Author: YL

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Conclusion

I feel like a total unc saying this, but wow, time flies by SO fast and even faster every year. Feels like our first lecture was a month ago, but I can’t believe the semester is already ending. Honestly, at first it felt lowkey overwhelming, and I was worried that I had a bunch of novels to read within 4 months (especially because I am not a regular reader). However, it turned out to be less stressful than I had anticipated, and the selection of books in this course was very entertaining. The reflection posts were also stress-free as I simply had to write down my personal impressions of the novels, and there were no right or wrong answers to them.

At first, the weekly discussions made me anxious, as I am very much introverted and don’t enjoy expressing my personal thoughts/feelings that are not fact-based (more used to discussions that involve research findings that backup my argument). This anxiety also quickly dissolved once I got used to the environment and started to realize that I may not be the only one getting confused while reading some of the novels. For instance, I remember going to the discussion for “The Trenchcoat” by Manea, and everyone in my table started off with the comment that they were so lost and confused about this novel. I was totally on the same page, and it felt kind of relieving to know that sometimes the confusion is an intentional part of the story.

My favourite novels throughout this course were “The Shrouded Woman” by Bombal and “The Time of the Doves” by Rodoreda. These two pieces were the easiest to read and understand, while they both also evoked a lot of emotions and thoughts for me. Especially for “The Shrouded Woman”, the perspective that the story was told in was so unique, and it really made me think about my death, being an interesting experience for me (I’m not religious and had never really thought deeply about how my death would be…). Overall, while reading the assigned novels throughout the semester, it felt like a chance for me to face various emotions and thoughts that I may have been distancing or avoiding myself from, due to natural life circumstances (workload, stress, busy, etc.). Therefore, taking this course was a very valuable experience that I got to have in my last semester at UBC.

Overall, I really think this course was anxiety-free, even more as the course continued. I acknowledge that this was one of the goals of the teaching team (I was touched by this week’s post, where Prof Jon mentioned that life is too short for anxiety ????), and I am so glad that I got to take a course like this before graduating.

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Ricardo Piglia “Money to Burn”

The “Money to Burn” by Ricardo Piglia was a very gloomy novel to read. At first, I was somewhat confused about who the main characters were (there were multiple characters appearing at once), but it became clear as the story proceeded. The fact that Mereles (The Crow) and Brignone (The Kid) were killed was not too saddening, as they were murderers who killed innocent people. However, their childhood stories were quite shockingly traumatic, and their psychological abnormalities made sense (just the fact that they were mentally unstable, not that their illegal behaviours made sense). Having an aversive childhood doesn’t justify their behaviours, as not everyone raised in such environments becomes a criminal, but it is unfortunate that they made such wrong choices.

Out of the trio, Mereles, Brignone, and Dorda, I found Brignone’s character to be the most interesting and memorable. He seemed to be the most intelligent and rational out of the three, and I guess I felt some empathy for the events that he suffered. Also, as he is referred to as “The Kid”, it makes me feel more unfortunate for his choices, ruining his life and others’ from such a young age (although I anticipate that the trio were all very young; early-mid twenties), and since he comes from a wealthy family it feels like he could have lived a much better life.

The relationship between Brignone and Dorda was also quite interesting. From the last part of the story, it seemed to me that the emotions Dorda felt for Brignone was not just a deep friendship or brotherhood, but lowkey love. They were called twins after all, and the way they treated each other was definitely different than how they treated anyone else, but in the end their relationship became clearer to me.

When thinking about the title of this novel, I’m not too sure if “money to burn” really captures what the story is about. They did burn the money, and this did reveal that their robbery and murdering was not all about the money (pure evils), but… was that the main point of the story…? I just feel like the title only focuses on a very specific part of this very complex story that has much more depth to it.

The first part of the epilogue revealed that this is based on a true story, and this explained why there were many side notes and “(according to…)/ (later revealed…)” along the story. Honestly, the fact that this is based on a true story makes the novel much more interesting to me. The emotions I felt while reading, and the thoughts that I had regarding these criminals feels more worthwhile for me.

Question: What do you think the quote “After all, what is robbing a bank compared to founding one?” means? This was the quote displayed on the very first page of the novel, and even after finishing the novel, I am not sure what this signifies.

