Author Archives: rebeca ponce

Adiós!! (y gracias)

Last blogpost, I can’t believe it is actually over. At the beginning of the term I thought about how I would feel writing the last blogpost. I thought I was going to feel sick of reading, that I would not want to read another book for the rest of the year. But thankfully, it was the opposite thing. After reading a book every. single. week. for thirteen weeks I have found myself in almost a “habit” of reading. Which THANK GOD because I missed reading so much and I’m glad I kind of have the habit back (thanks Jon!).

But yeah, was that Latin American literature? Because if that’s the case I want more of it, and I wish I had read more of it earlier But besides of the fact that I have reading back as a habit, this course has also helped me into wanting more from the books now. Just like Jon said in his lecture, I think that after this course, I will look more deeply into the themes of a book, the way the story is built and maybe even compare it to the ones I have already read.

For this blogpost, I will mention my two honourable mentions. These being “Madwomen” by Gabriela Mistral and “Pedro Paramo” by Juan Rulfo. These two books were by far my favourites, from the femininity and the unspoken language of women in Mistral’s poetry, to the warmth of Mexican literature mixed with these themes that are also mixed in Mexican society in “Pedro Paramo”, these two books will forever be treasured in my heart.

Now, I don’t want to say I hated any of the book, but there were definitely some books that were more difficult than others. Like this week’s book “Fever Dream” and DEFINITELY Borges, these two were difficult reads, but that did not make me hate them. In fact, I did not hate any book in this course (props to Jon), yes I got lost or maybe the themes were difficult for me, but that never won for me to say I hated a book.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time in this course. At first I have to admit it was a bit of a “commitment” HAVING to go to class but after some weeks, I was actually looking forwards to what the others had to say about the book, what Jon had to prepare to the class and of course, the weekly question used to check attendance. Now I know the power of the “gift of paper” and how to enjoy a book in my own way.

I hope everyone absolutely destroys their final exams and that this summer you get to relax!! Thank you Jon and Daniel for keeping this class as fun as it was, I also hope you get some well deserved rest this summer!!

Adios y gracias! 🙂

Week 13: Fever Dream

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This week’s reading (and the last book for this term) was definitely something, from trying to figure out what is happening (and the anxiety that comes from within) and also trying to fully understand WHAT is happening. I had a fun time reading Borges, but this book was definitely something to read and now write a blogpost about it. It is not that I didn’t like this book, I actually did find it very interesting from the way it is built to the experience the reader has when reading this book. It’s just that I got lost to the point where I would get frustrated and just wanted to get over this book. That did not happen to me with Borges or Yo-Yo Boing!, which were also books that had me lost, but maybe it was the overall almost-end-of-semester stress that got me.

Either way, I did like this book, it’s just that it was more difficult than expected (hopefully I am not the only one that feels this way so I don’t feel dumb later reading the other blogposts). Something that I really liked about this book was the mother-daughter relationship portrayed, how Amanda always seems to be worried about Nina who is always sick. Maybe it is the fact that I am homesick at this point of the term, but it was nice to witness those moments of their relationship. Unlike the other books that we have read in this term that include difficult relationships between father-son (like Pedro Paramo) or just overall difficult relationships between girls (like in Mama Blanca’s memoirs), it was nice to read these instances of worry that Amanda feels when she doesn’t know how Nina is doing.

One thing that I did not enjoy of this book was David’s character, I just did not like his presence. It was as if he was invading or interrupting a very serious-family incident that was very personal. I did not appreciate his constant need to know every single little detail (but I do have to acknowledge the fact that without his pressure we would not have known what was going on) and I also did not like it when he said stuff in Amanda’s story was not necessary. Maybe it is the hatred I have started to build towards male characters in the books we have read but I think there could have been a more subtle, non-agressive way in which David could have been presented to the reader.

Anyways, I think this is one of the most “negative” blogposts I have written, but I truly did like reading this book, even though it genuinely did feel like a fever dream at some point.

My question for the class is: What did you think of the way the story is built? Did you also get lost? Do you think that a different way to tell the story would have helped you understand it better?

