February 2023 – Topics in Hispanic Literature

February 27, 2023February 27, 2023

Garcia Marquez 100 Years of Solitude

After getting a taste of the new tools and technologies brought to his village by gypsies José Arcadio Buendía learns there’s more to life and sets out in search of progress. It is this same journey that leads him into a life he into solitude. Reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “100 Years of Solitude” felt like starting the journey of life in a very basic civilization. José Arcadio Buendía evolves as a kind of pioneer of Macondo but his obsession with ways to apply these new technologies and his solitude drives him into madness and various “advancements” made by others drive the town into conflict. The democratization of the town and the social constructs that come with organized religion struggle for power between Arcadio and Don Moscote seem to signal the beginning of many tragedies for various community members. The way the town evolves by the middle of the novel, resembles less of the simplicity, and becomes more familiar to society today; polluted by religion capitalism and war.

A recurring theme we’ve talked about throughout our course is time. This week’s reading like previous ones covered in the course (e.g., Mama Blanca’s memoirs and Pedro Paramo) follows a non-linear structure. The narration jumps through time, through frequent referencing of different periods it shows the reader the past, present, and future within a short period (i.e., it starts out in with a reference to the future killing of colonel Buendía, in the present then by the second chapter it moves back to the past). It also spans several generations of the Buendía family but doesn’t describe them in chronological order. I think this only adds to the difficultly of the reader to follow along. Not only are there many different characters intertwined with very similar names but it’s difficult to pinpoint when these events are taking place. The only thing that made it possible to gauge a sense of time was through the tools they had available or actual historical references that personally were unfamiliar without additional research. Even by looking at the tools It’s still confusing because the first mention of the magnifying glass and daguerreotype happen quite close together. We also see repeated elements of magical realism like borges, where Garcia Marquez blurs the line between fact and fiction, the real and the magical, making the mundane more interesting than it actually is. My question for discussion is; why do you think Garcia Marquez chooses to employ magical realism in their writing? What do it accomplish that say a more natural approach couldn’t?

February 13, 2023

Juan Ruflo’s Pedro Páramo

Reflecting on my experience with this week’s reading, Juan Rulfo’s “Pedro Páramo,” I can only describe it as challenging. Despite my initial excitement to delve into what I expected to be a concise narrative at an overview, seeing that it lacked traditional chapter breaks and was fairly short, I soon discovered it would be yet another new reading experience. Overall, I found it pretty difficult and confusing for a number of reasons. Rulfo’s series of fragmented memories and non-linear narrative is hard to follow. At times, I found it difficult to understand what was taking place in the realm of reality and what was taking place in this other fantasy realm filled with ghosts. Another reason is the disorienting narration style. The jumping around between past and present, 3^rd person and 1^st person, frequent shifting between various living and dead characters’ points of view made it difficult to keep track of who was speaking and, at times, follow along with their stories and place in the timeline of the novel.

During the lecture, Professor Beasley-Murray mentioned that “Comala is the site of a permanent afterlife, of tales that continue to be told long after their tellers are dead (but not gone).” I think this speaks to the question brought up during the discussion about what the text is telling us about life, death, and the relationship between them. Like Comala, the people that comprise it have maintained a kind of permanence in its site. In the text, Rulfo explores the idea that death is not the end of existence, but that life and death are interconnected. He does this by telling stories through the perspective of ghosts that appear in an in-between state of life and death, suggesting that death is not the end, but rather a continuation of life. The way the story is told also blurs the line between past and present and between what is alive and dead, showing that life and death are not always separate; they can be connected in different ways.

Despite reading the novel in its entirety and doing additional research, I’m still not really sure what I’m supposed to take away from it. So, my question for discussion is: What is your interpretation of the themes and messages in “Pedro Páramo”? What do you think the author is trying to convey about the human experience when it comes to life and death?

February 6, 2023February 6, 2023

Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths

In his collection of short stories in Labyrinths, Jorge Luis Borge theorizes about the nature of time and reality through intricate and imaginative plots. The title of the collection, ‘Labyrinths’ speaks to the complexity and uncertainty that surrounds the existences he bases he stories in. Like a Labyrinth, the complex philosophical positions he takes and in turn our understand is constantly shifting and evolving without one set or correct path.

I found the idea of immortality to be a recurring theme in some of these short stories, including ‘The Circular Ruins’ and ‘The Garden of Forking Paths’ where he presents the idea that the journey through life is a never-ending cycle that is continuous. In The Circular Ruins, we see this with the man that dreams up a person only to realize he was dreamt up himself and that person is presumably to follow the same fate. In ‘The Garden of Forking Paths’ we see this in the discovery of the novel that contains an infinite number of possible paths and outcomes with every decision constantly creating new paths and possibilities without an ending.

I found it interesting that he would refer to himself in his stories, specifically ‘Borges and I’, differently from how someone would if they were writing a diary entry or a story about themselves. He takes a contemplative out of body approach where he sees himself as something that’s separate from his metaphysical form “Borges”. I think in this way he also immortalizes himself.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I think he has an expansive viewpoint on the world and what’s in the realm of possibilities. Outside of themes and various repetitions that tie the stories together, I haven’t noticed much else in terms of continuity or an overarching narrative. Some of the stories were hard to follow but there were often points where something interesting would happen that would prompt me to want to re-read the story and try to interpret it again.

I found Borges’ approach to complex philosophical concepts quite thought provoking and different from what I’ve previously been exposed to. From it I take home the idea that there is no one way to view the world but different perspectives and a constant evolution of our understanding.

My question for discussion: What story struck you as being impactful or left a lasting impression on you? Did it change how you view some aspect of life?