Feb
27
Literatura Hispanoamericana hasta ahora…
Posted by: | February 27, 2010 | Comments Off on Literatura Hispanoamericana hasta ahora…
Bueno, despues de leer estos dos otros libros/textos latinoamericanos, todavia puedo decir que la literatura latinoamericana me parece interesante, rara, y dificil. Claro, esto tambien hace los textos mas ricos y disfrutables para leer una y otra vez. A decir verdad, ya he leido varios libros latinoamericanos, y varios hasta son del genero realismo magico. […]
Feb
16
El reino de este mundo – Segunda Parte
Posted by: | February 16, 2010 | Comments Off on El reino de este mundo – Segunda Parte
La segunda parte de El reino de este mundo me parece a mi una tragedia. Al inicio, parece que las cosas van a cambiar y estar bien, como cuando Henri Christophe es el nuevo rey de Haiti. Me parece a mi que hay un sentido de esperanza y desarrollo en este hecho. Sin embargo, con […]
Feb
11
El reino de este mundo – Primera Parte
Posted by: | February 11, 2010 | Comments Off on El reino de este mundo – Primera Parte
Este Blog me a tomado demasiado tiempo de escribir. Las practicas para las ceremonias olimpicas me toman como 12 horas cada dos dias! Lo bueno es que he podido leer El reino de este mundo unas cuantas veces (al menos las partes que me parecen interesantes). Lo primero que quiero decir sobre este libro es […]
Feb
8
El reino de este mundo (parte2)
Posted by: | February 8, 2010 | Comments Off on El reino de este mundo (parte2)
It is true, when there is no time English is just faster, and so this time I take the easy way out.. And yes, I am aware of the fact that I should have posted this over a week ago..The second part of the book gave me a better understanding of the story…
Feb
8
Writer’s Statement (if i were a writer)
Posted by: | February 8, 2010 | Comments Off on Writer’s Statement (if i were a writer)
Magical Realism is something I take very seriously. The first magical realism story I ever read was in a Grade Seven English class. It was “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” by Marquez. I still consider it to be on my Top 10 Best Short Stories Ever Written in Any Language list, which of course is littered with other Latin American writers (ah Juan Rulfo!- what a hottie.) Ever since I began with Marquez’s short story I’ve attempted to write Magical Realism, nay I’ve attempted to mimic Magical Realism into a construct relevant to me. Having grown up by the Pacific, there were numerous attempts at trying to describe an ocean that would swallow my mother and spit her out golden and drunk. Failure. Instead of flowers for rain I tried sea urchins- failure. Definite failure. I have since resigned to the fact that I just don’t have the background for Magical Realism. Both my parents practiced law, I was raised in the States where politics are more or less transparent (relatively speaking to most Latin American governments) and though I’d love to be better friends with Metaphor, we’re both just so busy doing our own thing- we hardly have the time to meet up. I tend to stick to painstakingly sincere emotional characters and when more marvelous elements poke themselves into my stories they are quickly justified into a reality. I cannot write Magical Realism.
And now with the last 2 books we’ve read, I realize that perhaps I was meant for mimicking something older than Magical Realism. My vision of the world cannot hold up in a Magical World, probably because I’ve never had to escape into one, but perhaps it can survive in a Surrealist Marvelous World. Asturias and Carpentier take historical views of their respective worlds and fictionalize them. Of course there are hints to magical things, but the justifications are close at hand: Mayan creation myths, slave psychology. They are metaphors- exquisite, wonderful metaphors- but not the full fledged magic that is in magical realism. Metaphors by definition are a comparison of two unlike things without using like or as. Magical realism, as I understand it, (mind you the last time I heard an academic explanation of this was in grade seven) is the integration of magic into real life. A woman bursts into butterflies and she bursts into butterflies just the same as if she were to open her kitchen cabinet. She burst into butterflies and it is treated with the same normalcy as an everyday action- there is no comparison to a reality, no metaphor, because it is intended to be the reality. The distinction is subtle but key. And as much as Magical Realism has frustrated and inspired me, “lo real maravilloso”, as I’ve studied so far through Leyendas and El Reino de Este Mundo, seems a little closer to my North American, middle class writerly grasp. Perhaps it is because Asturias and Carpentier hadn’t ventured so far from their European literary model just as my North American writing influences have. But even so, the results are marvelous- inspiring even.
Feb
8
El realismo magico hasta ahora….
Posted by: | February 8, 2010 | Comments Off on El realismo magico hasta ahora….
El realismo magico es sin duda una de las temas mas importantes en la literatura espanola y es importante estudiarla para mejor comprender a las civilisaciones hispano hablantes de America Latina. Creo que ambos libros que habemos leido nos dan una id…
Feb
8
Hasta ahora!
Posted by: | February 8, 2010 | Comments Off on Hasta ahora!
I can safely (and confidently) say that this is one of the most interesting Spanish classes I have taken at UBC. I would never have thought to use Wikipedia as a project source, but it’s turning out to be quite an interesting idea. I feel as though the…
Feb
7
The story so far…
Posted by: | February 7, 2010 | Comments Off on The story so far…
You’d think sitting down and writing about my experiences with this class thus far would be an easy task, yet I currently find myself at a loss for words. Whatever – Here goes nothing.Truthfully, I am not a fan of literature. I can’t stand it. That is …
Feb
7
el curso en general
Posted by: | February 7, 2010 | Comments Off on el curso en general
Hasta ahora, me ha gustado mucho este curso. Los libros son muy interesantes en relación con el realismo mágico. El proyecto de wikipedia de mi grupo se basa en Alejo Carpentier, el que hemos acabado de estudiar. Ya he aprendido muchas cosas sobre é…
Feb
7
Los dos mundos
Posted by: | February 7, 2010 | Comments Off on Los dos mundos
Uno de los puntos que más me interesó después de haber leído estos dos libros, es la manera en la cual ambos escritores manifiestan de diferentes formas el elemento fantástico a través de sus historias. En mi opinión, Asturias y Carpentier tiene…
