I’m really glad I chose to take this class. Initially, I just wanted to talk about Borges and Rigoberta Menchu, but I came to really enjoy some of the other works we read. Specifically, Hundred Years of Solitude has really stuck with me. I reference it casually in conversations with other friends and do agree that it should be required reading. The differences in style and themes between Latin American literature and North American or European literature made it a little difficult to understand the stories at first, but eventually I got used to the different storytelling methods. I feel like a focus on magical realism, having an unnamed narrator, or war are some of the main reoccurring themes or writing choices.
The contract grading system is very nice. I’m glad I know exactly how hard I have to work and what I have to do to get the grade that I want. It takes a lot of stress off of me without lowering the work load in comparison to similar classes. Even though I knew kind of what I was getting into, at first it was daunting trying to read a book a week, but slowly I got the hang of it and came to enjoy the amount of reading I had to do. It was nice having lectures online that I could listen to or read at my own pace to supplement the reading that I had to do for the week. The in-class discussions were also nice and I liked talking to my classmates to hear their takes on the readings.
The blog posts felt like a low stakes way of tracking which books you read. I didn’t have to worry too much about trying to focus on the themes or technical aspects of the book and instead could just talk about whatever I found interesting. It really lessened my stress and increased my interest in all of the books. It didn’t feel like I was forced to read the stories in a certain way and instead could just enjoy them for what they were. An extension of that is reading other people’s blog posts. Because there were virtually no guidelines besides a word count, everyone’s blog posts varied in content and focus. All the different perspectives helped illuminate all the texts in new lights and made me understand them better.
I really enjoyed this class and I’ve come out of it with a much better understanding of Latin American authors and the important cultural happenings in that part of the world.
Looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday!
I believe that the variety of themes, styles, and voices may explain the appeal of Latin American literature. “Hundred Years…” is one of the most popular books in the region, still, despite the fact that it is quite a few years since it was written. García Márquez would be very happy to know that his work delights new readers. I hope you are interested in knowing more of his books… I want to congratulate you on your effort, and thank you for sharing your ideas with us!
Hi Sophie, I too enjoyed the contract grading as I knew what I was getting myself into, in order to get the grade I wanted. Have a great summer, it was nice discussing literature with you in class!
I think 100 years of solitude was one of my favorite reads in this class too. Magical realism isn’t something I get to experience reading much of in other literature courses I take, since they normally focus on other forms of non-fiction literature, so that was also one of the themes I looked for the most within the books I read.