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Norman Manea “The Trenchcoat”

“The Trenchcoat” by Norman Manea was another piece of literature that left me confused. From the very beginning, I felt overwhelmed by the number of characters appearing one after another, whilst also trying to understand what was going on. On top of the fact that there were multiple characters, there were also characters that appeared “nameless”. For instance, the Kid, the Guileless One, and the Learned One were all characters without proper names, adding to my confusion. If I had some background knowledge of the settings beforehand, this would have helped, but with this absent, I thought they were people in the middle of an apocalypse at first.

Also, Manea’s style of writing was not the easiest to follow. I doubt it was due to factors such as the level of vocabulary, but despite putting in the effort to slow down and focus, I kept on getting lost. I’m not too sure why, but I did notice the story sounding somewhat diary-like at times. It felt like a dialogue and gave me a sense that it employed a conversational style of language rather than written language (if this makes sense). I assume the continuous use of ellipses throughout the novel would have had an influence on this.

Despite all of this, I do believe it was unique for the author to use the trench coat as an item to symbolize important themes and navigate the storyline. In trying to find the owner of the randomly left behind trench coat, the underlying fear that these characters feel, as this was the time under Romania’s Communist rule and anyone could be a secret police monitoring them. This whole process uncovers the fear that these people had to live in, the fear of being monitored, the censorship during this time, and how it would have created a very tense atmosphere for everyone. These characters were more wealthy or better off people than the general public, so I wonder if their fear of being monitored by the government would have been more intense than the others.

Although I was confused throughout the whole novel, and I still feel like I did not fully understand the story, in a way, I think this could have been intended by the author. Since the time when the story took place was a period of censorship, communism, underlying fear, and confusion, the confusion that I felt as a reader may also have been intended by Manea.

A question I have for discussion is: Do you believe there could have been a different item/thing serving as the trench coat in this story? If so, what would it be?

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Italo Calvino “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler”

“If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” by Italo Calvino is definitely a unique novel that I have mixed feelings about. From the very first section of the novel, it was interesting that the story unfolded in a second-person point of view, addressing the reader as “you”. This initially made me more interested in continuing to read, and the content, which addressed how I found the book and how my reading environment should be, made me more immersed in the reading experience, as it was a unique start. However, this took a quick turn as I continued reading due to several reasons. First of all, his second-person point of view writing in the novel eventually made me feel a bit disconnected, unlike how it was before. He doesn’t just use the language of “you, your, your’s” but also mentions how I should be thinking or feeling. This gave me a sense of disconnection, as it differed from how I was actually thinking or feeling. Another major strength of the uniqueness of this novel, but also something that served as a barrier for me, was the fact that none of the stories had a distinct ending (except for with Ludmilla). Each of the chapters displayed a new story, which was all interesting in content, but as they did not end with a “typical” distinct end, I progressively lost interest in reading the novel. Once I felt like I was grasping something, it felt like there was a sudden end to it, which lowkey frustrated me at times.

I also acknowledged that the titles of each of the chapters together would actually work to form a short paragraph (I believe there were a hint in the first section of the novel to look at the titles). However, I’m not too sure what exactly this signifies…although I have a sense that this may be the ultimate meaning /message of the novel, which I, as the reader needs to grasp. Any hints? What are your thoughts on this?

As we are half way through the readings in this course (more like 2/3), and also since I happened to find “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” the most challenging so far, I wanted to reflect and compare this to some of the previous readings. Honestly, coming from a person who had little interest in literature, I found myself enjoying these readings more than I had expected. I believe this was true because I found each of the readings to be very unique and different from each other. It is true that they may have a reoccurring theme (ex. traumatic protagonist), but I noticed that many had different narrative styles. For instance, “The Shrouded Woman” was written from the perspective of a dead protagonist, “Combray” was written in first-person point of view, and “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” was done in a second-person point of view. These differences aid me in looking forward to the upcoming readings.

As I mentioned above, I found this literature piece by Calvino to be the most challenging. A part of this is because I happened to find last week’s reading, “The Time of the Doves” to be the easiest to read, unfortunately serving as the most prominent comparison piece of literature to this week’s.

