twins because of their similar looks, and they committed crimes together, but in reality, their relationship was much more than brotherhood.  Dorda and Bridgnone, with twelve other men, are a gang, and they commit a bank robbery and go on the run with millions of pesos. In this part (pg. 30-34) I love how Ricardo Piglia chose first to explore the bank clerk Martinez Tobar, who was tempted to steal the money due to his family condition and his daughter’s illness. Ironically, the next scene that happened was the robbery scene by the gang. I find this as a way of foreshadowing that something to happen next, but also gives the reader to context of social class and poverty. After escaping with the money, Piglia gave me two perspectives: the police, and the criminals’ hideout. In between, there is a lot of drug and sexual content involved, giving a different theme to this novel. In the world of gangs and crime, there is not only money and violence but also love. 

There was also another scene that was a highlight for me. On page 168, Malito’s gang was setting five million pesos on fire. ‘ they are evil to the core, bad from the innards out, mere animals,” (p169). There didn’t seem to be much agitation for the crowd until they burned the money. “The idea got out that money is innocent, even when acquired as a consequence of death and crime” (p.170). When they burned the money, the anger of the crowd rose. It seemed that their act of robbery was not such a great sin, but their careless attitude toward the money was completely violating social norms and unethical. 

Other than the reflection on money and robbery, the love between Gauch and Kid was also depicted in detail. In the last scenes when the injured twins are surrounded by the police, they still care for each other. “His back against the broken bedhead, embracing the Kid as if he were cradling a toy doll in his arms” (p.212). In such a criminal novel, embedding the soft emotions between two men was contrasting with the rest of the book, but also beautiful. 

My question for everyone: the epigraph of the novel wrote “After all, what is robbing a bank compared to founding one?- Bertolt Brecht “ I believe the novel suggests that society’ has double standards about crimes. What do you think about this quote and its relationship with the novel,  why is one a crime but not the other?

The “Love” across Age and Race– Marguerite Duras

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“Everyone says you were beautiful when you were young, but I want to tell you I think you’re more beautiful now than then (p. 3). “

This is the classic beginning of The Lover by Marguerite Duras, where the aged narrator when her looks are devastated, longs for a lover who expresses the love that transcends above time.

In this novel, the narrator looks back on her first love and offers her personal reflections on past regrets, sorrow, and joy. Unfolding in the first-person narrative, the novel explores the deep and hopeless love between a poor French teenage girl and a rich Chinese man in his mid-twenties.  For me what makes this story so influential is that it takes the life of the French colonists in Vietnam as the background, where there was a rise of nationalism among Vietnamese people and the idea of racial discriminatory views among French colonists. Under this concept,  this forbidden love between a French girl and a Chinese man highly reflects that love can transcend the prejudice of race, colour, and wealth. 

“I say that’s how I desire him, with his money, that when I first saw him he was already in his car, in his money. ( p. 40)” In the first part of the novel, the narrator emphasizes that she’s with this Chinese man for the money. Similarly, the rich Chinese man desires her young body and sex. At this point, this seems to be a fair trade. However, I feel great sympathy for the narrator. Her family looms over her like a shadow, the source of all her suffering comes from poverty and her mother. In such a family, her mother always sees her daughter in a patriarchal view and sees her as a commodity, caring about her daughter’s value in the marriage market. Her mother never provided the love a teenager needs, and so she is thirsting for the love she never had.  This accumulated desire for love was satisfied by the sex and love with this man, who cares for her. With the love of sexes, she was able to detach herself from the suffocating coldness that surrounded her. Reversively, this young girl seems to fulfill the desire for freedom of this rich young man under this nationalist context. However, despite such true love, their class and race differences hindered their possibility. 

As the narrator is looking back, without wondering how she faces this sorrow in her heart, she has already admitted from the bottom of her heart that he has loved, she has loved, and money, and interests and it has nothing to do with it. 

“ He told her that it was as before, that he still loved her, he could never stop loving her, that he’d love her until death.” (p.129)

In the end, the Chinese man manages to express his love years later, and my question for everyone is, how do you interpret this ending? Do you view this as a tragedy full of regrets or a completion of their complex love story?

