Monthly Archives: March 2022

Week 12- Cercas’s “Soldiers of Salamis

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This week’s novel, Soldiers of Salamis written by Javier Cercas definitely felt like such a long read. Although, I was extremely thankful that I had a physical copy for this long novel because reading on a computer screen would definitely strain my eyes, and make the reading process longer. I found that it was interesting that this novel was divided into three parts instead of the usual chapters we often see. This novel, Soldiers of Salamis, also takes place during the Spanish Civil War, similar to some of the novels we had read. 

In part one of the novel named Forest Friends, Javier Cercas is the narrator who was struggling in making his dream of becoming a writer a reality, as he claims his career “never actually got started, so it would have been difficult to give it up” (13). Which was quite sad to read but also realistic, as people grow older, there eventually comes a time when they start to distinguish between their dreams, and what they are actually capable of. Javier returns to being a newspaper writer after five years where he had suffered “economic, physical, and metaphysical anguish… and a dreadful depression” (13). His father also passed away and then he was divorced by his wife. Even when he returns to his previous job, he’s treated as a traitor for leaving to write novels. However, he gets the opportunity to be able to interview Rafael Sanchez Ferlosio, the son of Rafael Sanchez Mazas, who told him “the story of his father facing the firing squad” (15-16). Mazas escaped the execution and was hiding in a forest when one of the soldiers spotted him, looked him right in the eye but yelled out, “There’s nobody over here!” (24) and essentially saved Mazas’s life with his lie. I found that act extremely interesting and also powerful, that the supposed enemy lied to spare his life. Eventually, Javier suspects that the soldier who spared Mazas’s life was Antonio Miralles. When Javier questioned him, “It was you, wasn’t it?” (240), there was a hesitation, and Miralles simply answered, “No” (240) with a wide smile, which feels like a lie. But if he was the soldier, I wonder why Miralles didn’t answer honestly. Was he hoping that lying would increase the chance that Javier would return to question him again? Or did he not want to be seen as a traitor, as he lied to his comrades to let Mazas escape. I find it interesting, and I wish we could’ve had a point of view from Miralles in that interaction to answer honestly, in his mind, if he was the soldier (which it seems like it): why he lied to Javier, and why he lied to save Mazas.

A question I have for my classmates is: in part one, do you agree with Javier’s colleagues that his choice of leaving a newspaper writing job to write novels is an act of betrayal? 

Week 11- Bolano’s “Amulet”

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This week’s novel was Amulet, written by Roberto Bolano. The novel begins with the line, “this is going to be a horror story” (1), and my mind instantly thought of ghosts, demons, creepy dolls (watching Chucky at 5 years old has forever changed the way I see dolls). However, the narrator also claims that “it won’t appear to be, for the simple reason that I am the teller” (1) and I was intrigued to read this novel as I was wondering how the narrator may tell this “horror story” in a way that does not appear to be horror. 

This novel took place in 1968 when the student movement occurred in Mexico City at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where the narrator, Auxilio Lacouture, was locked in the women’s bathroom in the “faculty of Philosophy and Literature” (16) all alone for 12 days. As she didn’t want to be taken “prisoner” (26) nor did she want “to be in [a horror] movie” (26). This line of her precise location is repeated throughout the novel which reminds me of The Old Gringo, where the line, “now she sits alone and remembers” is also repeated throughout the story. Perhaps the use of this repetition is a way of reminding the narrator of her location and surroundings so she doesn’t get swept up by her past and future memories, even though it seems that the narrator struggles with some of her memories, “let me try to remember” (2) and “[she] can’t remember exactly” (18), which also reminds me of Perec’s “W, or the Memory of Childhood”, as both narrators seem to have troubles with their memories. Auxilio seems to try and drown in her past memories as a way of coping with her situation, as she is completely alone during this terrifying time. 

I found that this line, “history is like a horror story” (66) is powerful because it is, unfortunately, a true statement. Horror movies have been around for many years, whether it is about supernatural beings or creepy dolls, it makes it easy to forget the true horror story (or rather stories) that has actually occurred in reality, which is history. Something that every country has, and some may even try to hide it. For Canada, one of the dark histories was the residential schools that were (and still is) extremely traumatic to Indigenous people. 

