Month: April 2026

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Blogs Conclusion

farewell, at last (imy rmst 202 already)

 

Woah, this has definitely been a wonderful journey with all of you!! I can’t believe that this class and semester have come to an end, it really does not feel like that much time has passed. I am really so grateful that I took this course since I had an amazing time getting back into reading (middle school me would be proud).

 

I quite enjoyed the selection of books I chose this term. If I were to revisit any of the novel choices, one text I would have loved to read is If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Calvino. I am so interested on how it would feel to be a character in the novel and (literally) be more involved in the story.

 

This class taught me that the more passive reading technique I have used for previous literature classes cannot be applied for all texts. Some works, especially more layered and emotional works like Combray by Proust and Faces in the Crowd by Luiselli, require active engagement with concurrent constant reflection. I believe this strategy may also be applied to understand the less obvious and underlying themes of more “outwardly intuitive” texts.

 

Early in the course, I felt like the novels we were reading didn’t have romance as the focal point of the novel. I begin thinking about what makes a novel a romance studies novel, other than the latin linguistic origin. Unsurprisingly enough, I decided to put that thought to rest after I couldn’t make a clear connection between the relationship.

 

I wanted to revisit this question after watching the lecture video and have come up with somewhat of an explanation. These novels are unique, and as discussed in the lecture, their similarities cannot be only reduced to simple thematic elements. They all share the aspect of translation into English. Maybe, in an abstract sense, the romantic elements of these texts may also involve the dedication, which is an aspect of romance, of the reader. More specifically, things like the effort we take to read the foreign text in a foreign language to ultimately rationalize what has transpired, or what the author truly intends, through a filter. Therefore, the romance in these texts comes to almost comes to life when we as readers take the time to give each novel its own nuanced interpretation.

I now ask you the same question: what do you think makes a novel a romance studies novel?

Before I sign off for the last time, I want to thank Dr. Beasley-Murray, Julián and Daniel for all your support this semester. I have constantly looked forward to the weekly discussions and your comments on my blog posts!

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Blogs Debré

Debré is extremely strong

Love Me Tender by Constance Debré was probably the saddest book in this course. Debré is an extremely strong person, and her story showcased the struggles queer women face in patriarchal societies. Her main challenge was handling the “string of unfounded accusations [by her ex-husband] that separated her from her eight-year old son, Paul.”

 

I discussed my distaste for the first person point of view in one of my previous blog posts. I begrudgingly have accepted that when used appropriately, such as to recount memories, the first person perspective can add another layer of depth to the story. In fact, I believe that the agonizing aspects of this book could only be felt using “I.” For example, the following quote presents her raw stream of thoughts and her conclusions, where we as readers don’t have to infer things from the outside narrator:

“I look at him and realize he’s stronger…than me, the fact that we’re the same height…none of that makes any difference. That’s when I realize that the difference between a man and a woman is just…weight and muscles” (18).

 

Another aspect of the novel is the almost apathetic nature of CD. In multiple points in the novel, her reactions are monotone or seem lacklustre for the gravity of the situation. One example is her acceptance after her son sides with her ex-husband:

“I look at Laurent and see he’s thinking the same thing, I look at Paul standing behind his dad and see there’s nothing I can do” (18).

Another point is where she just accepts the nature of supervised visitation:

“I can understand how this drives people to despair” (94).

In these situations, I would expect more strong emotions to be depicted than were present. However, later in the novel there is somewhat of a switch where she begins discussing her emotions more. Such is observed when her ex-husband cancels the trip she was going to take with her son, and she feels upset and says:

“It’s Paul I’m crying for” (109).

This may be since these scenes transpired later and were easier to recollect, or the actual feelings she felt in the earlier scenes were too strong, traumatic or personal to want to immortalize in her writing.

 

One aspect of the novel that I want to draw attention to is the title. Love Me Tender was published under the English title, albeit having been written in French. I was confused about this choice after learning that the novel is literally based on parts of her life in Paris. Having an English title, almost takes away from that more personal aspect. Perhaps, this choice was made to distance herself from the traumatic experience of being separated from her child or maybe it represents the distance between her and her child during the legal battle, which may resemble the differences between two languages. Now, I ask you the same question: why do you think Debré gave this French novel an English title?

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