This course, Hopscotch: Topics in Hispanic Literature, has been a really great learning experience in terms of both pedagogical style and Latin American Literature. Some of my favourite reads were Azuela’s The Underdogs, Bolaño’s Distant Star, and Garza’s The Taiga Syndrome. Although these works are all quite different I think what draws me to them is the clear …
This weeks reading, Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo is a fragmented story that begins with a young man seeking out his estranged father in a town called Comala to fulfil his mother’s dying request. As the novel progresses the young man dies and the tale focusses on the father, Pedro Páramo, and how he caused the …
Mariano Azuela’s The Underdogs (originally Los de abajo) follows a the central character Demetrio Macías as he travels through Mexico with an ever growing band of revolutionaries, causing havoc and plundering. some of the themes that most stuck out to me are masculinity, the roles and depiction of women, and the skilful portrayal of disillusionment. Masculinity is a …
Mama Blanca’s Memoirs by Teresa de la Parra is a fictional edited memoir of a woman who grew up as the daughter of the owner of a plantation in Venezuela but then moves to the capital city Caracas when he sells the plantation. Some of the themes that interested me most were of beauty, nostalgia and …
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Hi! My name is Kara Maria Quast. I am a third year political science and sociology double major, minoring in literature. I am studying at UBC on exchange for the academic year 22/23. Usually I study in Berlin but I grew up in London. I am 21 years old. In my spare time I love …