A la mitad del curso

Spanish 490 “Bad Latin-American Literature” has been a very interesting course so far. I especially like Jon’s sarcasm toward The Alchemist. The debate we had in class on The Alchemist was the most fun I’ve had in a class before. I was assigned to the “for” group which I thought was going to be impossible, but it was actually really easy to come up with bogus claims that the book was actually good.
The books in this class have been bad, which is good, because this is a course on bad literature. Personally I really disliked Eva Luna, it was quite a struggle to read. It kept going on and on describing Eva’s day to day life which was very boring to read. The Alchemist on the other hand was a really easy read, entertaining, and if taken to be lightly (is the key here) a good book. The moment a reader begins to analyize the logic of this book is when one could refer to it as bad literature because the logic simply doesn’t make any sense. But if you just want a quick philosophical read, The Alchemist is worth checking out. Como Agua Para Chocolate. What can I say. I found it to be hard to read, not in terms of the difficulty of language, but in terms of its content. I still have the last chapter to read, and I am putting it off because I find it painfully boring. I usually don’t read fiction novels because I don’t like reading about something if it is not true. If I can convince myself that the content in a ficticous book could possibly happen then I may continue reading, but in this case with CAPC when people begin to burn and no one questions why, I just shake my head. Besides that, the telenovela aspect of this book was at times entertaining to read, and I liked how Esquivel incorporated mexican cuisine into Tita’s daily life experiences.
The blogs have been great. I’ve really enjoyed reading about what other people think of these books we are reading. I also applaud the people who stand up for their views when they think some of these books are good literature. I find it hard sometimes to be objective in this course when evaluating a work. Sometimes we dislike things for no good reason, don’t we? Haha, anyways I’m really enjoying this course, and looking forward to the remainder.

como agua para chocolate

Es muy cierto que en México la comida es un ingrediente bastante importante en la cultura del país; Cuando vivía en Guadalajara, en el primer día de mi viaje, aprendí este detalle tan importante. En este libro la autora nos enseña la importancia de la cocina, la comida, y el acto de cocinar. Un tema prolífico del libro es que todo lo de la cocina está aplicable a la vida afuera de la cocina. La autora explica que para entender la vida en general es necesario conocer la vida de la cocina. Por un lado, es cierto que hay muchos aspectos en el mundo de la cocina que pueden ayudar a alguien atravez de la vida. Por ejemplo, la preparación que uno hace antes de una cena enseña a una persona a planear por eventos futuros, especialmente en este caso porque Tita tenía que cocinar por mucha gente.
La vida de Tita está vivida atrás de la cocina. “Tita arribó a ese mundo prematuramente, sobre la mesa de la cocina.” Desde el principio, la vida de Tita es una de tristeza, sufrimiento, y fracasa. “Tita nació llorando de antemano, tal vez porque ella sabía que su oráculo determinaba que en esta vida le estaba negado el matrimonio.” Entonces lo que Esquivel nos enseña es que la cosa mas importante de la vida de Tita es casarse.
No he terminado el libro completemente pero me gusta como Esquivel escriba porque es muy simple y no necesito usar el diccionario! Bueno, no mucho.

The Alchemist Part Deux

It is true that when one reads a little deeper into the logic of The Alchemist the contradictions of the book begin to surface. The example we discussed in class last week provides the evidence to support this claim. The king of Salem clearly states on page 21 that “everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is,” then on the following page the king proceeds to convince Santiago that his Personal Legend is not to travel for the sake of traveling or to marry the merchant’s daughter (as Santiago had proposed) but to become rich with treasure. Coelho contradicts himself here, in that Santiago did not know that his Personal Legend was to find a treasure but the treasure turned out to be his Personal Legend. Therefore what the book is saying is that it doesn’t matter what you think your Personal Legend is, because it is probably wrong, and the only way to know your true Personal Legend is to find the king of Salem and ask him.
Perhaps it is true that this book was not meant to be read with any kind of critical thinking and that we as readers should not question the ideas that Coelho proposes. Coelho tells this to his reader directly on page 93: “It was the pure Language of the World. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time.” Therefore are we supposed to read this book critically? Or are we supposed to read it in an afternoon on a whim and not take it too seriously? I think that the major purpose this book (besides for financial gain) is to inspire people to not let daily life hassles/responsibilities get in the way of realizing one’s dreams. Simply put, this book is fiction. Why can’t we read for the purpose of being inspired and entertained? Why do we have to analyize every little detail? I totally agree that there are many problems with this book when you dig a little deeper, but don’t you think we are taking The Alchemist too seriously? Don’t get me wrong, bashing this book has been very entertaining, I especially enjoyed the debate we had today in class, but let’s move on.