span365

Postscript - Spanish 365

2007-04-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed reading a majority of the set texts of the course especially Las Hortensias. The only text that I really disliked was Cumanda. It was simply too wordy for me and I could not get into it. Each page was truly a battle to get through. I thought the blog system was good because it made sure you kept up with the assigned readings as well as it offers self reflection about the readings and a good exchange of ideas between classmates, which really bolstered my understanding of the texts. It was nice to be able to choose between writing in English or Spanish but I wish I would have got my self to write in Spanish because I could have improved my Spanish even more. It was nice to read novels and short stories from a variety of regions of Latin America its great to be able to compare author's style and stories. I would have preferred if we would have had less group work. While in small groups I found we didn’t have enough time to really get into the tasks at hand and I found it really did not help me, I would have preferred more lecture time or a class discussion instead. All in all I enjoyed this course and I look forward to continue to read Latin American Literature and take more Spanish literature courses. Thank You.

Garcia Marquez #3

2007-03-26T02:50:00.000-07:00

Many parts of the book, Cien Años de Soledad are interesting and each page develops something more intricate in the story line. If you happen to skip a few pages surprisingly you miss a lot since each page advances the development of the characters. The lives of many of the characters come to sorrowful ends such as Pietro Crespi’s life but what still puzzles me is the fact that Rebeca killed her husband José Arcadio. I was quite surprised that Rebeca murders him and until I did some research I realized why she had done it.
Rebeca is an orphan and she is depicted through out the story as rather odd since she sucks her thumb, has a habit of sleeping with her face to the wall and she eats dirt. She would even put dirt in her pockets and would eat it in bits when nobody was looking. At one point in the story, when she is love sick she eats so much dirt she becomes delirious. She frantically loves Pietro Crespi but because of many things she ends up marrying José Arcadio which is against Ursula’s wishes because of the remote chance that they were related.
Rebeca shoots her husband and according to Ma Eulalia Montaner, who wrote Guía para la lectura de Cien Años de Soledad, she states that Rebeca truly loved Colonel Aureliano but he marries Remedios. One sign of this love is when Rebeca shoots her husband the blood goes under the door, down the street, around the corner, on and on until it reaches the kitchen where Ursula is cooking. The blood is careful not to dirty the rugs, and it reaches the kitchen when Ursula is cooking eggs. The blood flow foreshadows the time when the Colonel arrived back to Macondo. It follows the exact steps that the Colonel took that day. This section of the book, I believe truly depicts, how this novel has so many stories within stories and one must really analyze each character and their every more to really understand the novel with more depth.

Garcia Marquez # 3

2007-03-19T00:31:00.000-07:00

In Juan-Manuel García Ramos’ book, Guías de Lectura, I read an interesting analysis of Cien Años de Soledad. The author quotes, Ricardo Gullón’s interpretation of the novel in which Gullón says that Cien Años de Soledad parallels sections of the Old Testament.
I agree with this interpretation as it adds another level of meaning to the book. The book of Genesis in the Old Testament recounts the story of the beginning of the world. Cien Años de Soledad begins with the settlement and establishment of a new place called Macondo.
The book of Exodus is in the Old Testament is about the Jews leaving Egypt due to the persecution suffered at the hands of the pharaoh. In Cien Años de Soledad, José Arcadio Buendía kills Prudencio Aguilar and he is plagued by guilt and continual nightmares throughout the story. He and his family flee the place of the murder and find a new territory which becomes Macondo but it is not a promised land that was chosen for them. Part of the punishment for the crime for the Buendias and the people of Macondo is the plague of sleeplessness, forgetfulness, civil wars, the covert invasion of foreigners and the continual suffering.
The novel is written in such as way that the reader can not really perceive a sense of time but the stories within the stories have a continuation which transcends time and gives it the aura of universal truth. In this sense, the Bible is similar because there are stories which are not associated with particular time periods and do not have a particular chronological order.

Cien años - 2

2007-03-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

Ursula, one of the main protagonists of the novel, maintains the structure of the family, their house and ultimately the village. Jose Arcadio, her husband, is the founder of Macondo but Ursula is the one who keeps it all together. She is the matriarch and forms the nucleus of the family. For example, when the house does not suit their needs, she organizes the construction of the house and makes grand improvements. Out of all the characters in the novel, Ursula lives the longest and her presence keeps the Buendia family together.
Her worst fear is that children born into the family will have some sort of deformity since there has been many instances of incest. Ursula and her husband, Jose, are cousins. At first, she fears that if they have children she will have iguanas. A family member in the past had a child with a pig’s tail. When her orphaned daughter Rebecca marries Jose Arcadio, her son, she suspects they are somehow related and expects the worst. Throughout the novel she is worried about this and is always involved in the love relationships of her children and their offspring. This character shifts and adjusts to the story line. This keeps the reader intrigued and curious about the unfolding story.
The author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is the master of building a story full of different facets and magical events. That is to say he combines mundane even banal events of everyday life together with magical occurrences which are suddenly presented to the reader and then quickly vanish, only to later reappear in a different guise. Then the author ties together the banal and the magical as the story progresses toward its conclusion. The result is sometimes bewildering but always riveting.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

