Romance Studies Conclusion

I can't believe this is my last post for Romance Studies 202 ☹️ This term flew by. This course has been an amazing experience. I enjoyed having complete control of my learning and choosing how many and what kinds of books I got to read. With that control, it was nice to push my boundaries and be exposed to books I would not have picked on my own outside of this class. Romance Studies was nothing I was expecting, but it exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to taking similar classes to this in the future. 

Reflecting on my first introduction post, my expectations for this course were to read as many books as possible and try reading different books from different areas of the world. I also wanted to be able to see similarities and differences between the novels. Looking back at all twelve posts, I am happy to say that I have met and fulfilled my expectations of this course. This course has been heavy with history about war and revolutions, making it an overall learning experience not just with the types of genres of books, but I have also been opened to learning about history. As also said in the lecture by Professor Jon Beasley-Murray that we may never read another Chilean, Brazilian, Romanian, or Catalan novel in our lives. This experience of reading these books every week will definitely make me keep an eye out for these types of books on bookshelves! 

My favourite books in this course were Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan, The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal, and The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda. I found these books to be where I was the most captivated and could easily write 400-500 words on these blog posts. These three novels share a strong female narrative and reading about these powerful women showcasing their vulnerability was really interesting to me. All three of them were different in their own ways as well but all had deep moments that left an impact on me and had me thinking about how I would deal if I were in their situations. 

Thank you, Jon, Patricio, and Jennifer, for an amazing term and for expanding my bookshelf in a fun and innovative way! And thank you to all my fellow classmates. It was really interesting reading everyone's thoughts and comments on the books we read. My final questions for this class are: What was your favourite book(s)? What specific themes stood out to you from these books?

Agualusa, The Society of Reluctant Dreamers

For the final week, I chose to read The Society of Reluctant Dreamers by José Eduardo Agualusa.  I can't believe this is my final blog post. It was a good novel to end off the term with. It was an enjoyable read, but at times I caught myself questioning what was real, imagined and what was being dreamed. It was interesting to see how dreams were illustrated in the sense of dreaming while asleep or daydreaming or having inspiring dreams about the future.

As the title suggests, this book is about dreams and dreamers. Set in Angola, with the hope that the younger generation can bring in a better future after the country's brutal past. The protagonist, Daniel Benchimol, is an Angolan journalist who has just gone through a divorce and is struggling to make sense of his place in changing society while dealing with his daughter's imprisonment as the result of protesting. I liked how Daniel was not always the centre of the novel, and we got to see each character grow and see what their dreams were about. There was a similarity with everyone's dreams. They all dreamed about change or progression. For example, Daniel's daughter acts out her dream for a better Angola. Their hope and strength came from their dreams. Their dreams were different from each other, but they were all a way of escaping reality and how they were forced to experience the changing times. Moira desires to dream her art to life. While Daniel's desire is to make sense of Hossi's dreamlessness. 

The central theme and idea of Dreams were really interesting. I have never questioned or put much thought into the bigger picture of dreams, but this book made me stop and think about how dreams come to us. I liked a lot of Agualusa's ideas on the power of dreams and how they expose our intimate thoughts and dreams becoming a reality. These specific quotes really stuck out for me regarding these concepts of dreams, “All dreams are frightening because they're intimate. They're the most intimate thing we have. Intimacy is frightening" (pg. 69). "Dreams are always echoes of something" (pg. 86).  I found these quotes very impactful because they say a lot about how while we are dreaming our hidden subconsciousness is given the chance to surface and tell us things that we might not be able to hear while we are awake. 

My question for the class is: What was your favourite character and why? What dreams did you find most relatable?

Javier Cercas, Soldiers of Salamis

This week's reading, Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas, was a long but entertaining read. The three parts and the switch between fact and fiction made it stand out from the previous novels we have read. 

