Hi everyone!

My name is Gillian and I am a third year student at UBC, studying Geography: Environment and Sustainability. I moved here from Toronto, Ontario and I’m afraid I don’t think I’ll be moving back anytime soon. I immediately fell in love with how beautiful British Columbia is, and the fact that Vancouver has a view of the mountains from almost any part of the city continues to blow my mind, which most of you know, does not exist in Toronto. Although Toronto has its own attractions, the Geography nerd in me finds it so much more inspiring to live in a city surrounded by mountains, forests and the Pacific Ocean. And now I find myself hiking in the summer, and skiing in the winter, so I feel as though I’ve really adopted this whole “BC” lifestyle thing – and sorry for all of the born and raised BC students on here that are rolling their eyes while reading this, but if you had known me in High School you would understand that it’s more or less out of my character.

If i’m being honest, I mainly registered for this course to fulfil my literature requirement. However, after struggling to learn to speak Spanish for two years, also to fulfil another degree requirement, I thought it would be fascinating to learn about Spanish literature in particular. In saying this, I am hopeful that I will get something valuable out of taking this class. I don’t know exactly what that is right now, whether it’s gaining a greater appreciation and understanding of Latin American literature, or solely exploring a subject I haven’t before, I’m looking forward to what my response may be in a few months time. 

In the introductory lecture, there was one particular quote that stood out to me: “Literature draws a gap between the representation and the real and takes advantage of play.” I hadn’t given much thought about what literature actually means, and the value it provides to every day life. I remember studying Shakespeare for what felt like countless hours, and dreading the classes where we analyzed word for word the meaning behind a certain passage. However, it wasn’t until the other day when I was sitting in our class that I realized there are several ways to analyze literature that were not only new to me, but actually sparked my interest and made me want to learn more.

I am looking forward to this class and all the ways in which we will analyze Latin American literature. It will be fascinating to look back on this post and see how my perception of the study of literature has altered.

My question for this blog post is: How do you expect your perception of literature to change in the coming weeks?

Looking forward to getting to know you all a bit better!