Hello,
My Name is Diana. This is (*hopefully*) the last semester of my IDST degree (combined areas of study; sociology, geography, and Spanish). My favourite activities are traveling, snowboarding, and playing games. I don’t really ever find myself reading anything outside of required course material (rarely novels) since it’s already a lot but I’m really excited to be able to take time away to try to enjoy consuming literature at my own pace, by my own choosing and paired with a relevant drink.
Throughout this course I expect to familiarize myself with some of the most influential works across Latin American literature and explore the ideas and perspectives brought forth by their authors. Additionally, I hope I can better understand how these works became regarded as influential to this day. I also expect to better my approach to understanding a story and learn what reading a book “well” really means.
I hope that the readings chosen as a part of this course will teach me about the social context and culture of their authors as well as different ways of understanding/approaching stories. I don’t have much experience with literature let alone Latin American Literature. I took SPAN280: Unfinished Revolutions, not long ago so my current idea of Latin American literature is heavily based in texts that are responding to revolution like Cartucho. I believe looking at Latin American literature will expose me to the different struggles and experiences of Latin Americans. From this I imagine I will be able to learn about the different approaches they took in their work and life. I anticipate a reading of Latin American literature will offer an insider’s perspective on a culture different from my own, a version/perspective of historical events or perhaps an important account of an event.
When the idea of influence comes up in the video lecture, it seems that it is built off of the influential writers who came before and served as inspiration. My question for discussion is: What else is it about a story or an author that makes us regard it as influential?