The fictional Cercas describes his growing fascination with the story in the first part when he learns about the night Sánchez Mazas is to be executed in the forest, and the Republican soldier who hunts for him amongst the trees finds in him yet turns away and lets him live. The second part tells the story of Mazas before his capture and intended execution. The third part is more fiction, where the journalist Cercas is determined to seek out the Republican solider who let Sánchez Mazas go free. These three parts and the switch between fact and fiction, although confusing, made me an attentive reader and helped me remain interested through this long read.

This book had a lot to do with history and took place during the Spanish Civil war. I don't read many books about war or know much history about the context of this book, so all the content was new. Still, with the book switching between fact and fiction, it had me at parts confused or searching things up to put them in the proper context of the book. However, after reading books that are so different from what I normally read during this class, I have been made more open as a reader and it has also become a learning experience.

Getting closer to the end of this term, it's hard not to create connections with the past readings. It was interesting to see Bolano make an appearance in the last section of the book, it definitely made reading his name more interesting after reading Amulet last week. Also, memory again was a huge theme in this novel and is a theme that has been brought to attention in most of the books we have read so far. From coming across this theme of memory quite a lot this term, it is interesting to compare and contrast how each author interprets memory in the novels. For W., we are told the memory of childhood can go on affecting life. For Amulet, we are shown the memories of how a single instance of trauma can affect memory and the future. Then in Soldiers of Salamis, we are seeing how memories can be formed by other people’s recollections.

My question for the class is: How do you think the authors in our previous readings interpret memory in comparison to Cercas?

Roberto Bolaño, Amulet

I found this week's reading Amulet by Roberto Bolaño a captivating read. I personally don't read a lot of books about war or know much history about this context in the book, but Bolaño made it enjoyable with the narrator Auxilio. I was quickly grasped by the book because of her captivating narration. Throughout this class, I was surprised by how much these books made me more aware of the history and the brutality of war and revolutions. The writing in this book and its details made it easy for me to visualize her thoughts and these different scenarios in my head.

The narrator Auxilio hides in the lavatories of her university, fearing that soldiers will come and discover her there. She begins to recall memories of her friends, literature, and life. She is seen as unsure about her purpose and roots, trying to re-imagine herself as she says, "one day I arrived in Mexico without really knowing why or how or when.” These memories and reflections of her friends seem like she is a sideline character in her own life. Auxilio does not fit into any of the Mexican cultural roles, so she finds herself taking on a nurturing role to the young poets. She seems to find her purpose in life and lives through her friends and their experiences and this is what she holds onto while stuck in the lavatories, along with the visions of the future. I found it surprising that Auxilio remained calm despite her fear in the lavatories. As a reader, I was distracted and somewhat stressed out by this scenario as I was worried about what was going to happen to her. 

As we have talked about in our class lectures a concept that is a reoccurring theme in every book we have read is memories. These memories that we follow from these characters show a pattern that we can start to connect and compare each of them with each other. The shrouded woman was one that stuck out to me as they both revolve around a woman who is reaching and guessing about what possibilities could have come from their lives. Also comparing Amulet to W, both main characters are experiencing displacement due to the impacts of their respective traumatic events.

My question for the class is: How do you think her memory and the event of the occupation impact her visions about the future.

Carlos Fuentes, The Old Gringo

For this week, I read The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes. I was excited to read this book because when I was examining the notes for which texts to read it was stated this book was "the closest we have here to a romance if that's your thing." Romance is definitely my thing when it comes to the novels I choose to read. However, although The Old Gringo did have a love story it also had other themes that overshadowed the romance, like the concepts of power, war, revolution and so on. Overall, I did enjoy the story. It was an easy read by how few words were on each page, but that could just be the PDF I used to read the book. But even with that, I felt Fuentes had put a lot of repetition to add importance to the dialogue to get us readers thinking throughout the novel.

