Before taking Romance Studies 202, I had previously taken Romance Studies 201, so I was prepared to continue furthering my interest in the literature of the Romance world. When I was first introduced to this course, I was excited to to read more literature, as what most I had been reading late, were essays and articles for my other four classes. The prospect of taking a course with Professor Jon Beasley-Murray was another draw for me because I heard about him from my previous Romance Studies course and my previous Latin American courses, so I was interested in learning more from a professor that I heard a lot about previously, and I can say that I was not disappointed throughout the course of the readings that we read. While I contracted for a B grade, meaning I only read eight books for this course, I still enjoyed them as they provided a look into the minds and feelings from a diverse group of authors who contributed their own personal experiences and opinions into their works, from different backgrounds and time periods.

What I most enjoyed from the class, aside from the novels themselves, were the discussions that took place online through the blogposts and the in-person discussions that I found really engaging and helped me to formulate and contrasts my own opinions of the texts with those of others. While I enjoyed each of the texts that I read, I probably enjoyed the more abstract texts the most, such as Perec’s W, or the Memory of Childhood, Bolano’s Amulet, Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse, and especially Moravia’s Agostino, they each presented interesting ideas that I found I could take advice and inspiration from when it came to ideas regarding death, the admiration of one’s own life work, enjoying life in the moment and how and who to show your love and affection to.

A small recommendation I would make to help Professor Jon for the improvement of the course would be to include more background information, while the lectures are a great source of information on the author’s beliefs and personal background, I would have liked to learn more about the world that these people inhabited. Overall, I enjoyed the blogpost and online format of the course, even if did sometimes make organizational difficulties in using this format, it still allowed for interesting discussions that I really enjoyed in participating in. Thank you for the interesting conversations and amazing ideas.

In Javier Cercas’ Soldiers of Salamis, Cercas takes us through the emotional and mental struggle of war, and in particular the Spanish Civil war. While the title of the book, and indeed the setting of the novel would suggest to us, the audience, that the war described in the book takes place vaguely in the Mediterranean sometime between c. 480 BC – 1938 AD, we are first introduced to the narrator and protagonist, also named Javier Cercas, in the year of 1994 while he recounts his time as a journalist, symbolically in an impartial position, where he interviews important military figures of the Nationalist side of the Spanish Civil War. He later encounters a former Republican soldier, who we get an almost entirely different view of that struggle for national identity. I believe that the goal that Cercas’ the real person, wanted to achieve with this writing, was to portray war and the consequences of war, not as something to glorify but rather as something that we should see as a last resort to used only when the values and traditions that we identify with are threatened. To Mazas, the war was necessary to preserve his perception of Spain and what a National Spain should be. For Miralles, the war which was ultimately lost, was for the protection of liberty and the survival of those that had little importance and were murdered in an authoritarian Spanish state. The title that Javier Cercas uses is a reflection of these two competing ideals of what the remembrance of war should be, while the battle of Salamis was fought more than two millennia prior to events of the book, the heroes and the background of the struggle are still relevant to European society. The actual battle of Salamis was fought by Europe’s first democratic state against a foreign empire from another continent, this reflects Maza’s paradoxical view of strong military strength, which he argues for the use of to protect the state against perceived enemies thus the state should serve the military because the state would not exist without it, and is contrasted with the life that Miralles lived continuing to fight against authoritarianism even after the bloodshed had ended in his own country.

My question is, who do you think had the more ethical view of society, was Mazas right in his participation and actions during and following the Spanish Civil War? Should we accept the use of arms as a necessary evil for the protection of the nation’s citizens? Or should we abandon the use of military arms, as they fuel a self-fulfilling prophecy of destruction?

In The Old Gringo, Mexican author, Carlos Fuentes, sets his story during the violence and war period of the Mexican Revolution. Peculiarly, instead of focusing on a Mexican protagonist, Fuentes instead chooses to focus the plot of his novel on a North American character named Ambrose Pierce, who was a real historical figure. In his portrayal of Ambrose Pierce, Fuentes depicts him as an adventurer who finds his comfortable life in the United States as a short story fiction writer to be tiring and wishes to return to a romanticized past, both personal and historical. Pierce’s motivation for going to Mexico to fight in the revolution, in Pancho Villa’s guerrilla army, is to return to his past as a young soldier in the Union army during the 1860s North American civil war, for Pierce war and the comradeship that he associates with it, is his ideal past. Indeed, when we look at the way Pierce interacts with the Villista soldiers, we can see how he appears somewhat relaxed despite being an outsider, Pierce sees himself as more of an outsider to the upper middle-class society of the United States than he does in the rural battle hardened Villistas.