Week 12: Papi

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Although I have had hard reads during this term, this has got to be one of the hardest novels to read. Not because of the way it is written (which I think it was exceptional to have it written from the perspective of a child) or because of the “lack” of plot, but rather because of the overall theme. Nevertheless, I liked this reading and the way it portrays the ups and downs of a daughter-father relationship.

One of the first things I want to talk about is about the aspect of this book being written from the perspective of a child. I was talking about this book to my roommate a couple of days ago and she said something that stood out to me. She questioned the book’s story “authenticity” and “credibility” because of the fact of a little girl narrating the story. She told me that a child’s innocence and naive sense of life would show a biased point of view of her father’s actions. But I think that is one of the best aspects of this book.

We are able to see and experience the first descriptions of this girl’s dad through her eyes, how she idolized him even though of his tough actions (and absence), lifestyle, etcetera. I think it is really interesting how even though the little girl experiences this twisted relationship, the love and admiration she feels towards him is also portrayed. This aspect just portrays such a human part of relationships with family members, specially those very close to us such as out mothers and fathers. As the book progress, we are able to then realize that this idealization turns into a grief, which then turns into the realization that just like her, her father is also human. This portrayal of the relationship was very hard to read, but also it was very important, mainly because we have not gotten the opportunity to read this kind of complex aspect of family problems/relationships.

Even though the relationship is complicated and the little girl faces terrible things because of her father, she never denies their bloodline. “Cuz he’s my dad, and I’m his daughter” (p.29). I think this is very emotional, because this is just another example of the love the daughter feels, which is bigger and more important to her than the grief, abandonment and sadness she feels.

My question for this week is: What aspects about their relationship were the most interesting to you? And do you think the narrator should have been other than the little girl?

Week 11: Yo-Yo Boing!

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I was very excited to notice that this week’s reading was a novel written in both English and Spanish, or as we also know it “Spanglish”. It was a really comforting read as I sometimes find myself speaking in Spanglish, mainly with my Spanish-speaker friends and with my family ever since I moved to Vancouver. It was a really interesting aspect of the novel, since there are truly things that one can only express in a certain language.

With this I want to talk about the aspect I found really interesting about this novel: the language. As Jon talked in the lecture, Braschi’s novel portrays a good idea on what and cannot be translated and assimilated across borders. I have been an English speaker for a couple of years now, but it wasn’t until I came to live in Canada that I experience what Braschi portrays in this novel. One of the first weeks I was talking to two Canadian friends and we were both eating cake, when I began getting “empalagada”. This is a verb in spanish that means you have had too many sweets or enough sweetness from a dessert or food, and you are sick of the flavour, therefore you stop eating it because you got “empalagada”. I was trying to explain this to my friends, and was getting frustrated I could not find the literal translation in English. This is when they told me there is no actual literal translation of the word “emapalagar” in English, there is just an expression of saying you got a sweet tooth or you’ve had enough sweets. This was a great example of these instances of things that can and cannot be translated and the literal barriers in between borders because of language. Now my friends use the verb “empalagar” and it is really funny yet heartwarming hearing my Canadian friends say “Oh I got very empalagada!”.

Another thing I would like to note on the language is that in chapter II Blow Up when the discussion is taking place, the use of mainly Spanish made me actually feel scolded. I do not know why but in the past readings, whenever there was conflict and I was reading in English it was hard for me to actually feel scolded like the characters. It was as if it was harder for the emotions on the book to be fully transmitted in English. But in this novel, specially in this chapter, the emotions were more easy to be transmitted and I could actually feel as if I was the one being scolded in this chapter.

My question for this week is: How did you find the choice of languages (Spanish, English and Spanglish) for this novel? Do you think it has an impact like the one I talked about? Would you rather have it only in one language?