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Rodoreda “The Time of the Doves”

“The Time of the Doves” by Mercè Rodoreda was a longer piece of literature compared to the previous readings in this course. Interestingly enough, it did not feel as if it was much longer, as I felt immersed in the story, and the author’s style of writing felt smooth for me. The overall impression I had while reading this novel was that I felt quite empathetic for the characters, especially Natalia.

Her first husband, Quimet, was definitely not a gentleman and mistreated her all throughout, until the war. I found his character to be highly toxic and disliked him for the first half of the story, sometimes questioning if he actually loved Natalia. However, afterwards, as he went to war, I was able to realize that love was present within their relationship. For instance, the way he tried to provide for the family during the difficult wartime period was an indication of responsibility and love, which both lacked before. I also found his reaction to the emptying of the dove cote to have shown his affection towards Natalia. Although it seemed like he was obsessed with the doves beforehand, once everything took a turn for the worse, it clearly showed that, after all, his priority was Natalia and the children. Also, I made the connection between Rita and Quimet within the theme of love. As mentioned in the novel, Rita is much like Quimet, as she resembles his appearance, but her personality may have resembled his as well. Her reaction to Vicenç, who she later marries, seemed to be quite cold, and her reasons for eventually marrying him sounded like love was nonexistent. Later during her wedding, she whispers to Natalia that she actually fell in love with Vicenç from the first day, but she simply did not want to show that to him. I thought this may have been true for Quimet as well. His violent and ignorant behaviour is nothing to be justified, but I do think he loved Quimet, especially as he often got jealous when Natalia was around other men. Another character I felt sorry for was Natalia’s son, Toni (Antoni). Although this may have been the cruel reality of wartime, it was heartbreaking to see him be left in the camp away from his family. This probably was a very traumatic event for both Natalia and Toni.

I believe the doves represent a major theme of this novel. I always thought doves symbolized peace, but in this story, I think they symbolized different things. The doves may have symbolized Natalia and her life full of difficulties. It felt like there was a very close connection between the changing life situations of Natalia and the doves. Eventually, the doves all fly away, die, and in the end, Natalia finally accepts Quimet’s death, finding a new life with Antoni. I truly hope her ending is different from her doves, and that time in the past only remains as “the time of the doves” so that she progresses past it.

Question: I wonder how Natalia’s life would have been different if she married Pere.

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Bombal “The Shrouded Woman”

“The Shrouded Woman” by Bombal was a very interesting piece of literature that made me internally gasp at multiple moments. The point of view of which the story is led by the dead protagonist was a unique perspective to read in. I also found this piece to be much easier to understand, as each chapter/part focused on the relationship between different characters and Ana Maria. Throughout, the theme “love” was very evidently seen, between the various relationships portrayed and by the shrouded woman’s reminiscence. I also got the impression that some scenes sounded somewhat poem-like, this aiding in making this reading experience more entertaining.

To reflect back on some of the key scenes that stood out for me, the first one was when Ana felt remorse for not being able to recognize that Ricardo had always been a part of her, stating, “must we die in order to know certain things?” (p.176). If she had realized, it could have kept her from the long days of loneliness. I was able to emphasize with her regretful feelings, reflecting back on the past, things that I wished I knew before but could only recognize later. Another scene that made me think and feel was when Ana stated she no longer felt hatred or love towards her husband, Antonio. I think this is a very essential scene of the novel, which shows Ana’s final step in embracing her “death of living”. This part of the story made me realize once again that love and hate are very contrasting emotions, yet things that only exist because we are alive. I was also touched by Ana’s reaction to her daughter’s cry while caressing her dead body. Her motherly love, not wanting her daughter to sink into sadness, and the phrase “perhaps you will yourself die before I become exhausted and die in you” made me quite emotional. I found this to be the saddest scene.

There were also multiple scenes that made me gasp in shock. For example, I was surprised by Silvia’s sudden death. I guess this shows how irrational a person can become over love, and that just because it is love, this does not necessarily mean it is always bright, happy, or healthy. Many of the other surprises came from the plot twists that occurred, mainly due to the “affairs” of the characters. As much as I felt empathy or sorrow for the characters throughout the story, I found many of them to be highly disloyal. Despite Fred stating that Silvia is his love, I was disgusted by him admiring Maria Griselda, even admitting that he could come to admire her more than Silvia if he stayed longer. Antonio is honestly just a piece of…styrofoam (aka. unrecyclable). If he had done the MBTI personality test, it would come out as TTTT for toxic, toxic, toxic, and toxic.

