And just like that, the term is over! Looking back at my opening post, I am glad to say that I thoroughly enjoyed taking this course as it has taught me so much more than I thought I would have learned from a “literature requirement” course. To go further into this, this course has blown away all my original expectations of “a literature requirement” and allowed me to really engage with all the material presented in a way that I never had before. The class has taught me how to think deeper about the literature I am presented with, as I didn’t fear judgment for sharing my thoughts with the class throughout the weeks. Additionally, viewing the texts through a playful lens/through the eyes of a game has shown me that reading literature isn’t all that boring after all haha. This course has truly been a pleasure to be a part of and I have gladly recommended it to all of my friends.

Out of all the books I read this term, I would have to say that my favourite story was “Cartucho” by Nellie Campobello. This story was one of the very first we read and it really drew me in and started to play with the idea of viewing history from the stories that don’t generally get told while also allowing me to research a historical event that I didn’t know much about before the course. The graphical and detailed description within every vignette as well as the interesting perspective of very the first-hand experiences of the Revolution through the eyes of a child has stuck with me throughout the course and got me very excited for the weeks to come.

And so to end this post, I would like to reflect on the beginning prompt of “What is Latin American literature”. At the beginning of the class, I had no knowledge whatsoever about what these stories would bring or what was meant by “Latin American literature”. However, now I believe that Latin American literature challenges the ‘traditional’ ways of writing literature, viewing stories from the perspective of those whose stories don’t get told or embarking on an adventure where the ending may not be as satisfying as you were hoping/expecting. They play with ideas and concepts that have not been touched by others, creating a new game for their readers to engage in.

I have really enjoyed this course and getting to hear all of your fantastic opinions and observations on the texts provided and would love to continue reading stories to deepen my understanding of Latin American literature even further. So for my final discussion question, I would love to hear about what are some other Latin American literature that we didn’t read in this course that you would recommend (if you know of any good ones). Thank you so much for the awesome course!