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?
Hi Diya! Great post. My favourite books were "Bonjour Tristesse" and "The Society of Reluctant Dreamers". One has more of an emphasis on coming of age, and the various contentions of being young and having to adjust to rapid changes, while the other explores the act of dreaming with a backdrop of war and oppression. They're both incredibly different, yet are both exceedingly stunning.
ReplyDeleteHi Diya! Thank you for your post! I enjoyed this course structure. I am glad that you have met and fulfilled your expectation for this course! My favourite book was "Bonjour Tristesse". I like how the book is more relationship based. It focuses on the relationship dynamics between the characters instead of violence.
ReplyDeleteHi Diya! I enjoyed reading your post, I also agree with you that I liked being able to choose how many novels I could read. I am also hoping I could take more literature classes in the future. My top two favorite novels I have read are "Nada" and "The Society of Reluctant Dreamers", Nada explored a lot of the complex relationships in the family, and The Society of Reluctant Dreamers focused on a lot on dreams and people fighting for their freedom.
ReplyDeleteHi Diya! My favourite books this term were also The Time of the doves and Bonjour Tristesse. I think these two both had great narrations. Bonjour Tristesse was more of a coming of age story with an unwillingness to change. Where Time of the Doves had a more serious note of marriage, war, and poverty.
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