The Hour of the Starrrr – Clarice Lispector

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 The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector is the shortest novella I’ve read, and I thought it was unique, but also somewhat strange. In this story, there are two narrative storylines, the first line is the narration from Rodrigo S.M.’s point of view. Rodrigo S.M. is a male writer who seems to be bored with life and struggles internally. “I am absolutely tired of literature; only muteness keeps me company. If I still write it’s because I have nothing better to do in the world while I wait for death” (p.56). It seems that in this world he can’t find agency, but he can when he is writing literature. He feels like a God who can control the images and lives of his characters and is omniscient. 

The character he chooses to write, the second storyline, is a poor girl Macabea. Macabeia was born in a remote town and later came to Rio de Janeiro. She was portrayed as a sickly, ugly, woman who was so poor that she could only eat hot dogs. Despite her pitiful life, Macabea never seems to be very disappointed or bothered by her life.

 “That girl didn’t know she was what she was, just as a dog doesn’t know it’s a dog. So she didn’t feel unhappy. The only thing she wanted was to live.” 

She is naïve and mentally free from anxiety. She doesn’t go overboard with coveting and thinking about things that are out of her range, such as God, makeup, or even spaghetti. It seems that Clarice Lispector’s message is that is knowing or seeing more about life really better for you? Macabea knows less, she feels content, and that’s probably why she’s so happy. I wonder if the reason why Rodrigo S.M. depicts Macabea in this way is because he is tormented and can’t stop thinking about the soul and death, and that a character like Macabea is very much in contrast to him.

Later in the story, Macabea meets Olímpio de Jesus, a metal worker and she loves him so much. However, Olympic betrayed her, which added another layer of sorrow to her heartbroken life. The helpless Makabeya turns to tarot cards, which give her some courage to look forward to the future: she will marry a blonde foreigner. Ironically, she was struck by an oncoming car right after she steps out. In the moment nearing death, she has a hallucinatory “star moment” occurs, and all humility is sublimated into splendour. I wonder if Rodrigo S.M. thinks that death is a relief for Macabea and he is rescuing him, or if this death is what he desires but has no courage to do so?

 In this novella, Clarice Lispector chooses to have two storylines, and I believe that both characteristics of Rodrigo S.M. and Macabea have personal meaning for her. My question is, Rodrigo S.M. and Macabea, who is more of the epitome of Clarice Lispector; or do these three characters overlap with each other?

The Women, War, and Doves – Mercy Rodoreda

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The Time of the Doves by Mercé Rodoreda is a novel that allows readers to understand a war from a woman’s point of view. The novel is set in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, but there are hardly any fight scenes, and it’s more about the story of this woman Natalia, with her struggle. 

At the beginning of the story, the narrator describes his husband Quimet. Interestingly, while Natalia herself already has a fiancé, she t is attracted by Quimet and married to him. What I didn’t understand is that Quimet seems to have a violent streak, which should warn Natalia to end this relationship, however, she chooses to continue. He is jealous, and suspicious, and demands that everything be done his way. Meanwhile, he also likes to call Natalia “Colometa”, and in Catalan can also mean “pigeon”. While pigeon means peace and love, under this context,  calling her pigeon seems more like a symbol of weakness, obedience, and need of protection. Such a name gives Quimet enough control, and satisfaction of masculinity.

Later on, Quimet gained the idea of raising pigeons on the roof of his apartment. He gradually brings more pigeons into the house, and Natalia has to take care of the pigeons, carrying food, and water, as well as cleaning up after them.

Parallelly, the Spanish Civil War breaks out, and Rodoreda intersperses many descriptions of death, starvation, and suffering among ordinary people. “Young and old, everyone to the war, and the war sucked them in and gave them death in return.” (p. 140) 

Here, Quimet went to war and was also dead. It is never known where his body is, only his overwatch is left to Natalia. She has a touch of sadness, but more importantly, she and her children are starving after not eating for days. “I had two mouths to feed and nothing to put in them. I can’t describe how sad it was.” And it was here that she planned to kill his children and then suicide to end everything. When a mother is considering killing her own flesh, readers can feel her desperation deeply. Day by day, all of the doves are gone and seems the doves symbolize her internal state, and hope for life.