Week 10: I, Rigoberta Menchú

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I may have been sounding repetitive in the first sentence of my blogs during this term, saying that I really enjoyed the week’s reading, but this has been truly one of my favourite reads so far. Even though it was hard because of the raw ways Rigoberta described her and her family’s struggles, and sometimes overwhelming due to the fact that I had to recognize many of the privileges that I had forgotten I should not take for granted, this book has truly been a very interesting and important read. Also, when I was on the phone with my mother last week and told her about this week’s reading she recommended I did some research on her before reading this book. I am so thankful for her advice as having some further background on Rigoberta and her work as a human rights activist helped me get in tune with the book.

One of the first things I would like to note about this week’s reading is the impact this novel had, beyond the obvious social matters it talks about (and I may be talking too much about Mexico in my blogposts) but this book was also hard to read for me because of the similarities I found with Mexico. There is also a great percentage of Indigenous people in Mexico, a culture Mexicans should be proud of and should take care of, nevertheless the discrimination towards them is immense. Reading about Rigoberta’s descriptions of indigenous people in Guatemala and their struggle to access education and such, reminded me an awful lot of Mexico’s situation. Nevertheless, I also think this is the very reason why this book is so important to read, the awareness and even uncomfortable reminder that indigenous people in Latin America suffer from this injustice is crucial for people to know about.

Another thing that was really interesting to me was that after the injustice both her father and mother suffered, Rigoberta’s way of “rebelling” was by renouncing all these socially constructed ideas of an indigenous woman. She became a human rights activist, advocating for the communities she represented, Rigoberta showed no interest in birthing a child or marriage. I believe this also shows a different kind of strength and power, different from what we have read, where most characters were men who were “rebellious” or fighting against something.

My question for the class is: What aspects about Rigoberta’s way of “fighting” back were the most interesting to you? And also, do you find it important for not only university students in a Latin American literature class but also students in general to read this book?

Week 9: The Hour of the Star

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This week’s book got my attention from the very beginning and the end of the novel really took me by surprise. I overall really like this week’s novel as it has some very interesting themes that stood out to me. I would also like to point out that although it was a very short read, it took me a while to actually finish it. Certain aspects were a lot to take in, it would be difficult for me not to feel extremely drained after a couple of pages and I had to do something else.

To begin this blogpost I would like to talk about the main character, Macabéa. She is a woman who we can tell is very disconnected from reality, which at some point it even gets frustrating how badly her ignorance gets to be. Nevertheless, I was never able to blame her for her ignorance, as she is a woman that lives a hard life, and this “delusion” or ignorance portrayed throughout the novel is what makes her one of the most genuine characters. We often tend to have difficult parts of our life and (at least me) grasping onto an idea, a hope or a future that may seem out of touch of reality is what keeps us going. Her character is tragic in a sense that she does not understand the circumstances she lives in, the despair that we feel for her is nowhere near Macabéa’s heart or mind, which takes away our hope that she might set herself free from this ignorance.

An important thing I want to note from this novel is the concept of the man. For starters, Clarice Lispector decides that the narrator is a man, who will be in charge of Macabéa’s story. Why would she not want to be the narrator herself? Will there be a prejudice by the public if a woman were to portray such a heart-wrenching story of another woman? Is is more fair for a man to tell a sad story about a woman? I think there is something really interesting from the fact that Lispector decides to narrate this story from a man’s perspective. Another thing I would like to note is the constant image of a man in Macabéa’s story that will be what ultimately “saves” her. Either from her despair of wanting someone to love her, or to take her out of poverty and give her a life that she desires. Either by Olímpico who would have “saved” her from never being loved by anyone or by the foreigner that would “save” her from poverty, it was always the man that was going to save Macabéa.

My question for this week is: What do you think about this? Did you find another instance where there was another savior other than men? Also feel free to answer some of the other questions I wrote on the top if you want to !!!

Week 8: 100 more years of solitude

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This has been one of my favourite readings so far, and now I can really REALLY understand why Juan Rulfo used this novel as an inspiration for his writing. The themes of solitude and family were seen to stick throughout the novel, but the introduction and emphasis on themes such as religion and repetition is really interesting and allows us the readers to experience a different yet complementary side of the novel.