Ambrose Pierce’s other passion in the novel, besides his desire to fight for liberty in the Mexican Revolution, is his love for Harriet Winslow, or rather, his reaction to Winslow’s affection towards him. At first, Winslow seems to dislike Pierce for his adventurism and assumes that he is just another gun-ho North American, who is fighting in the Mexican Revolution out of pure opportunism. However, her opinion of Pierce quickly changes when she realizes that they share the same common fondness for education and arts. As Pierce is more than twice Winslow’s age, he is somewhat unsure in how to react to Winslow’s advances towards him, especially when Winslow sometimes reacts to outside external attention with repulsion due to the misogyny of the time. Pierce’s relations with Tomas Arroyo is also interesting, as Arroyo directly competes with Pierce for the affection of Winslow and Arroyo has a mixed admiration and hatred towards Pierce for this. Arroyo needs to put up the persona of a macho leader who takes charge of his men, because that is what his society requires of him, however this persona also makes it difficult for him to meaningly connect with Winslow, but overtime Arroyo learns to become a more open and empathic person because of Winslow. My question is: Would Winslow have fallen for Arroyo if Pierce was not involved?

Georges Perec’s W, or the Memory of Childhood takes a very clear divergence from the typical, albeit not necessarily standard, formula of the novel. The Novel is novel, in its use of quick flashbacks to the childhood of the narrator, and just like it says in the title of the Novel, Perec uses the descriptive, yet incredibly short scenes of imagery to give his audience barely just enough background information to make this work readable. Once you understand the structure and memorize and chronically categorize the events that take place, the Novel starts to become intelligible. Despite the loose and seemingly disorganized format of Perec’s W, I actually found it to be quite interesting as a work of mid -20th century literature. All the events and character backstory that occurs in the novel did indeed happen from the 1930-55 period in European history. For the narrator of W, this period in Europe’s as well as his own life, was complex. Because of the events during and surrounding the Second World War, the narrator was unable to truly experience a normal childhood, resulting in his desire to repress and attempt to forget what happened during the traumatic events of the Second World War. While the Olympic and idyllic setting throughout most of the book is an attempt by the narrator, who by this part of the Novel has utterly become an unreliable narrator, to try and create a utopian past to fill the reality of his own lived experience.

The one element that took me by surprise, was the supporting character of Gaspard Winkler. Winkler occupies an interesting role within the Novel, as he appears miraculously, to be helped by the narrator throughout the majority of the story. In my understanding of the Novel, Gaspard Winkler does not exists, he merely acts like another person so the narrator can rewrite the trauma of his childhood into a new tabula rasa of his present. In this understanding of the narrator’s psyche, Winkler’s persona takes precedence over the real identity of the narrator. The easy and frankly most demanding question for me to ask in this scenario, is why does the narrator feel this need to erase and replace his existence with that of another person? However, the more important question to ask is, when did the narrator decide to reject his existence? Was it when he first realized the discriminations and repression towards his self-importance as a person of Jewish descent? or was it when he realized that the horrors of war and economic oppression make life inconsequential to live in the bleak and dark place of the Second World War and post-war era?

Françoise Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse, tells the story of Cécile, a privileged bourgeoise  who spends her life in relative luxury. For Cécile, freedom means spending her days doing anything she wants without responsibly and the attention of her father. In this life of carefree luxury, Cécile is ignorant and selfish, viewing things simply as her and her father as important and everyone else as insignificant. In page 8. Cécile sets the theme for the rest of the novel and establishes the starting point for her personal growth as a mature human adult. She mentions how to her looks and appearances are more important to her than any meaning spirituality, she forgoes a formal education, because she deludes herself into thinking that it is unnecessary due to her father’s wealth and position in society. This carefree attitude to education and personal growth in general, is what proves to be her undoing, as she fails actually learn anything from her mistakes until she experiences genuine “sorrow” over her actions which she only realizes later on has hurt her and those closest to her.