After the war ended, Natalia and her children survived, and she remarried to a kind of wealthy man Antoni.  Unlike Quimet， Antoni seems to love her and cares about her. “How he hadn’t married me to wash his clothes but to have a family like he’d said, and he wanted to see his family happy.” (p.167) However, Natalia seems to be still in a nightmare where she can’t walk out of the time. She still thinks about the doves, and how she killed the chickens in the egg. My question is, Natalia has a sad and pitiful life where she cannot walk out of the dark. In your opinion, whose fault is this, is it Quinet, the war, the doves, or her own choice of marrying Quinet?

Week 5 What about rest of youth in “Black Shack Alley?” –JOSEPH ZOBEL

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This week’s novel Black Shack Alley by Joseph Zobel talks about the life of the main narrator José who lives with M’man Tine. This novel uses a linear narrative to tell the story of his experiences in Black Shack Alley and pursuing education to address the problem of colonialism, racialization and class inequality. I wanted to spread into two parts to discuss this story. 

Part 1.

In the first part of this story, Jose is still as an innocent boy who likes to fool around and play with his friends, despite the dire circumstances. M’man Tine worked day and night in the sugar cane field, but still never seemed to be able to escape poverty. 

From Zobel’s narration, Jose lives in very harsh conditions, where they have no opportunity to eat eggs. Despite this circumstance, M’man Tine still tried to give Jose a better childhood experience. To the best ability, she would add sugar to his coffee to express her love. She would punish Jose after he made trouble in the hope of him becoming a better man.

What also was a highlight was that when Jose was in the church with M’man Tine, he saw the statue of Jesus dying on the cross. He thinks Jesus is in a tragic position, but interestingly. he is not black. (p. 80). At this stage, Jose is still very young and he doesn’t understand the concepts of racialization, but he truely did witness the tragic experiences of black people.

Part 2 and Part 3

Over here, Jose was able to go to school with the support of M’man Tine. 

It seems that over here, his future and fate had become different from the other kids who joined the gang, and this is where the theme of education that Zobel is trying to put forward. As you can see from the narrative, Jose is somewhat gifted, and he enjoys reading. 

With effort, he was successfully admitted by lycée, and this is where his mother unconditionally supported his education, despite of high costs.  “Tell me! How will it all end if the blasted fathers place their sons in those things, in the same misfortune?” (74) His mother recognizes that this may be the only chance to change her child’s destiny, so he tries to remove this misfortune by betting on her own life.

When Jose enters lycée, he further enters a world dominated by high-status and white people, which is seen to expose him more to inequality. From his description of this boy he meets, Serge. We can imagine his comparison with self and life. 

However, with time, Jose is gradually becoming mature and internally powerful. M’man Tine’s illness and death greatly awakened Jose. By seeing her black swollen, crakced hand, he realizes exhaustion from working in the fields. As he learns more, the more he feels bitter and injustice. All he could do was show the world with such reality of Black people. 

 It seems that the story is telling Jose’s story, but in reality, Zobel is reflecting on the hardships and injustices experienced by millions of black people. Jose, as a special case, has the opportunity to receive an education, but can this eliminate inequality, what about the rest of the youth in Black Shack Alley, and what about the rest of the youth in Black Shack Alley?

Week 5: Young Boy Agostino’s Journey–Alberto Moravia

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In Alberto Morovia’s novella Agostino, the main character Agostino is a 13-year-old boy who has an unusual attachment with his mother. Despite he is already 13, he loves his mother with a “naive” heart and adores her as a mother figure.  One summer, he and his widow’s mother went on holiday to the Tuscan coast, and this trip caused Augostino to transform from a boy to a man exponentially, as well as added confusion, distress, and sexuality in him.  