To end with a question, I wonder what the phrase “The day burns hours, minutes, seconds” appearing repeatedly throughout the story signifies. Does it carry more meanings than what the words directly imply?

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Marcel Proust “Combray”

Marcel Proust’s “Combray” was definitely not an easy piece of literature to read, though I eventually found it to be more interesting than expected. At the beginning of the novel, I was already confused about whether he (Proust) was afraid to sleep or if it was a pleasurable activity. Overall, I believe Proust’s style of writing in this novel differed from other novels that I am more used to, making it sometimes difficult for me to follow the storyline and understand the piece. I had the impression that “Combray” was written with a lot of detailed descriptions, honestly feeling a little too excessive at times that it felt like a barrier in following the story. Although this allowed me to develop great imagery of the scenes and grasp the emotions that he was feeling, it was also distracting. For instance, Proust’s anxiety and fear during his childhood at Combray when he did not get his mother’s kiss were difficult to relate to. I completely understand that, as a child, this could be a stressful situation (depending on the age though…), but to that much extent? I’m not sure. Also, although his explanation that he did not feel happy when his mother came to comfort him (as he felt like he gained victory over her; painful experience for her) was understandable, his reaction gave me the impression that he had a disorganized (fearful-avoidant) attachment style as a child.

Part I of “Combray” was difficult to understand for reasons of Proust’s writing structure itself, but also because I could not completely understand the depth of emotions that Proust was describing in the scenes. I recognize that I do not have to relate to understand, but truthfully, throughout the novel, I was often worried that I was an apathetic being.

To be honest, I found part II of “Combray” more confusing than part I. I was simply lost more often and had more difficulty in understanding what was happening. Compared to the previous section, this part included a longer time period of Proust in Combary during multiple different occasions. This gave me a better understanding of Proust’s experience at Combray, and also provided more facts about him. For instance, part II revealed his first love, Swann’s daughter Gilberte (I thought the scene was a typical “love at first sight” moment…maybe not?), and it also revealed that Proust was interested in writing. Although I found part I to be more interesting, as it provided me with more thoughts, part II felt more important in terms of understanding Proust’s character and the meaning of Combray.

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RMST 202: Introduction

Hello everyone!

My name is Yuna, and I’m a fourth-year student majoring in Psychology at UBC. I come from an East Asian background but was raised in Canada my whole life, which should make me bilingual, but that’s highly questionable at this point (feels more like bye-lingual). Not to mention, literature can sometimes add on to this feeling. This is my final undergrad semester and to be completely honest, I originally decided to take this course to fulfil the literature requirement for my degree. My experience so far with literature courses have not been too fantastic due to many reasons (I actually have a strong urge to rant about this…hint: Jane Austen), but after this first week of lectures, I’m actually finding some fun in it! One worry is that I am VERY introverted and sharing my thoughts openly will be a big challenge. But oh well…I’ll get used to it. I can already feel that our class has a warm atmosphere where I could become more comfortable in sharing my thoughts, so thats a big relief.

From the first lecture this week, I remember one of the class question being “How should literature make you feel?”. This question made me a little confused, especially because of the use of the word “should”. I believe literature could make me feel in certain ways, but I never thought that I should have to feel a certain way. As mentioned in class, much literature includes a message or carries an intention of the author for readers to interpret, so does this mean that readers should be feeling a certain way? If I do not feel a certain way, it is my failure to understand the literature, is it the author’s failure to evoke that feeling, or is this just normal at times? It was a simple question, but it actually made me think for a while.

Continuing on, I’m usually drawn to non-fiction novels and more used to reading/analyzing research articles rather than “literature”. When it comes to literature, I have a preference on certain topics on certain backgrounds/cultures within specific historical periods, but aside from this small range of literature, my interest has been quite limited. To a certain degree ,this is because I feel that my understanding and engagement with literature has to be accompanied with knowledge of cultural or historical backgrounds, but my interest in this area has yet to be much extended. Therefore, I hope to gain some knowledge in the Romance-speaking world throughout this course as well.

Looking forward to an interesting semester!

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