Span490: looking back over the first half of the course

(I wrote this blog last wednesday, but I forgot to tag it...) span490


This course is labled as Bad Latin American Literature, and part of its description (that I read before registering for the class) said/ says that we are/ were going to study works by 'famous' authors of Latina America and discuss them. I think that I wanted to take the class because I found this task interesting, and because I wanted a literature professor's opinion of why a book was bad, because it seems like we're always studying 'good' literature in school...even though the 'good' literature is usually just 'important' literature...and in my opinion often tedious to read (for example, some 'classic' English literature...it's filled with so many metaphors and references on top the difficulty of the old or middle english, that I don't think I was ever able to read any of it without somebody explaining it to me first, but then I would forget what they said a few months later, and I would still have no idea what I was reading. That's 'important' literature in my opinion, but as I said, it doesn't mean that 'important' is 'good', just like we're learning that just because a book is a bestseller, doesn't mean it's good. It means that for some reason it was decided to be part of the 'comercio massivo'. I honestly didn't know this before this class, because I didn't really pay attention to bestsellers, and I was surprised when I saw "Como Agua Para Chocolate" on the syllabus, because, even though I thought it was a stupid book because I saw the movie and I was really weirded out by the mixture of cooking and strange rules against marriage and the fire at the end, I knew it was a really 'famous' latin american novel, so I tried to respect it and accept it as 'good'. I'm not sure what we're getting at anymore in this class as bad literature, because it seems like even though Jon's doing an excellent job of communicating the aspects and examples of bad writing that we're reading, not many of us seem to agree that the books are really bad.....however, I wanted to point out a theme between the three books that we've discussed so far (Eva Luna, The Alchemist, Como Agua Para Chocolate), which I just realized from reading Jon's website, even though I pointed it out in the blogs of the first two novels, and this theme is exaggeration (which I ironically probably have done and am still doing in this blog...but it's a blog, not an edited bestseller, so I'm not going to feel bad). In my opinion bad literature is based on like or dislike, and I'm positive that exaggeration is what makes most people dislike something that they're reading. I know that some people in class said that when the author explains too much, the reader doesn't have anything to figure out himself/herself. Nobody wants to read the same thing over and over again, and I'm going to briefly give examples of exaggeration of each book. I might add more later.

I pointed out in my blog about Eva Luna that on top of the difficult spanish, there were too many details in each chapter, and it made the book even more complex than it already was considering all of the characters and their stories.

In The Alchemist, I started out liking the story, and I thought it was cool how such a young person could be so independent and happy with very little, and how he had this great knowledge and point of view of life...but it became very repetitive (which is good for many reasons such as emphasis, but only to a point), and it really exaggerated the capability of any human being, especially a "boy" when he was able to talk to the wind and the sun and in a way control them. I couldnd't stand the book at this point.

As discussed in class, and I read just now in Jon's blogs, "Como Agua Para Chocolate" is often too exaggerated in its metaphors, especially when Esquivel compares Tita's thoughts and feelings with food, and the mixture is too literal, for example, like John said, that Tita "had" to be born in the kitchen, instead of just explaining that her life was very involved in it.

That's all I have for now.

Como Agua Para Chocolate

Before reading the novel this week, I saw the movie last year, and I thought that it was a very strange story. I thought that it had a weird atmosphere and a bizarre plot. I thought the family tradition was strange, and I couldn’t imagine being put in that situation (I still can’t). I didn’t think much of the constant cooking recipes and directions. I thought this writing style (or movie style) was creative, but at the same time, I didn’t find it interesting. This is probably going to sound weird, and I don’t know why I’m thinking of this, but the atmosphere of the story reminds me of eating fresh tomatoes…even though they’re fresh, many people would rather not eat them…meaning that even though that some people think that the cooking thing that’s intertwined is a good idea, they would prefer not to read every single recipe or at all. That’s kind of how I felt about watching the movie. I thought that there was probably something better to watch at the time. The ending of the story to me is probably the weirdest ending that I’ve heard of. Even though now I understand that the author had to exaggerate to communicate the passion between Tita and Pedro, if you don’t understand it, then dying after sex and then lighting on fire is just plain weird…it’s still a bit weird.

