Hi everyone, I can’t believe we are wrapping the course up and we’re submitting our final blog posts. I’m usually quite a nostalgic person, so any period of time that goes by and I think something like “I remember when … that was great”. I feel the same way about this course and the journey it took me on. I remember starting this class feeling a little nervous because of the title. I have been an avid reader for most of my life, but I have found it very difficult to make time for reading through my undergrad here. Even though I enjoy reading a lot, part of my mindset was that I have to read so much for all my other courses, even if I am reading me something that brings me joy, will it really, because now I’m just straining my eyes even more and doing the same act over and over again. That’s not to say I have never read for leisure during my courses, but it has usually taken me longer to finish books, and overall I felt less joy reading during the semester versus during breaks.

I think this class helped me shift my mindset around this feeling of exhaustion from reading because we learnt so much about the act of reading and what it does to us. It made me think of a life long hobby in a completely different way, one I had never really considered before either. It also was a bit of a challenge for me because for the first time EVER I was reading two books basically at the same time. I don’t know why I thought that would be so difficult, maybe I was just afraid of the unknown, but I actually really enjoyed switching every week, it was keeping me on my toes and brining a bit of uncertainty when I was reading, which I enjoyed.

In our last seminar, we spoke a bit about what kind of abilities ChatGPT and other AI tools have in terms of reading and understanding text, and we noted that when it does not know the answer, it simply makes something up, because it is programmed to provide answers. However, truthfulness or morality or other important qualities that do impact our understandings of information, or even books is not apart of its hardwiring. While I was reading, I also thought about all the time I was spending doing so. It was time that I could not get back, but I felt certain that I was understanding the text much better than an AI tool’s interpretation of the Savage Detectives. The book is extremely subjective, there are many unanswered questions, therefore AI cannot really have the answers to it or provide insight because there aren’t concrete facts it can make an opinion on. Additionally, we know that the act of reading isn’t happening, so there isn’t the period of reading something, then rereading and sitting with the text and drawing conclusions. The answer is instant and a blanket statement essentially. Because of this course, my perspective on reading has changed quite a bit, which I am thankful to have learned something new about something that has been apart of my life for so long.

I learned so much from Jon and my peers in class, thank you all very much!!

Hello everyone! Before getting into my thoughts on the last part of Zeno’s Conscience titled “Psychoanalysis” I want to say I am SO happy I did spoil any part of the book for myself. Sometimes I have a bad habit of flipping to the last few pages of a book just to prepare myself for how it ends, and I have no idea why I do that, because I don’t really like spoilers. Anyways, I’m remarking on my decision not to spoil the book for myself because when I started the book back in January and I saw that the last part was the “psychoanalysis” part, I assumed it would go back to the Doctor’s perspective and they’d provide their thoughts or diagnoses for Zeno. However I was wrong. All we get from Dr. S is that Zeno has abandoned therapy and that they published Zeno’s writings for revenge.

The last part of the book mostly consists of Zeno’s strong critique of psychoanalysis itself, as well as Dr. S being too rigid in their methods, and claiming they were more interested in being right versus actually helping. That is Zeno’s main claim, as well as that psychoanalysis is very damaging and is not as effective as just living life to heal. He believes that the sick man is more adaptable to life and able to evolve, than those who are bound to the labels and constraints of “sickness”. During this part of the book, I began to question my assumptions and thoughts I had formed on Zeno throughout the book. I’m afraid… he was starting to make sense…..? Just a little bit. However it’s hard to make your mind up on who’s reliable or telling the truth because you start the book with Dr. S’ assertion that Zeno is sick and unreliable, but then this last part you are reminded that Dr. S seems to have some kind of motive directly against Zeno.

The final entry from March 1916 also really stuck out to me. He is alive and wealthy during World War 1, despite Italy being war-torn. He thinks that life itself is like sickness because there are moments of cures and betterment, but there are also significant setbacks, and it always ends in death. Then we see that he imagines a time in the future where someone will invent a weapon of mass destruction, someone will steal it and then destroy the world. Some could read it as prophetic because this book was published before the development of nuclear weapons. It did feel a bit eerie to me reading and having hindsight of nuclear weapons. For me, it also made me think that Zeno believes that destroying the world is the only permanent cure to sickness. However, if the world was destroyed life would not exist, so it seems like he is trying to convey he does not think life can exist without sickness. It left me thinking quite a bit about hardship and sickness, it does seem to be a natural part of life. Are we wrong to try and cure it, are we going against nature? Or is Zeno just crazy and has no idea what he’s saying.

Thank you for reading my last blog post on Zeno’s Conscience! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it. 🙂