2007-03-04T21:57:00.001-08:00

I started reading the novel and I immediately like the way the author introduced the story. He keeps the story moving by introducing the gypsies, inventions, miracles and magic; which all form part of the lives that the characters live in. This enhances the reader to want to find out more. Jose Arcadio Buendia, the main protagonist, is intrigued with elaborate inventions that the gypsies bring to town. The story shifts and the reader is introduced to the discovery of the mythical town of Macondo. Throughout this first chapter, Ursula, Jose Arcadio Buendia’s wife keeps hinting to the reader that Jose Arcadio is eccentric. He is constantly questioning who he is, his existence and the past. This makes the reader question his credibility.

By chapter two we are introduced to Ursula’s ancestors, getting a glimpse into the intertwined family history. Then another story arises, the story of a woman who is burnt and can not sit down. The reader has to stop and get a grip of who is who because so many characters are added to the novel that it is confusing. There is another shift in the story about moving to Macondo. The story talks about Jose Arcadio Buendia and also about his son Colonel Aureliano Buendia. It is confusing… Then as the story continues, Ursula gives birth to a son called Jose Arcadio.

Piedra Callada

2007-02-11T22:52:00.000-08:00

Throughout this course there are recurring themes of the family, love, jealously and betrayal. However, each book deals with these themes in their own way. After reading these books Piedra Callada so far has been my favorite one in this course. I really liked the intricate and complex characters that Marta Burnet has created and I enjoyed how she carefully tells her story using a complex family situations and issues. This story once again emphasizes on the importance of family in Latin America but shows the reader that even families who on the surface appear to be “perfect” can also be filled with turmoil and conflict. In this book however, the author goes to the extreme case of murder. Eufrasia is driven to murder her son in law after becoming so intertwined in the family saga.

I also liked the writing style that Burnet uses throughout the story. The writing style used allows the reader to get a closer understanding of each character and this brings each character to life. The section about Bernabe and Esperanza were carefully written to imitate there accent allowing the reader to set them apart from the other characters. The slang used was at times hard to understand but I found that by reading it out loud it allowed me to comprehend the storyline.

Another main theme that was not characteristic of the other stories we have read is the idea of vengeance. Vengeance is intriguing to many readers because the reader tries to anticipate the moves that the character may make which keeps the reader turning the pages of this short story. I also found that the pace Burnet used in the novel was also an important aspect that kept the story quick and exciting. Furthermore, I enjoyed how the story was to the point but this did not sacrifice the storied complexity.

Memorias de mama blanca

2007-02-04T21:17:00.000-08:00

Me gusto leer Las Memorias de Mama Blanca de Teresa de la Parra. Al leer el comienzo de la novela encontré difícil ciertas secciones y esto caso dificultad seguir el cuento. La novela es un cuento de ficción sobre las memorias de la niñez de la escritora De La Parra. En la clase del miércoles pasado encontré nuestra discusión muy interesante. Me gusto oír sobre los varios niveles del cuento. Esto mejoro mi comprensión de la novela y me ayudo comprenderlo con más profundidad y claridad. Al leer la segunda parte pude leerlo con más gusto y lo encontré mucho mas interesante.

La novela esta basada sobre la memoria. Esta escrita en tres niveles. Uno las memorias de Mama Blanca, segundo el editor de la novela lee lo que dice Mama Blanca y el lo interpreta a su manera, y tercero la autora del libro escribe sobre lo que escribió el editor cuando estuvo con Mama Blanca.

Es obvio que al escribir sobre de memoria de la niñez de uno es sumamente difícil. Con el tiempo la memoria cambia. La persona quizás olvide las cosas como verdaderamente fueron o sin darse cuenta omite cosas de mucho dolor.

#4 - Neruda- Viente poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada

2007-01-28T16:03:00.000-08:00

Pablo Neruda’s real name is Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto. He used Pablo Neruda as his pen name. He worked as communist politician in Chile, as a Chilean diplomat and he was an active political activist. Veinte poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada was one of his early pieces of poetry and are among his most famous. I really enjoyed the series of poems. I found that not only did each poem have deeper meanings but also the poems as a whole reflect what Neruda wanted to portray. You can see first hand, how his mood changed during each poem and it was interesting to see his outlook on the world and how love changed from poem to poem. Clearly the poems are of a romantic genre however the rich imagery made them almost erotic. Apparently, that when these poems were first published, they were controversial due to their eroticism. The poems also have some “surrealness” to them, especially the poetry towards the end of the series. It feels like Neruda was writing the poems in an almost a dream like state. The dreamy style of the poems however still explains the real world very carefully and anyone can relate to what the Neruda is trying to portray through his poetry making his work excellent for discussion or allowing you indulge yourself into deep thinking about the world around you. I really enjoyed reading all the poetry but Neruda’ s work was even more of a pleasure to read. While reading Neruda, his work reminded me of Gusatvo Becquer’s poems entitled “Rimas”. Becquer was a Spanish 19th century poet and is considered one the most important poets in Spanish literature.