The book's narrative is framed as a collection of memories belonging to Harriet, who "sits alone and remembers." The Old Gringo and Arroyo are shown in a complicated love triangle with Harriet Winslow, an American who had come to Mexico as a teacher for the children. I did not like Arroyo's intentions with Harriet for all the wrong reasons instead of connection like she and the old gringo had. He was only trying to pursue Harriet to get back at the old gringo for betraying him and was the only way to hurt him instead of killing the man. After all that, the two men inevitably die as they cross the frontier of their differences, the old gringo killed by Arroyo, who was also shot by Villa for overstepping his boundaries of power.

The relationship between Harriet and the old gringo is confusing for me because for the old gringo Harriet was his love interest. Then with Harriet, I was unsure how she viewed the old gringo. Harriet agrees to the relationship with Arroyo so she could protect him. And she buries him under her father's name, so I was unclear on how Harriet viewed the old gringo if she saw him as someone, she could pursue a love relationship with or saw him as she cared about him as an older guardian relationship. 

My question for the Class is: How did you view the relationship between The Old Gringo and Harriet? Did you view it as more paternal or romantic?

Georges Perec, W, or the Memory of Childhood

This week, I read Georges Perec, W, or the Memory of Childhood a story about two characters, alternating between chapters. I found this style of narrative interesting because we can better compare the two. I expected the book to be confusing with two narratives, but Perec did a great job of making it clear and easy to read. While reading the second narrative of Gaspard Winkler, I sensed that some of the conditions being told had an underlying meaning that related to the first narrative of Perec. It was clear both the characters are going through their separate journeys but share a lot in common by witnessing similar conditions.  

It was sad to read about the narrator trying so hard to remember his childhood memories. I felt a strong sense of displacement that the narrator was feeling from the impacts of the war. With the narrator being born in 1936, he spent many of his developmental years in the fear that being impacted by the second World War brings. Living in those circumstances and growing up in that environment has left him shattered as he tries to pick up the pieces and form memories from vague moments and photographs. This story could be one of many children at that time losing their parents, living in fear, and being too young to even understand why. 

In the book, the narrator takes us to the island W where a similar competition like the Olympics takes place. This island W reflects the Nazi’s organized death camps. In the narrator’s interpretation of this island W, the competitors who win get awarded with food, the competitors who lose get nothing and starve, making them weaker. This creates a continuous cycle of the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker. It is a game of luck and misconduct that reflects the treatment of those suffering at the hands of the Nazi takeover. 

I was unaware and found it shocking that the summer Olympics were hosted in Berlin in 1936, known as the Nazi Olympics. I was shocked when I searched it up and found out that such a huge event like the Olympics was held during these horrific times, especially in Germany. For this to occur, it showed such a lack of humanity and no recognition of the injustices.

My question for the class is: How do the two narratives compare regarding the two men witnessing and being a part of injustice in their environment?

Mercè Rodoreda, The Time of the Doves

For this week's reading, I read The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda. It was an easy read to get lost in. It felt like an emotional rollercoaster as I read the book. The past tense narrative of Natalia made it seem like she was reliving these moments, and as a reader, I felt the unprocessed anxiety and trauma.

Her husband Quimet was introduced and right from the start I could not stand him. There was a lot of toxic masculinity, and I was getting so frustrated reading the relationship between Quimet and Natalia. From the very beginning, Quimet is so possessive over Natalia, telling her that one day she will be his wife. Even giving her the nickname Colometa is an attempt to show ownership. Quimet is an insecure and manipulative man. His jealously accuses Natalia of taking a walk with her ex-boyfriend. He attempts to quit her job by grabbing her neck and shaking her head. He is shown easily threatened, and if he doesn't get enough attention or if Natalia complains about being tired, he would start complaining about his leg. He always wants attention and sympathy from others. After being sick with a tapeworm, he declared, "now we are even because [she] had the kids and he had a worm fifteen yards long" (78). In order to stop Quimet from getting angry with her, she had to realize "if I wanted to be his wife, I had to start by liking everyone he liked'' (22).