The book so far (I haven’t completely finished it yet) is so much better than the movie. I think that even though that some of the events are still weird, the atmosphere is a little warmer. I really think that the idea of the family tradition and the relationship dilemma between Tita and Pedro is the basis of a big selling story line, and that’s probably why the book is so famous, because unrequited love has been the topic of many famous stories of the past, like Romeo and Juliet…especially since Mama Elena is presented as the police in a way, as she controls everything that Tita does. From what I can see so far, the only way that Tita has any happiness is through cooking to distract her a bit, and through Pedro’s love…but it makes me wonder if he’s actually hurting her more by trying to pursue a small relationship (with a large amount of love), that can’t take place on a regular basis.

tag: span490

Span490 The Alchemist 2nd blog

I read and commented on my impression of the whole book in my last blog, but I hadn't read the introduction or the interview because I wasn't interested in reading them. In class on friday, we were discussing the definition of a Personal Legend. I would like to expand on this a bit based on the quotation in the introduction (pages v and vi)… “

“All I know is that, like Santiago the shepherd boy, we all need to be aware of our personal calling. What is a personal calling? It is God’s blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend. However, we don’t all have the courage to confront our own dream.”

The quotation defines what I believe a Personal Legend is, and I agree with this definition because it is what I base my life on, it is how and why I am where I am in life. I believe that people are born with/given gifts and talent, and with or without them, they dream and attempt to achieve them, and many succeed. Those who succeed have followed their ‘personal calling’ that was given with them with their talent. Of course there are the people who are born with a talent and would rather have another one, there are people who are afraid to pursue their talents and dreams …as mentioned at the end of the quotation and later in the “four obstacles” that are explained directly after the quotation on page vi. ….speaking of obstacles, I completely disagree with the first two. “First, we are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible….” …maybe my goal to live in a castle have all the money in the world and to have fairies as friends was impossible, but not everything I wanted to do was impossible or I wouldn’t be happy right now… and the second one… “ love. We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream.” This makes me laugh…maybe this is true if we are women in the desert, or if we’re in long distance relationships and our partners go to school or work in another part of the world…but honestly…I guess based on this obstacle, I’ve been really lucky by always having my family and friends there for me when I have a problem with my goals, but it makes me wonder…how many students or professors at UBC have abandoned somebody? Maybe they’ve left them for awhile, but abandoned seems a little too strong of a word.

In conclusion…I realize that there are many people in the world who cannot achieve their goals for many reasons, and that is why we are lucky to live in this part of the world, but we’re also among the millions of readers of this book, and I think that the message of the introduction should apply to all of the readers.

tag: span490

Span490 The Alchemist

I started reading the alchemist right after I bought it from the bookstore right before the course started, and I read up to almost the end of part one, but then I wanted to find out if the boy ever went back to marry the merchant’s daughter, so I skipped the middle and read the end. I read that he was in a relationship with somebody named Fatima, but I didn’t bother to read or skim the middle section to see if it was the merchant’s daughter. Other than this, I liked the story. I thought the boy seemed very smart, interesting, and I liked the philosophical comments, I loved the character’s life, because I love Spain and its unique fields, and I really liked all of the boy’s characteristics that I mentioned before, and how with all of that knowledge and optimism, his life was very simple and burden free. Because of this simplicity, and the simplicity of the ending, I didn’t think that the middle would be any different or that it really mattered that I didn’t read it. It turns out that I was wrong. I still liked the tone of style of writing, and it was still simple and pleasant to read (partly because of the large font size, and the very easy English,) but it got more complicated in the last part of part two, when the philosophy got deeper, and the author started naming everything. These titles were confusing, because I kept forgetting what they were referring to. Also, while I was reading, and noticing the constant philosophical ideas gradually getting more complex as the boy left Spain, and met the Englishman, I wondered if the Alchemist could speak any more complex and wise, and if so, how the author would find the words to write like that. I think that one of the reasons why the titles multiplied is because the author knew that he needed to make the Alchemist (and later the boy) sound more wise, and that was one of his ways of doing so. I liked the adventure of the middle section, as they traveled through the desert to the Pyramids, and it reminded me of C.S. Lewis’ fifth book of the Chronicles of Narnia, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”, where they travel by boat to the end of the world, or something like that. All in all, I liked the book because of its style, and story, but I thought his communication with nature was a bit much, and I wouldn’t consider it to be an inspiring book.
ag: span490

Span490 Last part of Eva Luna

One of the principal contrasts (from the beggining, to the end of the novel) that I noticed with Eva Luna is her knowledge of sex. She starts out as an innocent virgin, not really knowing anything of sex, but gradually loses all innocence though experience at the whore house, through romance novels, through the experience with Kamal, and then towards the end, she is very open to speak about sex.