On appearance, Cécile’s protectiveness towards her father seems to be in the interest of maintaining the freedom and luxury that she currently enjoys. When Anne comes into her father’s life, Cécile initially treats her respectfully, if not amicably, however she quickly sours when she notices the impact that Anne has had on her father and the very possibility that her father might have a deeper connection to Anne compared to his previous lovers. Instead of recognizing the positive influence and real happiness that Anne provides for her father, Cécile instead chooses to see Anne as a threat to her father’s love and attention for herself. We can see here that Cécile is feeling isolated as she feels that Anne has become her rival and we can see how much of a self-centered and naïve person Cécile truly is in the way in she chooses to scheme against Anne and her father instead of being open to her father about the way she feels. Cyril, follows Cécile’s plan not out of loyalty, but out of fear that she will become resentful towards him if he does not, it is only when he starts to recognize that Cécile’s actions are going against her well being and of everyone else involved, does Cyril leave her. The climax of the novel is only reached when Cécile shows any real maturity and is regretful over how her actions have led to her father’s depression and the loss of Cyril. Only when she has lost everyone in her life, does Cécile learn how to truly empathize with others and how ultimately objects are worth less than inter-personal relationships.

Maria Luisa Bombal’s The Shrouded Woman is the story of a woman who was once a wife and loving mother who is looking beyond the grave at how her loved ones cope with her passing. Personally, I find the use of an already dead protagonist to be really interesting, as it allows the use of story elements that would not work otherwise in a setting, fictional or otherwise. The title Bombal uses is also very clever, as it forms an almost satirical play on words, one would think that the woman narrator protagonist is the one who is alive mourning someone that she lost, given that wearing a ‘shroud’ is a common physical expression of grief for a married woman. In a way she has lost her ability to interact with her still living family and she must come to terms and understand that her family and friends can move on and live their lives without her, even if she can not.

The World that Ana, the narrator in The Shrouded Woman, inhabits seems almost fantastical, in the sense that instead of taking place in an industrial setting devoid of anything natural or coming from the natural world, instead Bombal sets The Shrouded Woman in a world brimming with animals, flowers, semi-exotic foods and other fauna. The way that Ricardo and Zoila interact in this world is very strikingly similar to the way that they interact with Ana after her death, they both acknowledge that the natural world and Ana exists but they do not try to understand the significance of Ana or the natural world, in this sense Ana has become a part of the natural order as she no longer belongs to humanity. Ricardo’s relationship with Ana prior to her departure is also quite interesting, as he shows genuine care and affection for Ana, however he does not feel, or perhaps he does not feel it necessary to show, the same deep love that Ana has for him. The tension that occurs  between Ana and Zoila because of Ana’s affection with Ricardo, seems reminiscent of a coming of age or a young adult novel but in is subverted in a way by Ana’s deceased status.

In direct contrast to Ricardo, Rodolfo seems perfectly content with forgetting who Ana was or the way that Ana cared about him, he quickly moves on with another relationship and is judged for this by his peers, not really out of concern about the former Ana, but more in a jealous rivalry, since Ana already had three possible suitors. All the living characters in the novel, deal with the grief of Ana’s passing with different ways, some choose to forget Ana and move on with more people, while others express their grief with anger and regret at not having spent more time with her. To me the shrouded woman is a perfect example of how our experiences with the past can affect how we interact with the future.

In Alberto Moravia’s Agostino, the titular character of Agostino spends his childhood days surrounded by his Mother and his world is dominated by his relationship to her. Agostino’s life growing is complex as he has his Mother’s love, however there is only so much love that she can give him. Agostino’s growth in society never matures as he has none of the experience required to create social bonds with other people. Because of his abandonment by his mother and lack of social skills, Agostino is unable to progress in society.

Agostino’s future is left ambiguous at the end of the novella, however I find it hard to believe that a happy future lies ahead for the youth, unless he manages to find the right social group in society, on that treats him as a member of society and if Agostino can adapt to society. The dance with his cousin and the game of cops and robbers with the gang of young boy shows how Agostino is willing to partake in social activities and his desire to create social bonds, but rather than getting to know what kind of person Agostino truly is, they instead immediately decide upon his character, not by judging “who” he is, but rather “what” he is. For Agostino’s cousin, he is a small boy who is very uninteresting and unworthy of attention, for the group of boys, he is an annoying outsider who can be ignored and taken advantage of.

