dream – RMST 202 201 Blogs

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?

Hello Everyone,

This week’s reading, “Combray” in Marcel Proust’s Swann’s Way, was challenging but insightful for me to read. When I first started reading, I struggled to get the central story and the chronological order of the texts. I found the text to be in a dream-like flow, where the focus jumps quickly across themes like a flashing light. By reading more slowly, I gradually understood some of the mysteries and aesthetics of the story about memory and childhood.

The story begins with recollections of the narrator’s childhood. Because these memories are fragments, the plot development is not smooth and is difficult to follow. However, the events and scenes the narrator recalled are detailed and vividly beautiful.

Part 1 of “Combray” is long but centers around the narrator’s anxiety about sleep, obsession with his mother’s kisses, and his father’s scolding from a child’s perspective. It becomes clear that the narrator is a very sensitive child, and the fear of sleep and eagerness for a kiss has become his earliest memories of Combray and the past.

What stimulated his memory of Combray was the taste of tea-steeped madeleine that Aunt Léonie once offered him. In this part, Proust emphasizes how the experience of taste can open a gateway to the past. For me, this transition to part 2 is very aesthetic; the madeleine is like the missing piece of a machine. When you successfully find it, your memory also successfully runs.

A highlight for me in part 2 is the detailed depiction of landscapes in Combray. Many people may wonder why the author spends so much time depicting the scenery instead of focusing on the plot and characters. In my opinion, without these recollections of the details of the scenery, the narrator wouldn’t be able to recall the full picture of memory. Just as the narrator said, when he sees a steeple in different places, it reminds him of the steeple of St. Hilaire church in Combray and its relevant memories.

Other than this, the depiction of Aunt Léonie is so detailed and creates a sad atmospheric section in part 2. After the death of her husband, she no longer connects with the outside world, “always lying in an uncertain state of grief, physical debility, illness, obsession, and piety.” (p. 80) It is clear she was interested in what was going on outside, but it is unknown what stopped her from connecting with the outside world. Was it sorrow, fear of stimulation, or mentally ill? In all, Crombray is aesthetic to read, characters like Swann and Odette are also important to analyze, but however, I had more reflections and thoughts about the above writings.

One question I would like to post is why Proust would choose to write over 40 pages to depict the narrator’s sleep and anxiety, and how does it connect to the rest of the parts in Crombray?

RMST 202 201 Blogs

Tag Archives: dream

‘The Book of Chameleons’ — José Eduardo Agualusa

Week 2 “Combray”—Marcel Proust