Jan
25
Carpentier 1st half
Posted by: | January 25, 2010 | Comments Off on Carpentier 1st half
First off, just got in from the Canucks game and great win VS Buffalo! I missed the Millennium Line stop so I toured the great cities of Burnaby and New West for the duration of my travels. As I sat in my seat in the ‘Spirit of Nanaimo’ SkyTrain car I pondered the ‘magical surrealism’ of tonight’s glorious match. It is not often I get to go to a game and see the Canucks actually win. This now leads me into the Capentiers magical realism which explores a different victory… one of a nations independence and freedom. (I’m working harder on my hangover than my intro..sorry!) But it is interesting the very magic that is part of life and in the culture of Haiti. For example, through the religious ceremonies and practices, such as voodoo and other forms of worship, Carpentier seems to have been inspired to add a level of magic to his work El reino de este mundo. I found it a little difficult at first to understand what was being said, as the dictionary was on hand and used often, but I was eventually able to understand what was going on. What I really enjoyed was the strength in his narrative and being able to describe the historical context of a time of transition and self-discovery of a new nation and its new found freedoms. Carpentier is able to help visualize the events surrounding the Haitian independence in somewhat real time during Henri Christophe. Through point of view of a slave, Ti Noel is able to describe the dense atmosphere of Haiti as it struggles to achieve its independence and discerning the classes who control the power. As the historical accounts and sequence of events are accurate to combine the elements of surrealism alongside this, it made for a unique combination that really drew me in. As I am only half way through I really am looking forward to understanding and analyzing Carpentiers interesting writing style. A difficult read but it is worth it!