As the gang of young boys eventually learn more about Agostino and treat him with a little understanding, they come to accept Agostino as a member of their group. The actions that Agostino takes during this time is highly influenced by the older boys and by doing everything that they tell him to do, Agostino effectively surrenders his any agency and independence within this group. It is in Agostino’s nature as a curious child to seek social interaction and acceptance, however instead of being encouraged in his nature, instead Agostino is nurtured, in some ways very harshly, into behaving as a quiet respectful and obedient young boy. Agostino’s displeasure at this state of affairs is finalized at the very conclusion of the novella when he is reunited with his mother, in this, he points out that his mother always belittles him and treats him as a child, his mother responds that he will have to wait until he becomes a man to be treated differently and it is here that Agostino realizes how society and the people around him truly function.

In Combray, Marcel Proust uses the novel to narrate the childhood and everyday life of the narrator through a third person perspective. To help with his story, Proust uses imagery that any person can relate to, the use of states of being such as lucidity, pain, fatigue, joy and other stimuli help to clearly express what the narrator and other characters in Combray and Swann’s Way are experiencing. This use of descriptive stimuli help to create a clear visual image in the audience’s head, however it can also make the make certain passages in the text difficult to fully comprehend as there are many ways to interpret what the narrator or even a certain character is experiencing. For example, when the narrator is experiencing his insomniac episode, he never expresses that he is experiencing a joyous feeling or one of pain, perhaps he does not even know himself. However, this neutrality when it comes to describing human existence, can allow the audience to sympathize and indeed see themselves in Proust’s work.

Combray. the first half of Proust’s Swann’s Way, is the story of the narrator and his complex relationship with the past. The narrator appears to want to return to his youth and the feeling of freedom of responsibility and the simplicity of his childhood. Many of the objects and surroundings told in Combray are put in direct contrast with the objects and surroundings that he experienced in his past. This makes sense when you learn of the narrator’s present life in society, in his life the narrator is treated with either indifference or outright hostility. Francoise and Swann treat the narrator without much attention and see him as not even having the same dignity as another human, but as a piece of scenery. Compared to the popular and respectable Swann, the narrator receives little praise from his social circle. While the narrator expresses genuine care and sympathy for Francoise, she sees him as only a way to get closer to Swann and to become more accepted in bourgeoise society.

Overall, I found that Proust’s writing flows from scene to scene and I enjoyed his style of writing, in third person narration and found it to be entertaining. When reading Proust, you can clearly see what the characters’ motivations are and what kind of people they are and what actions to expect from them later in the story. Although, Proust is easy to understand, he leaves many elements left behind as he tries to quickly explain the setting and atmosphere of his story, this works in In search of lost time as these forgotten details get explained more in depth in his later stories comprise in this collection.

Hello, my name is David, and I am a first year student at UBC. I am currently planning my major in either Linguistics or Spanish. I was born in Canada and I live in Maple Ridge, a small town east one hour east from Vancouver, although I spent some time living in Puebla, Mexico, with my extended family. Some of my hobbies include consuming popular media, writing, socializing with interesting people and spending quality time alone.

I decided to take romance studies because of my love of languages and literature as well as to gain further skills in analyzing specific linguistic and cultural texts. I am very excited to take romance studies 202, for new perspectives and to give me an excuse to read some realist fiction. Regarding Jon’s lecture, I was interested in the perspective that he gives for what is the definition of the Romance world, I had already attended his research seminar which covered this topic in October of 2021, and it somewhat inspired me to take this course. I generally agreed with the conclusion that Jon provides us, in that the Romance world is an artificial construct with no definitive answer to what it is. Instead of asking us to define the Romance world, Jon instead asks us to examine the possible definitions of romance.

To give my own understanding of the Romance world, I believe that culture has played a more important role in the formation of a general romance identity, than language. Even though the works written by the authors taught in this course all wrote in different languages, there are many commonalties found between them, such as themes of social inequality, love and sexuality, spirituality and betrayal and guilt, as a few examples.

I am interested to see what happens next!