I would like to talk about the massacre on the train station in Macondo, and how even though Jose Arcadio Buendía told and would speak about the true version of the story, people would not consider it true and would rather belief the official statement that there was no tragedy surrounding Macondo or any acts of violence. Even though the people in Macondo knew this happened, they would rather ignore that side of the past and “move on” from it. It reminded me a lot of what happens in Latin America, specially a very dark moment in Mexico’s history of October 2nd of 1968. This was a day that a massacre of students took place in Tlatelolco and even though many people witnessed the horrors of this night, there are some citizens and even the government that lie to themselves and say that nothing happened. They would rather ignore the past. The similarities between Macondo and Mexico in this situation are astounding, and although this novel was published one year before this incident, I believe it is an accurate and sad portrayal of Latin American countries. We would rather forget and ignore about our bloody past.

But then this leaves us to discussion about the theme of repetition, how this is such an important theme in the novel. The family keeps making and repeating mistakes, Macondo is a place where they are not free from this “curse” of repeating mistakes, but how could they not keep repeating them if they do not akcnowledge them? I think that is a really interesting side of the story but what do you guys think? Do you also think that this applies not only for Macondo but for countries as well?

I would also like to talk about the ending of the book which I find to be really on “theme” with the rest of the book. I was expecting something big to happen, but the rather “simple” way Marquez ends the book really goes with this repetitive, cycle, ordinary theme that we have gotten throughout the book. There is really nothing to be expecting as we all figure out that the Buendía family are doomed to keep repeating their mistakes and even though we looked forward to it throughout the novel, we never really saw that happening.

Lastly I would want to note on the several ways solitude was represented in the novel, the first instances being Macondo appearing as a lonely and rural town, then Rebeca staying locked in her house and living there by herself, the rest of the family forgetting her, and also the portrayal of solitude through Ursula was really interesting.

A quick fun fact about this novel and my name: my mom loved this novel and decided to name her first child either Ursula or Rebeca because of the characters of this book, although now that I know what Rebeca’s and Ursula’s faith was I kind of wanted to have a conversation with my mom lol.

Week 7: One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García

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I am really excited to read this novel, as I had started it a couple of years ago and left it for too long, and just what Jon said in class, you really have to read the book without long pauses or you will get lost. Re-reading the first part of the novel was a great experience as I was reading it a couple of years ago and still had some themes unclear. I was not grasping the complexity and portrayal of said themes and this time I am enjoying more the novel for various reasons.

For starters I really enjoyed the themes talked about in the novel, and the way García Marquez is able to portray them so naturally during the novel. Themes such as death and human life, isolation and solitude, family and time. I like how we are reading about the portrayal of these themes in different novels, yet in this one time and loneliness are portrayed exceptionally. The way the Buendías suffer from a “curse” of their family repeating mistakes and hence facing the consequences in the form of solitude made me think of Latin American culture. There is this constant pressure for young kids in Latin American countries to not “repeat the mistakes” of our parents, uncles, grandparents, etc. This is sometimes dodged and sometimes not, which can be portrayed in the novel and was a really interesting aspect about it.

I also liked the theme of family and the way it is portrayed in the novel, that being of a complex family, everyone with their own problems that affect them all together. The solitude they face because of their mistakes and the complexity in the relationships they have with one another. One character that stood out for me in the novel so far is Ursula, which can be considered one of the main characters and the true head of the family. She is like an anchor for the Buendías, a symbol even, of both knowledge and solitude. It is really interesting that the presence of a matriarchal family is portrayed in the novel in such an explicit way.

This is such an interesting aspect, since the novel takes place in war and revolution, a predominant time where the male figure is supposed to be the “important” one.

My question for this week is: What aspects about this cycle of repetition interested you the most? Do you think that as the novel evolves the Buendías will be able to break free from this cycle?

Week 6: “Pedro Paramo” Juan Rulfo

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This week’s reading brought me back so many memories as I read this novel for the second time. I remember reading this in my last year in middle school and being deeply confused on so many aspects of the book. Being able to re-read this novel really made me appreciate such a good piece of writing that I totally missed the first time reading this.

