World Classics
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
End of the Term
Yesterday in class our literary research essays were due and
we had "poetry day". The
literary research essay went as well as any essay could go and I was greatly
relieved to finally just turn it in.
What I was not expecting was how poetry day went. For poetry day we had to bring in a piece of
poetry. It could have been something that
we wrote ourselves or something that we enjoyed that was written by someone
else. I chose to bring in "If"
by Rudyard Kipling. This is a poem that
has always had a special place for me because it was one that my mother always
read to me while I was growing up. I
have a copy of this poem framed and hanging on the wall in my bedroom at home. I chose this poem because it was special to
me growing up and it continues to have a special spot within me. What I did not expect was to be completely
blown away by some of the poetry that was written by my classmates. I know that as a strictly English majors and
minors class everyone in the class has some literary abilities, but I was not
expecting there to be actual great poetry being written by these kids that I
sit next to every other day of the week.
Some of these people are really talented and I did not have the
slightest idea. Reflecting on the class
as a whole, even though I do not think I will pursue an English major, I
believe that this was one of the most beneficial classes I have taken this
year. I not only learned a lot, but I
greatly enjoyed the experience and the way that the class worked. There is nothing I love more, especially in
literature classes, that class discussion heavy courses. My favorite way to
learn is through class discussions and this class was almost purely that.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
"Snow Country" Part 2
Today we had to complete our reading of "Snow
Country". Much to my dismay, but
falling right into my expectations, the second half of this piece was just as
boring if not more so than the first half.
It dragged on for what felt like forever and it was very much the same
content as the first half. The back and
forth between the man and the geisha.
The constant mood swings and drunken tendencies of the geisha. There were random other events that took
place throughout this half but none of them were really relevant, they just
kind of happened. The man took a day
trip. The geisha got obsessed and possessive and increasingly more
annoying. It took everything in me just
to finish the second half. Fortunately,
some excitement was thrown in at the very, very end of the story. The movie theater burned down and the woman
that the man was crushing on died falling from the building. How that fits into the story is completely
beyond me, but it was there and added a few seconds of interesting reading
right at the end. Overall, this piece
was borderline interesting with a whole lot of boring.
Friday, April 27, 2012
"Snow Country" Part 1
Yesterday, the reading of the first half of Kawabata's
"Snow Country" was due for class.
The whole plot of the first half included a man who was staying at the
hot springs in the "snow country" of Japan and he had an encounter
with a geisha. When he was here the last
time, he interacted with the same geisha but he left the next morning and
thought he would never see her again.
This time, he met with her again and now that she was older he got to
know her a little better. The
relationship between the pair is very strange and the geisha is very fickle
with the man. The one day they're
friendly and getting along the next she tells him that she never wants to see
him again and that she's going home. They
go back and forth in this way for what seems like the entire first half of the
work. I do not know how Kawabata
expected the reader to react to the constant back and forth banter of the two
characters, but for me it just turned very boring very quickly. The geisha came
off as annoying with her constant mood swings and drunken tendencies. Upon completion of part one, the man and the
geisha have slept together (finally!) and then he leaves in the morning. The
geisha sees him off at the train station.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Magical Realism
Yesterday we were assigned the second half of Rulfo's
"Pedro Paramo". This story had
an overpowering element of magical realism and for that reason it was one that
was really difficult for me to enjoy.
For me, the plot was too all over the place bouncing around from one
time to another. The layout of the piece
made it more difficult for me to follow and therefore it was in no way
enjoyable. I had to make a strong effort
to completely follow where the action was happening and who was alive and who
was dead and who was doing what with whom.
I understand why this is a piece
that is a "world classic". The
way it shows the distinction between class and commodification with the way the
upper class has free reign over everything and everyone is an essential idea
with these non-Western works that we have read for class, but it is not an idea
that I would be interested to pursue further in my free time. All in all, this is not the type of
literature that I would choose to read ever.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Finalizing "Things Fall Apart"
After finishing all of "Things Fall Apart" I have
fortunately found that I hate it much less than I had upon reading it in high
school . When I read it first in high
school, I was not willing to believe that the people of Umofia were actually
civilized people. My teacher had
insisted that they are not barbaric and that they are full of culture and even
have organized government, but I just was not feeling it. I hated everything about Okonkwo, he killed
his son and drank wine from a human skull.
Nothing about his character was appealing to me and I could in no way
relate to the story. As I said
previously, I was dreading reading this story for a second time. This time, after having more education in
literature and just general education, I discovered that this story was much
more tolerable. I would not go as far as
to say I loved or even liked the novel, but I definitely understood it more and
better recognized the point. Unlike my
experience in high school, I realized that the villagers in this novel were in
fact civilized and had complex structures of developed peoples. The traditions
and customs were proof enough of that the people were not barbaric and with the
trial processes and the systems of government, these were actually a very
developed people. I think I had such a
problem caring about it in high school because Achebe was very realistic about
it, which I now recognize as the most powerful aspect of the piece. Achebe took an approach that was very
believable and there were no fantastic or extraordinary elements. He did not paint the villagers as saints, he
showed them as they truly would have existed. That on its own makes the novel
more effective in portraying the commodification of the Western missionaries
over the villagers of Nigeria.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Achebe
Yesterday for class we had to read the first half of
Achebe's "Things Fall Apart".
I first encountered this story when I was a sophomore in high school and
to be honest I hated everything about it.
When I saw this title on the syllabus I was tempted to drop the class
then and there (not really). I did not
have any interest in reading this again.
This time around though I discovered that I did not hate it. We have only read the first half at this
point, but it is all coming back to me and for some reason it does not seem
nearly as awful as it was in tenth grade. I almost look forward to reading the
second half.
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