This week’s reading surprised me in a very positive way. I am not a fan of poetry in general, as personally, I find it harder to understand and connect with the writer. Moreover, everything I had heard and read about the politician and writer Pablo Neruda hadn’t been very positive or especially “poetic”, but thanks to these readings I was able to know him in a different way ad to discovered his identity as a poet.

“Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair” is a profound analysis of love and its intricacies. Neruda makes use of methaphors, allusion, hyperboles, powerful imagery and overall emotional language to transmit the reader his deepest thoughts about what it feels to be in love and the complications that this brings. The writer also focuses on his cravings for love and being loved, his desires, emotional connection with his beloved. In his poems, Neruda argues about the difference between having passionate feelings for someone and the reality of a love relationship and its implicit struggles.

A main topic in these poems that was what caught my attention the most was the wide variety of feelings that love can cause in an individual, from happiness, passion, warmth, and intimacy to fear, despair, and pain. Moroever, another central topic is the idea of love as a powerful force which can transform an individuals mindset, feelings, ideas, and actions. For instance, there is a poem where he explains this idea by implying that being in love can change your perspectives about the world you live in, in that case making it more hopefull and “seductive”. Another recurring theme in some of his poems is the suffering behind using someone you love. I liked this because in a way I was able to connect with his feelings, finding them broad in some way, since losing someone you love can happen in many different ways and can have a variety of emotional consequences.

Overall, every time I read poetry I found everything I read too exagerated and unrealistic, which made me had a least deep connection with its ideas. However, I was able to empathize with Neruda’s feelings and understand his reflections in a special way. As I mentioned before, several poems explain a broad perspective on the positive and negative feelings that love can bring, allowing me to compare his throughts with personal feelings and reflections I had made on these topics.

How did these poems make you feel about love? Overall, did you reach a postive or negative conclusion about the emotions intrinsic to love? Why?

I found this week’s reading very interesting, a great way to start off the term! Mama Blanca’s Memoirs, a novel written by Teresa De la Parra, is a fictional autobiography of a wealthy
Venezuelan woman, Blanca, who reflects on her life from childhood to adulthood,
narrating her experiences during a politically complicated time of dictatorship in her country.
The novel is set in Venezuela during the late 19th and early 20th century, also during the
dictatorship under Venezuelan politician Vicente Gomez. Teresa de la Parra’s writing style is elegant and evocative. She makes the reader feel as if they are a part of the story. I also loved her use of symbolism throughout the story to strongly highlight the themes of freedom and oppression.

The political and social atmosphere of the story is portrayed as a regime that suppresses freedom of expression and punishes those who dare to speak out against it. The characters struggle in a society where they are not free to express themselves fully. A central example of this oppression in this novel is woman’s rights and freedoms, narrated through the experiences and reflections of the main character.

Blanca is a privileged woman who grew up in a wealthy family and had a privileged life and
education. Later, as soon as she gets married and starts her life as a wife and a mother, she
begins to question the societal expectations placed on women, searching for a sense of
identity and purpose. In my opinion, this feminist aspect of the novel is one of the most
interesting and engaging purposes of the novel. Conferring to this, another one of the main
themes of the novel is the struggle and fight for autonomy and self-realization. Blanca’s
journey in the novel is a process of confrontation against her own limitations and prejudices.
The novel also explores the theme of the conflict between tradition and modernity, as Blanca
grapples with the expectations of her society and her own desires. Therefore, Mama Blanca’s
Memoirs is a novel that challenges the traditional roles and expectations of women in the Latin
American society.

What specific events or reasons do you think that motivated Blanca to fight for her rights as a
woman? In your opinion, how is sexism related with the social and political setting of Venezuela at the time?

Hello! My name is Julia and I am a second-year student planning to major in International Relations and Economics. I am originally from Madrid, Spain, where I have lived most of my life, and I moved to Vancouver in 2021 to study at UBC. I also lived near London for almost a year as a kid and one year in the US during high school.

I am very excited about this class. Firstly, I find very original the class format of “choose your own adventure”. I think it’s a very good idea to keep students engaged while learning about the topics and authors that interest them the most. I already took a class with Professor Beasley-Murray about colonialism in Latin America and Latin American literature, which I found very interesting. I think that the content that I acquired in that class will work as a background of knowledge for many of the books that I will read in this course,. Therefore, I am very excited about further exploring Latin American culture and literature.

I expect to expand my knowledge of Latin American authors by understanding and analyzing their work and their backgrounds. My perceptions and knowledge on Latin American literature aren’t very broad. Since I studied in Spain, many of the Spanish-written novels or books that I have read so far were from Spanish authors, which is the main reason why I am excited about reading books from Latin American authors. I want to learn more about several authors I am familiar with and with their writing styles and mindsets, especially García Márquez, Borges, and Neruda. These are the authors that I am more excited to read but I look forward to exploring the literary work of many other writers that I am discovering thanks to this class.

Who’s literary work are you looking forward to reading the most in this course? Why?