#3 Cumanda second half

2007-01-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

In the second part of Cumanda there was a definite change in the storyline and mood. The pace picked up and the pretty love story shifted to a conflict filled drama. I found it much more difficult to put the second half of the novel down. The accelerated pace kept me more intrigued and much deeper in the plot. I was surprised upon finding out Cumanda was not an “indigena” and let alone Carlos’ relative but it worked as an effective twist to the story. On the other hand I knew that Cumanda was destined to die just as any other doomed character in any classic tragic love story. As well as being a romantic novel one must still be reminded of Mera’s purpose of creating identity in a budding new nation. One must read between the lines to see the ideals and motives that are being portrayed. The indigenous people are painted as savages and this is a reoccurring theme in foundational fictions. This depicts how the upper class European decent elites had motives to convert the savages into civilized citizen and good Christians. This allows the reader to look into the post colonial period and is able to get some idea of what society was like and the reader should keep in mind that this story is clearly from the point of view of an upper letrado in the new Ecuadorian society and it is unfortunate that the majority of foundational fiction come from this point of view so readers today really do not really get to be able to a complete view of the situation of Latin American societies during this period of founding of nations and cultures.

# 2 - Cumanda - Capitulos 1 - 10

2007-01-14T17:33:00.000-08:00

Cumandá was written by Juan Leon Mera in 1879. This novel was the first Ecuadorian novel to be written. Cumandá is an excellent example of a foundational fiction. Mera’s purpose to the novel is to begin to shape a new culture in Ecuador. Mera intricately chose specific themes that were relevant to the cultural situation in Ecuador in the late 1800s. This is similar to other foundation fictions from other countries throughout Latin America. Cumandá is a love story. This is a common theme amongst literature during this time. It also portrays the theme of race relations. In the case of Cumanda is between the European settlers and the Indigenous population.
The first chapter carefully develops mood and describes the setting and terrain using powerful imagery. This imagery is used to describe what the “New World” was like to readers from other regions of the world. They would in turn give them a better idea of what people from this region looked like. They perhaps seemed exotic and out of the ordinary. The next few chapters concentrate more on developing the characters and the story line. At this point in the novel, the love story begins between an Indian girl and Carlos, a European. This story by Mera is comparable to many other stories such as Romeo and Juliet where a man and woman are brought to together however the circumstances cause others to forbid and condone their love. However, love tends to prevail but of course with causing difficult consequences.
The Mexican legend of the volcanos the Popocatepetel and the Iztaccihuatl is also a love story between a princess and an Aztec warrior. The warrior is sent to battle by the princesses’ father and the father says that the warrior can marry the princess if he returns from battle. The princesses’ father presumes that he will not return so he tells his daughter that the warrior died the princess died of grief. The warrior eventually returns alive finding his lover dead so he also died of grief. The gods covered the two into snow and converted them into mountains. The Popocatepetel resembles the warrior and the Iztaccihuatl looks like a women laying down resembling the princess.

La relacion entre literatura y la familia

2007-01-08T19:20:00.000-08:00

La relación entre literatura y la familia

People are very social and enjoy being in groups and in contact with others. The most important group one can be apart of is your family. Family is a group that almost everyone has in one form or another. The importance of family is projected through literature. Family is used in literature as a metaphor or as a prominent theme. Also people enjoy reading literature that they can relate to. Author then can use family as a main theme and with that can capture many readers which all share the importance of family. In Latin America family can be considered to be even more important that in other cultures and regions of the world. For example every Sunday afternoon it is common for Latin American families to get together for their Sunday “comida”. At these “comidas” usually the entire extended family will attend including cousins, aunts and uncles will attend. Due to this reason the importance of family has greatly influenced Latin American authors strengthening the relationship between literature and family. Often Latin American authors will use the family as a foil for the nation. This is especially common in foundational fictions which were written when Latin American countries became independent and writer were set out to unite and build a nation and a unique culture. Also authors can use this foil to pass controversial political messages through their readings indirectly in order to avoid censorship by governments or dictators. Literature uses family as a tool to portray the author’s message and to allow literature to provide a theme that is influential and relevant to every reader. As we continue analyze poetry, theater and novels the importance of understanding the family will remain an important part is discovering the true motives and messages each author wants to communicate.