A question I have for my classmates is: what are some similarities between this novel and Perec’s “W, or the Memory of Childhood” as memories are one of the main themes in both stories.

Week 10- Fuentes “The Old Gringo”

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For this week, I have chosen to read “The Old Gringo” written by Carlos Fuentes, which from the book cover I thought this novel would be mainly focused on the Mexican revolution. However, there seemed to be so much more themes in this story. 

One of them was an unexpected love triangle of some sort between Harriet Winslow, Arroyo, and the old gringo, who is later revealed to be Ambrose Bierce, an American author who went to Mexico with a desire to die in the Mexican revolution. The old gringo seemed to have developed romantic feelings towards Harriet, who is an American woman that traveled to Mexico to teach children, and his feelings seem more genuine compared to Arroyo. Although personally, I find it quite odd and uncomfortable, as in the novel, it also seems to imply that the old gringo and Harriet have a father-daughter dynamic. As when he was killed, she said that he was her father and she wanted to “[bury] him in Arlington Cemetery beside her mother” (179). She also called the old gringo, “papa” (182) to his corpse. I’m not exactly sure how the author would want the readers to think of this pair, but I think it seems that both the old gringo and Harriet’s love for each other are one-sided in a way. As the old gringo has a romantic love for Harriet, while she has more of a parental love (implied) towards the old gringo. While Arroyo mainly targeted Harriet because he wanted to hurt the old gringo for betraying him. He threatens her that he will murder the old gringo if she doesn’t have a sexual relationship with him (which is very disturbing). Harriet wanted to protect the old gringo which began their side of the “love” triangle. 

Also, the lectures mention how repetition is a common theme in this novel, as the story begins and ends with the same line, “Now she sits alone and remembers” (3 and 199). I find stories that start and end with the same line quite interesting as it symbolizes coming full circle. Towards the end of the novel, Colonel Frutos Garcia tells Harriet that they respect her “because [she is] the one who will remember it all” (183), and I found that line extremely powerful and tragic. As both the old gringo and Arroyo are dead, their “love” triangle story, the memories between them, only exists because Harriet is the only one alive. The memories from the old gringo and Arroyo all cease to exist when they have passed, Harriet is the unfortunate one that will remember everything.

She is the only one left.

A question I have for my classmates is do you think Harriet viewed the old gringo as a father figure or as a love interest?

Week 8- Perec’s “W, or the Memory of Childhood”

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This week’s novel, W, or the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec, contains two alternating texts. The author claims these two texts merge together into one to tell a story that can’t be told without the other. At first, I thought it was an interesting idea, especially since one of the texts is an autobiography, while the second one is imaginary. I was intrigued to see how these two seemingly unrelated texts could merge together to tell a story. 

The first part of the entirely imaginary text talked about how the narrator was “the only living memory” (4), whereas the autobiography immediately started with how the narrator had “no childhood memories” (6). After reading these two beginning parts with contrasting lines, it seemed like the narrator in the autobiography text had a traumatic childhood which may have caused him to repress his childhood memories to the point that he no longer had memories of it. Or perhaps he has locked up those memories somewhere deep down because it would’ve been too painful to remember it. Due to this impression, I initially thought that the imaginary text was going to be a different reality that was filled with childhood memories for the narrator. Although, that didn’t turn out to be the case. Instead, the story was focused on the Olympics that took place on an island that seemed like a complete nightmare due to the significant difference between how the government treated the winners and the “losers.” 

The narrator’s repression of his childhood memories, a way of his defense mechanism, seemed to have caused him to have a lack of identity as he doesn’t remember his memories as a child, much less his own identity in childhood. I felt bad with the way he was frustrated with himself due to his lack of childhood memories, but his frustration and struggles also contradict with a popularly known phrase, “ignorance is bliss.” The readers are aware that the phrase may not be the case for the narrator, which I found was interesting (although still tragic) to see that phrase from a different perspective where ignorance isn’t bliss. As I find that it seems more common for people and characters to wish that they didn’t find out about a particular truth because it had a significant effect on them. Thus, it was interesting to see that perhaps it’s better to be aware than be kept in the dark. 

A question I have for my classmates is: do you agree with the author that this story can only be told with the two alternating texts? Could this story exist with only one of the texts? 

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