I really enjoyed reading the parts of Quimet's friend, Mateo. Throughout the novel, I was livid with all the toxic masculinity and the abusive nature of Quimet. Mateo was not afraid to show his emotions and that he was madly in love with Griselda even when Quimet and Cintent would say, "he was sick in the head because love was weakening his brain" (71). The relationship Mateo had with Natalia was genuine. Mateo knew he could go to her without being judged, and when Mateo said Quimet didn't realize how lucky he was to have a wife like Natalia, it’s sad that Quimet would never say such a thing to her.

When Natalia decided to kill her children, it was shocking, but I understood that she was helpless and could not see her children suffer anymore. She did so much to try to feed them as a mother. It would be so hard even to think such a thing or even leave your young children alone locked in a room for several hours to make a little bit of money to help. But the family was rescued in time by a kind elderly grocer, who marries Natalia and raises her children as his own. Even though Natalia left Pere for Quimet, she stayed a loyal, hardworking, empathetic mother and wife. I believe that good things happen to good people, that people like the grocer see how she had become and gave her and her children a chance to live again.

My question for the class is: Do you agree with Natalia's idea of trying to kill her children? Do you think there was another way to solve her problem?

Sagan Françoise, Bonjour Tristesse

For this weeks reading I read Bonjour Tristesse by Sagan, Françoise. The text was an easy and enjoyable read. The narrator Cecile was an intriguing narrator I was constantly hooked into what she would do or say. She was unpredictable. Her lifestyle of living in the moment caused her many problems because she put no thought into how her actions would effect her future. This is where Anne would have brought a positive influence into the 'live for now' dynamic Cecile had with her father. I found it crazy how on page 25 Cecile's father said why should Cecile get her diploma "I never got any diploma and I manage to live very well. . . . My daughter will always have a man to take care of her." This explains a lot about the relationship between Cecile and her dad because he doesn't expect anything of Cecile and this reinforces her carelessness about her life. 

Cecile's relationship with her father also affected her relationship and view of men in general. This can be seen when Cecile says "I much preferred my father's friends, men of forty, who spoke to me courteously and tenderly treated me with the gentleness of a father - or lover" (21). However I did not think Cecile's relationship with her father was as bad as some of the other readings, like Agostino, but the way he raised her brought up all sorts of other problems. Also it contributed to how stubborn she was when it came to her father's engagement to Anne. Anne valued all the things that Cecile could not stand. Anne came in the way of the life that Cecile built with her father and she was too stubborn to accept help until it was too late. Anne was the only person who held Cecile accountable especially when it came to her education. If Cecile could have embraced Anne into their family it would have benefited her to have this respectable role mode in her life, but instead she was left with an incredible sadness and no improvement to her lifestyle.

I thought this book gave an interesting perspective on this young girl's life and how the choices she made could effect the lives of the people around her. This read held my interest from beginning to the end. I also enjoyed getting to see the dynamics of a blended family and the relationship between a daughter and her perspective step-mother.

My question for the class is How would Cecile be different if her father raised her with more important morals?

Alberto Moravia, Agostino

This week's reading Agostino by Alberto Moravia was an interesting and easy read that gave voice to sexuality, class, and maturity. I was slightly uncomfortable with the relationship between Agostino and his mother and how he viewed her. It definitely did not help the situation when his mother welcomed a young man, Renzo, who had the same friendly and spontaneous ease that characterized her relations with her son. The thought of sharing his mom or not having his mother complete desirable attention made him extremely jealous. This betrayed behaviour made me think that he had a hard time accepting his family dynamics. The betrayal was hard for him to take since he may have thought she was not just leaving him but also moving on from his dead father.
 