One of the first things I want to note about this week’s reading is how good it portrays this side of a superstitious Mexican culture. I want to link this with one of the novel’s common themes: death. In Mexican culture, death is like an extension of life, something that you can encounter any day of the week but not because of the reasons you may think. One example is the Day of the Dead, in which we acknowledge and celebrate death for three days. Another example is this superstitious side of Mexican culture, where we think that “ghosts” or “lost souls” can actually be stuck somewhere specifically, and we can encounter these “apparitions” any day. Pedro Paramo is a perfect example in which the dead and the living get to interact for a while in the same space, with no boundaries, rules or explanations needed. I believe Juan Rulfo’s ability to do this so naturally, yet confusing to the readers at the beginning, is such a beautiful way to write.

Another thing that was really interesting to me is the power of memories, both in an obvious literary way in which we travel the book through memories, but also for the characters in Comala. It is their memories from when they were alive that still chains them to Comala, to the place where they lived and the way they act. Rulfo’s way of depicting the power memories have not only for the living but also for the death and creating a connecting with this, is something really interesting and that I enjoyed reading about. Rulfo’s ability of connecting the living and the dead throughout the novel was something that happened more than once, either by the simple fact of placing the dead and the living on the same place (Comala), by sharing moments together and sharing history together.

Finally, the complexity of Pedro Paramo, the main character, is something that stood out to me. Throughout the novel we see him as this villainous character that is driven by the urge of revenge and hatred, someone who has no compassion and who turned a good place like Comala into a dead-like place. We are able to create an image about Pedro, him being strong and invincible, someone who can get whatever he wants however he wants. But at the end of the novel we are presented a side of Pedro that we never thought we would see, devastated and miserable by the loss of Susana. Loosing her, someone that he wanted so badly, was ultimately what “destroyed” this character. Yet it also made me think why he would be so affected by it, as it was very hard for me to be convinced he actually loved her and wanting her was not just a selfish need of Pedro.

My question for you this week is: Why do you think Rulfo did this to Pedro’s character? Do you think he wanted to portray a message about maybe “love” being stronger than money, revenge and hate? Or was it maybe an “ironic” way to end Pedro’s strong character with something so simple and fragile as “love”?

Week 5: Jorge Luis Borges “Labyrinths”

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This week’s readings brought back a lot of childhood memories, as my grandfather used to read Borges’ short stories to me and my siblings when we were younger. I would be lying if I said I remembered which stories he used to read to us as I was very little and mostly fell asleep as soon as he began reading, but it was really nice to now read these stories and actually enjoy the way Borges writes such good stories.

One of the stories that really caught my attention was “The Circular Ruins” as I loved the twist at the end, yet in this story we can see Borges really enjoys writing about dreams and the “materialization” of physical things in this world (which can also been seen in other short stories such as in “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”). It was really interesting how Borges handles these themes in a way that they are different in every story but we are able to recognize them and compare them. Another thing that was really interesting about this short story was the man’s need (?) and desire to create something, how he then felt bad about his creation not feeling like the rest of the world world, to then realizing that he is also a creation of someone else. Personally, this made me feel a lot of mixed feeling I am still not able to properly portray in this blog, but it mostly made me feel helpless yet not in a negative way (hopefully I get my ideas right by Thursday’s class).

Another story that I really enjoyed “The Shape of the Sword” as it also has a twist at the story, which is something I really enjoy at the end of such good written stories. The way Borges is able to construct a story with enough plot and complexity of characters in a rather short amount of words when being compared with a novel, is amazing. This was also an interesting turn when comparing last week’s readings, where poetry is not able to portray said complexity of characters, yet in this week we were able to see more complexity in characters even though they were short stories. It was really interesting how Moon talked about his own cowardice in the story, showing us he regrets his actions but it also demonstrates a side of humanity that we all collectively share, which is guilt.

This week’s question for you guys is: Which themes did you find the most interesting in Borges’ stories?