Category Archives: memory

Week 10: My thoughts on Roberto Bolaño’s Amulet

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Roberto Bolaño’s Amulet is the journey of a narrator who is originally from Uruguay but later shifted to Mexico with influences from other Latin American countries as well. The narrator and the author reflect on Latin America while living in another Spanish country. To start, I enjoyed reading this novel as, based on the migration of the main character through Latin America, it allows me to relate to the novel in a way I have yet to do. I found it interesting how the narrator described their journey as occurring due to “a lack of love that impelled me to travel,” as though the narrator needed some motivation to travel in the first place (Bolaño, 3). What is even more interesting to me are the words that follow that the narrator’s urge to travel came from “madness” of all the reasons to travel (Bolaño, 3). The narrator is almost self-diagnosing their situation and needs to travel through Latin America during their lifetime. The self-diagnosis is a factor that shows that, as stated in the lecture, the novel is a reflection and memory of Latin America and the narrator’s time in Latin America (Beasley-Murray).

Additionally, as the novel is a journey of memories, as stated in the lecture, Bolaño was able to redefine Latin America and its culture through the novel (Beasley-Murray). However, what I dislike about the novel is how it starts as “this is going to be a horror story,” which sents a predetermined notion in my head of the events that will occur in the novel (Bolaño, 1). Then the narrator either contradicts or changes what they are saying by stating that there is a drawback that the narrator is telling the story and the story is “the story of a terrible crime (Bolaño, 1).

Another part of the novel that was interesting to me was how the narrator had deemed herself as the “mother of all the poets” (Bolaño, 58). While the narrator does call themself the “mother of all the poets,” it seems as though her actions are only to observe the poets rather than take a direct role in their life (Bolaño, 58). There is also the mention of the birth of history, birthing being something that mothers do to become mothers, and has stated, “we’re just taking you to attend the birth of History” (Bolaño,152). I found the mentions of motherhood and how there is also the “birth of History,” to be fascinating and different compared to the over novels that I have read for the course so far (Bolaño,152).

A question that I would ask is: do you believe that the way that Latin America is presented is different than your previous notions of Latin America?

 

Week 9- My thoughts on Carlos Fuentes’ “The Old Gringo”

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Regarding the text; The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes, the novel is about the memories of a woman named Harriet Winslow during the time that civil war had begun and was occurring in Mexico. Firstly to start, I love reading novels that have historical aspects to them as I am incredibly interested in history. Another reason as to why I loved reading this novel is due to its Spanish roots, as I have lived in Latin America my whole life. 

What struck me as enjoyable was that the character, an “old gringo,” had come to Mexico to die in the first place (Fuentes, The Old Gringo). Therefore, to die in mind, it made sense that he would die closer to the end of the novel. There is a distinct foreshadowing there, which I found exciting and during my first read made me attentively look for where the character would die. Since the novel is based on a person’s memories, the novel’s central theme would be memory and history in this case. I believe that history may be a theme in the novel since it is set during a historical event, and there is one perspective on it. While memory may not be the most reliable manner to showcase historical events, as there should be some supporting evidence of events, they can give us an account of what occurred in a given place in a given spatial context. The vividness of the memories, such as the description of the “advance guards,” shows the credibility of these memories (Fuentes, The Old Gringo). Additionally, the fact that the novel beings with; “now she sits alone and remembers,” was interesting to me as the novel ends with the exact same line (Fuentes, The Old Gringo). 

What I found a bit confusing and off-putting was that the start of the novel, while introducing characters in a seemingly natural manner, also confused me. The novel mentioned some relationships and conflicts in the first place, which initially piqued my curiosity and made the introduction a bit off-putting for me. It could be different to others, but this was how I had received the start of the novel. In TV shows and movies, I have seen that sometimes they start with an end scene and then move towards the events that led to that moment. To me, it’s not as interesting as beginning with the story right away, but since some themes of the novel are repetition, history, and memory, there is some sense as to why the novel started the way it did. 

