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?