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.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, February 5, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
The Alchemist
The great success that this book has received is not surprising. Whenever you can inspire someone or even get someone to reflect on his or her own situation, people will feel they owe you something. In this case: you finish reading the book and you are inspired (as I was, I found it to be a very inspiring tale) and you feel you must tell someone about it (then they go out and buy the book increasing the success of the novel). This book is set up for success because it speaks to almost everyone. You must reach your audience and get them to make connections to their own lives to achieve success. This is why love songs do so well: because they speak to you individually, as if the artist understands your specific situation.
Some of the “teachings” as I will refer to them as, are too far fetched in my opinion. For example, near the beginning of part two, the boy learns of intuition and the author provides a definition of this term. The passage goes like this, “The boy was beginning to understand that intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it’s all written there.” (page 74) How can this be taken seriously? If this is true (which it isn’t), then how come my intuition is often incorrect? I understand that the content of this book is fiction, but when reading it, I felt as though the author was trying to make me think it was true. As we discussed in class, this is probably me acting as a “bad reader” but I feel that I should not take the blame.
I also found this book to be too simplistic and very fairy tale-esk (Dreams, Beginners luck, Omens, Follow you heart, Treasure). The recyled “teachings” of life that Coelho threw together to create this book were entertaining to read but, to me, lacked substance. Another thing that bothered me was that the treasure Santiago was chasing throughout the book turned out to be gold. Why couldn’t his treasure be something without monetary value? This book to me seems like the inspiration behind the “get rich quick schemes” that people searching for happiness by monetary advancement attempt. If I follow these steps I will achieve happine$$.
Some of the “teachings” as I will refer to them as, are too far fetched in my opinion. For example, near the beginning of part two, the boy learns of intuition and the author provides a definition of this term. The passage goes like this, “The boy was beginning to understand that intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it’s all written there.” (page 74) How can this be taken seriously? If this is true (which it isn’t), then how come my intuition is often incorrect? I understand that the content of this book is fiction, but when reading it, I felt as though the author was trying to make me think it was true. As we discussed in class, this is probably me acting as a “bad reader” but I feel that I should not take the blame.
I also found this book to be too simplistic and very fairy tale-esk (Dreams, Beginners luck, Omens, Follow you heart, Treasure). The recyled “teachings” of life that Coelho threw together to create this book were entertaining to read but, to me, lacked substance. Another thing that bothered me was that the treasure Santiago was chasing throughout the book turned out to be gold. Why couldn’t his treasure be something without monetary value? This book to me seems like the inspiration behind the “get rich quick schemes” that people searching for happiness by monetary advancement attempt. If I follow these steps I will achieve happine$$.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
la segunda mitad de Eva Luna
I got a lot more from the second half of Eva Luna than I did the first. What was interesting for me was reading about Comandante Rogelio and his quest for liberty and equality for all. His argument that violence originates from within the government is quite thought provoking. I think that the discussion between Eva (representing the viewpoint of Comandante Rogelio) and Mimí regarding the Comandante’s revolution raises very important questions. Is Mimí right in that every man who attains power will eventually abuse it? If Huberto Naranjo succeeded in his revolution, do you think he would have acted with arrogance as Mimí predicited? Mimí calls Eva’s viewpoint naïve and argues that what needs to change in this world is attitudes, and I’d have to agree with her there. But how do we change attitudes? I have a hard time believing that killing people (for example, the guerillas killed the two police officers in the book) is the right way to solve the social and political problems situated in the world. Is there any other way of creating change? Anyways, I know I’m babbling so I’ll change the subject. A mí me parecía un poco extraño que Allende revela casi al final de la novela la importancia de la luna. Eva desesperadamente infeliz explica que la luna la tranquiliza como siempre había hecho a través de su vida.
Es interesante que algunas de las críticas que recibe Eva de su escritura (capítulo 10) aplique también a ésta novela. Se puede describir el libro como “un enredo de personajes estrambóticos, de anécdotas inverosímiles.” (238) Este muestra al lector la conexión entre Allende y Eva y también que a Allende no le importa seguir las reglas. “Seguí a ese ritmo sin acordarme de las recomendaciones recibidas.” (235) También Eva explica que “no sabía hacia dónde iba ni cuál sería el desenlace, si es que lo había.” (235) No me gustó el desenlace de la novela. Aunque fuera obvio desde el principio que Eva y Rolf se enamoraría, yo no lo podría creer cuando sucedió realmente. A mí su amor parecía bastante inventado y artificial.
Es interesante que algunas de las críticas que recibe Eva de su escritura (capítulo 10) aplique también a ésta novela. Se puede describir el libro como “un enredo de personajes estrambóticos, de anécdotas inverosímiles.” (238) Este muestra al lector la conexión entre Allende y Eva y también que a Allende no le importa seguir las reglas. “Seguí a ese ritmo sin acordarme de las recomendaciones recibidas.” (235) También Eva explica que “no sabía hacia dónde iba ni cuál sería el desenlace, si es que lo había.” (235) No me gustó el desenlace de la novela. Aunque fuera obvio desde el principio que Eva y Rolf se enamoraría, yo no lo podría creer cuando sucedió realmente. A mí su amor parecía bastante inventado y artificial.
Monday, January 15, 2007
la primera mitad de Eva Luna
Sobre todo, no me gustó los cinco primeros capítulos del libro Eva Luna por Isabel Allende pero diciendo esto, quiero hacer claro que hay algunos detalles en el libro que me gustó. En este libro la protagonista se encuentra en muchos sitios a través de Sudamérica, y en diferentes situaciones donde se encuentra caracteres sumamente desarrollados pero huecos en muchos sentidos, a decir que Allende escribe con muchos detalles insignificantes cuando se describe a un personaje suyo. ¿Que es el motivo de escribir una novela así? Creo que el motivo es para mostrar una experiencia sudamericana durante este tiempo. Me gusta como Allende incorpora los problemas políticos y sociales en este libro porque da el contexto esencial del mundo en lo que los caracteres se encuentran. A entender la experiencia sudamericana, la situación socio-político es esencial. Tenemos una representación de la sociedad por los diferentes personajes en el libro porque Eva conoce a todos los tipos de personas en sus viajes. En mi opinión, el problema del libro es que el tema socio-político no es tan prolífico como debería ser. En este libro existe ciertos aspectos y detalles del contexto socio-político, pero el énfasis está en las relaciones personales de los caracteres. A mí la novela es simplemente una cuenta de la conducta de cualquier grupo de seres humanos que no dice mucho de lo que pasó durante este tiempo en este lugar. A mi, el profesor es un personaje bastante interesante, con sus extraños invenciones… que lástima que ya está muerto.
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