Agostino seems to have lost his childhood and is confused with growing up. He seems confused with his true identity. He explores brothels, experiments with risky behaviour, like smoking, and sneaking out to hang out with his friends. It is definitely not easy for a thirteen-year-old teen during this stage of life. We all went through these fragile years of coming to maturity and handling all the emotions and questions that came with it. Alberto Moravia did a great job setting the scenes and the feelings felt by Agostino coming to face the separation he was getting from his mother. I think this confusion and loss of innocence Agostino feels has a lot to do with his father not being there. I believe as a growing boy with all these emotions coming in, it's more difficult without a father figure present to help guide the situation. I sympathize with the narrator as he is going through a significant milestone in his life and does not have any guidance or support. His new friends are not quite the mentors as he is repeatedly humiliated for his weakness and ignorance regarding women and sex. 
 
I could not stop making connections to Freud’s Oedipus Complex throughout reading this novel. Everything that I learned in psychology made me wonder how much Freud would love to dive into Agostino's mind and make sense of his secret unconscious thoughts and desires on his mother since many psychoanalysis were present.
 
Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was an easy and detailed read. It was easy for me to be captivated within the book, feel the confusion from the narrative, and visualize the imagery and scenery of the beaches and boats of Tuscany. My question for the class is: How would a father figure have helped Agostino navigate these difficult changes?

María Luisa Bombal, The Shrouded Woman

The Shrouded Woman is my favourite book I have read in this course so far. I usually find myself as a reader drawn to stories about romance and heartbreak. I was waiting for a book like this to be read during this course, and I was not disappointed. María Luisa Bombal gave an interesting first-person narrator of a dead woman, Ana María. I found the book easier to follow than the last two texts despite the narrator being dead, the story was smooth as people came to see her and to see the significance each individual had on her. 

I was drawn to Ana and Ricardo's relationship. In the beginning, it seemed like the stereotypical first love. She was drawn to him even though she was intimidated by him. He was a type of "fascination" to her (160). Her love for Ricardo was a drug. No matter how many different men like Fernando and Antonio came into her life, nothing felt the same as Ricardo. She was chasing for a love that only Ricardo could fulfill. 

Ana is shown as helpless to the act of love. Her first love Ricardo did not want anything to do with her after his trip from Europe. She also watched everyone in her family lose their chance for love. She could not have Ricardo, her brother was in love with Elena but married to someone else, and her father lost her mother and was now alone. Loneliness is a strong emotion felt throughout the text, which no one in the family could deal with. Ana carries on continuing to be alone and ends up as a sideline character in her own life.

I found it very upsetting and powerful in the story when Anna says, "why must a women's nature be such that a man has always to be the pivot of her life? Men succeed in directing their passions to other things. But the fate of so many women seems to be to turn over and over in their heart some love sorrow while sitting in a neatly ordered house, facing an unfinished tapestry"(226). I have seen many women including myself grow up with a perfect fairy-tale idea of love. It made me sympathize with Ana that she has spent her entire life finding validity in men. Given the time, I don't blame her. Women were seen as incomplete without a man. Even when Ana was not happy with her relationship status with Antonio and went to see a lawyer, she was shut down because "Antonio is the father of [their] children; that there is steps a lady cannot take without lowering herself" (228). She was trapped and had no way out without reflecting it poorly on her societal status. It makes me feel more fortunate to be a part of a time where women don't give into gender stereotypes and are not seen as incomplete without a man.

My question for the class is: Do you agree with the lengths and sacrifices Ana went through for love?

Louis Aragon, Paris Peasant

For this week's readings, Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon, I found myself at the start a bit confused because I first approached this novel with an annalistic point of view. I caught myself trying to analyze every detail to discover more about the narrative, plot, back story etc. However, as I read more and watched the introduction video about the novel, I became aware of Argon's intention that it was a "kind of novel that would break all traditional rules governing fiction, one that would be neither a narrative nor a character study." So, I had to re-read the pages to take in the book in the way it was meant to.

