Hello Everyone, Hola Todos! My name is David Peckham, I am a second year arts student, double majoring in linguistics and latin american studies. I am very excited to be taking this course, as I have always been fascinated, intrigued and interested in latin american literature from a very young age. Since around the age of 9, I have read many books published in French and Spanish, stemming from my dual Mexican-Canadian identity and from my mothers love of latin american authors, in particular Isabel Allende and Gabo. I hope that taking this course will allow me to discover new latin american and spanish authors and literature, and learn about the backgrounds and context in which these works of literary artistry were written in. I am especially excited to be taking this course with our professor, Jon Beasley-Murray, as I have taken a previous literature course with him last semester and I am acquainted with his work in latin american studies, through exposure in latin american studies courses and his seminars with the department of french, hispanic and italian studies (FHIS). What I look most forward to in this course, is discovering new authors, or revisiting familiar authors, but through a new literary lens and questioning or generally engaging with the context that these works have appeared in or were driven by. I look forward to reading and discussing with you all!

I found the first lecture video had some very interesting ideas about the importance and use of context in analyzing literature and the authors behind literary works, and the importance in understanding the proper context of these works in to fully understand the ideas and themes that these authors use. I was especially excited by professor Jon’s mention of the idea of politics in literature, as I have previously analyzed how literature and essays in latin america have been used to further political ideas and sentiments in latin american countries in previous decades. As someone with a mexican background, I look forward to reading the mexican authors and texts described by professor Jon, and seeing how these texts and ideas have influenced my country. To answer one of the questions asked by professor Jon in his lecture video, I expect the readings will be very mindful and will reflect the life experience that each other has lived through, as one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman wrote that the world that an author writes about will always be a reflection of the world they live in.

My question for this weeks blog is, what piece of literature has impacted you the most?