I would ask: did everyone enjoy the repetition of the start and the end? Why or why not?

 

Week 8 – My thoughts on Georges Perec’s W, or the Memory of Childhood

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The text W, or the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec, is multiple different stories that are woven together in which the reader has to make sense of the novel. To begin with, the novel itself was incredibly confusing for me. I found that while the novel’s content was interesting, I was left confused from most of the initial reading. The text relates to the concepts of childhood and memory to me. The notion that the text is about childhood and memory is reflected based on the title. The title itself states that the novel is about the Memory of Childhood; and thus relates to the themes of childhood and memory. An aspect of the story that drew my attention was the narrator’s stance on how they “have no childhood memories,” which struck me as odd (Perec, 6). The lack of childhood memories may be due to traumatizing memories in their adolescence or the fact that the main character was put into a situation in which they had to grow up and mature. Additionally, what struck me as odd was that the narrator also found “comfort in such an absence of history” regarding their childhood (Perec, 6). The reason as to why this struck me as odd is that I believe that the history of someone stems from their childhood memories, as they are memories that define a person and their actions in the future. 

The lack of clarity that the narrator has on their childhood and their past may contribute to the confusion that the novel itself has. The initial confusion in the novel for me was from the title W, or the Memory of Childhood. The lack of clarity in the title reflects the different storylines in the novel, which the reader has to understand. Additionally, there is either a lack of clarity or a means to obscure information, but the naming of places with “K,” and “H,” also shows the gaps in the main character’s memory (Perec, 6). The obscuring of the name of the locations, while those add some anonymity to the novel, also confused me for the most part. As the characteristics were being listed for places, it seemed as though it was hard for me to follow what was occurring in the novel. Additionally, since these locations are based on the narrator’s memory, and as a narrator, as previously stated, they do not remember much from their childhood, I would question the reliability of the main character as a reliable narrator.

 

A question that I would ask the others about this novel is: based on the novel, does knowing childhood memories or knowing history seem an essential part of building a character?

 

-Muskan Shukla

 

My Thoughts on “Combray” by Proust

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After reading Proust’s Swann’s Way and, more specifically, the two parts of Combray, I can clearly state that this text was incredibly confusing to me. I believe that the confusion that was present in my mind was due to how the lines between reality and fantasy seem to be blurred for the main character and are therefore blurred for me as well as I was reading the text. The blurring of these lines is based on the construction of a literary dream world and the main character’s interest in literary characters. More specifically how at the start of the text, there are mentions of the world of dreams. Such as how, in the world of dreams, Proust refers to how, while sleeping, it is easier to go to “a period of my early life that had ended forever,” (Combray1. p4). In this, the author seems to want the readers to appreciate the impact that dreams can have on a child and an adult. The dreams, in this case, are a means to escape from being an adult and reflect a simpler time. The concept of dreams is later referred to as “the world of dreams,” which struck me as odd since dreams could or could not be a literary world in itself (Combray1. p4). The main character’s dreams also comment on human memory as his dreams are specifically images that please the main character, rather than the vast possibilities that dreams could be. Nevertheless, the construction of this world reflects the childlike curiosity that the main character has and how that childlike curiosity allowed for the lines of fantasy and reality to be blurred through dreams. 

As I was reading the text, due to my background knowledge, when the text mentioned the names of fictional characters such as; “Bluebeard,” and “Golo,” my attention moved to the mentions of those names (Combray1. p10). Then, as the text continued, the two parts reflected that the author had a specific interest in literacy and literary figures. The author constructs a literary world in which, through the use of dreams and interest in literary characters, the author is able to reflect the childlike curiosity that the main character has, which sparks a passion for writing. The question that I would ask regarding the text is; how does the construction of a literary world through dreams relate to the notion of modernism, and how does this impact the way that the text is read? The two aspects of dreams and the mention of literary figures shape the text to reflect the author’s affinity for both writing literature and an affinity for the moments of childhood that the author had taken for granted.

 

Muskan Shukla