From the narration, Agostino seemed to have lived a privileged and sheltered life, where he understood nothing about the suffering, sexuality, and violence of the outside world. His unusual dependencies on his mother lead him to be jealous and anxious when her mother is being attracted by other “men” while on the beach. I liked Morovia’s description of Agostino’s mood at this event. When he realizes that his adored mother acts so proactively toward another “man” and that he is being left out, he is overwhelmed, anger, confusion, and shame surround him. When his mother slaps him, it seems that this is the turning point, the turning point that changes Agostino, where he meets the local boys.

His comfort zone was shattered when he went to hang out with the gang of local boys, and that’s when he was forced to grow up. These boys were very rude, violent, and vulgar. In the first interaction, Agostino seems to be degraded and humiliated. I did not expect that he didn’t seem to care that he was being put down and still wanted to hang out with them. I think a big reason why Agostino kept hoping to be with them is that he finds these boys and Saro as a model of what is a real “man”. He never had a male figure in his life because he didn’t have a father, and meeting these rude boys seemed to open up the world of masculinity to him.

“He replaced his former reverence with cruelty and his affection with sensuality.” (p.69)

And after being teased and sexually educated by these boys, it seems that his opinion of his mother has completely changed, and he can no longer respect, and love his mother when she has no qualms about dressing and exposing herself to him. It seems that any stimulus during adolescence can easily change a child’s heart and moral values, which also makes me reflect that the wealth and status protection that Agostino has seems to make him even more influenced.

One question I have is that is the thoughts that 13-year-old Agostino are abnormal and immoral, or it is reasonable during puberty when he just learns about sex? How might his experience with the local boys shape his perception of man and woman?

Week 4 A Woman’s Journey of Acceptance – Maria Luisa Bombal

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The Shrouded Woman was the most enjoyable and reflective novel for me to read so far. The main character, Ana-Maria, is dead due to disease, but she amazingly still sees everything around her. She lies in her casket and sees people come to see her (for the last time), who once gave her sorrow and joy, provided her with the reflection on her vistaless marriages, the illusion of flawless love, and unpacked the secret of love and entanglement after death. 

This book is unique in that it is told from the first-person perspective of a woman who has passed away and looks back at points in her life. At the same time, there seems to have been a third human voice guiding her subjectively. This may have been her inner voice, or it may have belonged to spiritual guidance. The biggest feelings I got from this book were SORROW and REGRET, and that’s probably why Ana Maria was able to see everything that happened even after she died, to seek acceptance. Death acceptance requires finding personal meaning, and the source of meaning can come from life review, which is the return of memories and past conflicts.

“The woman in the shroud did not feel the slightest desire to rise again; she would at last be able to rest, to die.” (p. 259) Perhaps “God” also recognizes her tragic life, and this may allow her to let go of her regrets and die in peace.

“Why, oh why must a woman’s nature be such that a man has always been the pivot of her life?” (226) For me, Ana’s life is pathetic because she had always been trapped in tedious relationships with various men. Ricardo, for example, seemed to cause Ana to be emotionally “dead” at an early age. Ricardo’s departure tore Ana-Maria’s heart. Ironically, however, when Ricardo visits Ana Maria after she is dead, she realizes that Ricardo might never have completely emotionally left her. As Ana questions, “Must we die to know certain things?” (176). It’s a philosophical question; when people die, they leave behind all the hate and resentment, which allows them to see from a new perspective. If Ana was still alive, would still have the same reflections if she realized Ricardo had never left her entirely? Or do regrets and forgiveness come only after the end of life? Similarly, another tragedy is her relationship with Antonio. Her whole life is dedicated to pleasing him, but he never seems to love her. 

One question I have is about the deaths of women in this novel. In addition to Ana’s death, the deaths of the two other women in the story are also tragic. Silvia and Inés, who also died by suicide, symbolize despair toward life. I wonder how the reflection on life would have been different if Ana had chosen suicide rather than dying of sickness. Would she have been more regretful about herself and Ricardo, or more proud of her bravery and autonomy?

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