I mentioned in last week's blog that I thought that there was too much drama crammed into the five chapter plot of Eva Luna. I thought that Isabel Allende was going out of her way to make the story as detailed as possible. I have two responses to this now...1. Eva Luna is a character who lives her life off of stories. She loves reading them, creating them, hearing them, and writing them. Each character that is introduced in the novel has his or her own story, that can be very interesting depending on the reader’s taste. I also thought that the details of Allende’s own personal passion were revealed when she was describing Eva’s feelings about writing. 2. Opinion. I do not consider this book to be one that can be read quickly. When I actually took my time (and I’m a really slow reader), I enjoyed the many stories that were in each chapter. When I had to read faster because I had a time limit, I was annoyed with all the detail and the many characters who I had to remember from the first five chapters. This course is partly about who decides that literature is bad and why, and I think that the atmosphere in which the book is read in is a great aspect of this topic.

There is so much more about the book that should be mentioned, because it is such a detailed and complex book, but I would like to read this book again, but slower, to be able to really grasp the whole story, and have more of a chance with all of the vocabulary, because I truly believe that a book can’ t be judge by it’s first reading....(unless you really hate it and don't want to read it again.)

Added after...........

I liked the atmosphere of the book because it was positive, and I really enjoyed reading the stories of the characters, but I found the political portion of the book really boring...except that it was contrasting with the lighter characters like Eva and Mimi, and I liked how a man as busy with the war as Humberto could still have a love life.

tag: span490

Isabel Allende Eva Luna: First Five Chapters

The first five chapters of Eva Luna were....quite overwhelming. There was so much to take in, especially since I had to re-read passage after passage to get a gist of what was going on. There were so many details, and there was so much vocabulary that I didn't understand. One of the things that I liked about the story was the way that Allende presented the story. She introduced an idea, and then either explained it completely from the beginning, (for example, the whole explanation of her mother’s life led to who her father was), or she mentioned and explained it a few chapters later (for example, the fact that Rolf’s dad was killed in the forest was mentioned after he came back from the war, but fully explained in chapter four).

I didn’t mind the story line, but I didn’t really like it either. There were far too many events, and many seemed to be illogical and exaggerated. I don’t know if it’s just how I feel after reading five chapters of a book this difficult language-wise, but I stopped believing that that much drama could happen in somebody’s life when Eva ended up in the streets the first time. The drama seemed non-stop, and Consuelo passed it on to Eva…They’ve lived in so many random places, and this is only the first five chapters. The homes, for the most part, weren’t the average orphanage or foster home. It was the people they met that made the story a bit strange as well. From the men at the mission to the head nun, to the Professor, to the dona, to living in the street, to the whorehouse, and then to Riad Halabi….and of course the Madrina….Is this normal? Is this believable? It’s a surprise that Consuelo and Eva didn’t end up crazy, although Eva is starting to look that way. Also, I’m looking forward to the moment when Rolf’s plot (which is also bizarre) shows some relevance to Eva’s plot.


tag: span490

El peor libro literario que he leido

El libro peor que he leido es la novela 1984, escrito por George Orwell. Tenia que leerla para una clase en mi escuela secondaria, y fue tan negativa que no podia terminarla. No me recuerdo la mayoridad de las detallas, solamente algunas temas. Parecia que el autor pensaba en unas de las condiciones peores de vivir, y inventaban un gobierno en que estas condiciones fueran reales. El gobierno fue tan dominate que no habia nada como una vida privada, una vida con amor, o como la esperanza que la situacion cambiara. La libertad no existaba. En cada cuarto de cada casa, habia camaras para grobar cada movimiento y cada palabra. Solamente se permitian casarse y reproducir para el gobierno, para que mantener la populacion. Habia varios carceles para gente que no obedecian la ley, pero los carceles fueron los peores. Habia un carcel en particular que fue el peor de los peores que se llamaba El Ministerio de Amor. Ese carcel era para gente que trataba de tener amigos or una relacion amorosa verdad, y el castigo fue la tortura fisica constante. El personaje principal de la novela, Winston Smith, no creia en el los condiciones permanentes de su sociedad, o en un gobierno tan dominate. Sentia deprimido con su empleo con el gobierno, y trataba de mejorar su vida. Tenia los castigos del Misterio de Amor, y preferia morir. Para el, el muerte parecia como una revelacion que terminara la tortura fisica y finalmente mental. Al final, Winston tenia opinion diferente, lo del gobierno, porque los castigos del ministerio fueron constante y manipuladoros. Al huir del ministerio, si, era persona diferente, pero era persona ideal de los leyes del gobierno, y el contrario de como quieria mejorar. Lo admito, es una historia un poco interesante, pero el ambiante de la novela fue muy driprimido, y no queria leerla.

tag: span490