The imagery and detail throughout this novel painted a clear picture of the different areas of Paris. This book captured his day-to-day doings. Personally, I am a very observant person myself, especially when walking around campus or anywhere else. I pay close attention to the environment and the people in it. I enjoyed being a part of the narrator’s thoughts and scenarios as he walked around about the architecture and the people he passed by. I found the passage about women very interesting. It explains women with great detail and resembles them as flashes of light. He explains, "after passing an infinity of these desirable shimmering, without having attempted to take possessions of a single one of these lives... I ask myself disgustedly what I'm doing in the world" (8). I picture the narrator being caught up in his unconscious mind. I thought that the change in the narrator’s environment and the increase of modernization was a cause of stress for him. Also, the fact that he is constantly thinking about the philosophy of his surroundings could be to compensate for his quiet behaviour and his anxiety around his changing community that is making him question his life choices.

This book is known for surrealism. I was not aware of surrealism until reading this book. I searched up surrealism because I wanted to understand the story more. Argon did a fantastic job projecting surrealism and allowing the narrative to focus and allow the unconscious mind to express itself. I enjoyed following him along throughout Paris and understanding his interpretations of the cafe menu, monuments, newspaper clipping, and the people of Paris. The narrator was so detailed it was like being in the thoughts of someone’s mind. My question for this reading is How do you think the narrator felt about the increase in modernization? Overall, this story was nothing close to what I have ever read and it gave me an open mind to surrealism.

Marcel Proust, “Combray"

As I began reading "Combray" I had to reread the first few pages. The sentences were long, and the narrator kept switching from his unconscious and consciousness. The length of the sentences were descriptive, and detailed making it easy for me to visualize the setting, but there was a lot that was unknown. Throughout the book, I made assumptions about the narrator and his life. Questions kept popping in my head about the narrators past and what led to his actions. I caught myself relating with the narrator like how I previously said the detailed sentences were making it easier to visualize myself in the book, and that was similar to the narrator as he also gets captivated with the books he reads as imagines himself as "what the book was talking about"(3). 

His insomnia was heavily highlighted throughout part one. I view the narrator as a person with severe anxiety. His thoughts are constantly jumping from one to another. His anxiety comes to light mostly at the thought of his mom not being able to give him a goodnight kiss. I wonder if his anxiety is brought from childhood trauma because his dreams always escape to his childhood. The narrator expressed his "childish terror" (4) with the memory of his great uncle pulling him by his curls. He also seems afraid of his father. This is shown when the father does not allow his mother to give him a kiss goodnight. In the scene where the narrator waits for his mom above the staircase to say goodnight, his mother seems afraid of what his father might say to their son as she tells him in a panic to go back to his room. His mom seems to be aware of his fathers resentment to his son's actions. 

His childhood experiences seem to be the cause of what his personality is today. His mind always wanders back to his childhood. His father's negative opinions of his son's night time ritual could have impacted the narrator's pressure to grow up and cause an unhealthy attachment to his mother. His mother is the only one who accepts his needs.This makes me question how much does childhood trauma and the pressure of maturity affect an individual?

Overall, “Combray" part one was a confusing read for me. I was left with so many unanswered questions. I wish the author had given us more insight into the narrator's past before these events.

Hi!

Hi everyone!

This is my blog for my Romance Studies 202 class, where I will be sharing my views and opinions on the course readings.

Now a little about myself. My name is Diya. I am a first-year student at the University of British Columbia. I plan on majoring in psychology. I enjoy reading in my spare time and am excited to expand my bookshelf. I took this class to fulfill my literature requirement but was happy to hear about the immense number of books we will read!

My expectations for this course is to read as many books as possible and try different books from different areas of the world. And be able to see similarities and differences between the novels. The course structure is quite refreshing. I am ready to test my abilities in producing blog posts. Also, I am happy with the freedom we have on how many and which books we can choose from.

In the course introduction, I was intrigued to find out that there is no set location of where the romance world exists. I am excited to read novels from all over the world and visit their literature setting of the romance world. Throughout this course, I am interested in comparing how each language's literature is similar based on their Latin origin and how they contrast on their differences in geographical, social, and historical context. I am ready to read, understand, and create connections to further develop my learning in romance studies. I am excited to share my thoughts on my blog and looking forward to your comments!