Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Cholera etc.
I haven't written anything in quite a while...I've just started reading Love in the Time of Cholera. Once again, I'm finding pleasure in Garcia Marquez's style...well...at least in Edith Grossman's translation...even though I haven't read much yet. So...I shall have to get back to this...I'm just meeting Florentino Ariza...quite a character...by the looks of it.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Some Smart or stupid (not pointing any fingers, Dan Quayle) Things Other People Have Said
Ok...so I guess I've decided to keep this blog alive...at least for now. I don't really have much to say at this point so I'll just put up a few quotes I like:
"Ever wonder about those people who spend $2 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backward." ~George Carlin
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
~George Carlin
"I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people." ~Dan Quayle
"He was a wise man who originated the idea of God." ~Euripedes
"Ever wonder about those people who spend $2 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backward." ~George Carlin
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
~George Carlin
"I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people." ~Dan Quayle
"He was a wise man who originated the idea of God." ~Euripedes
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Final Final Post
I just realized that I forgot a few thoughts that were supposed to be part of my first last post.
A)Wikipedia--At the beginning I was sceptical about this...It always seemed like a cool assignment but I thought too much emphasis was palced on it...But, I am glad we got to expereince that and make a (lasting?) contribution to it. of course, as I kept working on it, I got a tinge of that obsessive streak...All in all, it was a positive, though somewhat stressful, expereince.
B) Blogs--I actually like the fact that we did this, even if other responsibilities etc. sometimes got in the way. I think it's a good way to share opinions on the books with classmates. Will I keep blogging? I can't predict the future...though I suspect I might...at least on occasion, post something.
C) Dictator novels--It is certainly a genre that I previously would have avoided but, having said that, I am glad I got to read these books (with the exception of Fff...yeah)...
Finally, overall a great course. Thanks Jon.
A)Wikipedia--At the beginning I was sceptical about this...It always seemed like a cool assignment but I thought too much emphasis was palced on it...But, I am glad we got to expereince that and make a (lasting?) contribution to it. of course, as I kept working on it, I got a tinge of that obsessive streak...All in all, it was a positive, though somewhat stressful, expereince.
B) Blogs--I actually like the fact that we did this, even if other responsibilities etc. sometimes got in the way. I think it's a good way to share opinions on the books with classmates. Will I keep blogging? I can't predict the future...though I suspect I might...at least on occasion, post something.
C) Dictator novels--It is certainly a genre that I previously would have avoided but, having said that, I am glad I got to read these books (with the exception of Fff...yeah)...
Finally, overall a great course. Thanks Jon.
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Feast of the Beast 2.0
A bit post festum, I realize, but better than never, right? Right?...pause...[followed by a very high-pitched]RIghT?
Thus far I have not really addressed the gender issues and I think this book, better than the others we've read, really captures the positions of powerlessness and subordination that most women faced in these dictatorships. Of course, we get accounts of brutal treatment of women in Facundo, or, as in the case of The President, their inability to have any influence on what happens. In I the Supreme and The General in His Labyrinth, we get accounts of women as sexual objects, there to satisfy the needs of the dictators...though Manuela Saenz plays a prominant role in Garcia Marquez's novel. Still, she is left behind...discarded alomost. This brings me to the position of women in The Feast of the Goat and the novel's more detailed, and certainly more graphic, accounts of violence against women.
Of course, what immediately jumps out at us with this novel is that it starts with Urania's arrival in the Dominican Republic and is essentially written from her point of view. This book, then, is not merely about Trujillo and his fall, but perhaps, even more so, about Urania and her personal journey to rid herself of the trauma of her rape, or rather, to make it more bearable because she will never be rid of it. The Urania plot really takes off in the second part of the book and, although we are told what happened to her at the end of the novel, there are hints throughout the book (ex. Trujillo remembering the girl at Mahagony House...you just get the sense that that girl is Urania). The part where she describes the events at 'the party' is very intense and difficult to read and, of course, explains why she behaves the way she does to her father and her family.
The power that men have over women in this book is also seen in the accounts of the rapes and violence committed against young girls by Ramfis & co.
There are women in this book who do hold some power, or who are not necessarily mere sex objects. I am thinking of Minerva Mirabal and my friend Lupe. The former is severly punished (arrested, tortured and eventually killed) for her 'transgressions' while the latter's male posturing makes her look ridiculous despite the reports that she has a lot of blood on her hands. Nevertheless, both these cases show, to some extent at least, that women cannot have power unless they behave like men.
Finally, the power of the dictator in this novel is accentuated by constant references to Trujillo's gaze. Other than his name, I would hazzard a guess that the word "gaze" appears most often with regard to the dictator. This is, in part, what intimidates people and gets them to do what he wants. I couldn't help but recall the issue of panopticism here. It is as if everyone in this novel is a prisoner and the guard that i s Trujillo keeps a constant watch on them. This, of course, is a common feature of dictatorships--eyes of power everywhere, with the poewer to alter beahviour--and it is present in all the books we've read.
While this book has its bits of humour, it is probably the most graphic, and therefore, the darkest, of the books we've read in this class. Just my humble opinion.
Thus far I have not really addressed the gender issues and I think this book, better than the others we've read, really captures the positions of powerlessness and subordination that most women faced in these dictatorships. Of course, we get accounts of brutal treatment of women in Facundo, or, as in the case of The President, their inability to have any influence on what happens. In I the Supreme and The General in His Labyrinth, we get accounts of women as sexual objects, there to satisfy the needs of the dictators...though Manuela Saenz plays a prominant role in Garcia Marquez's novel. Still, she is left behind...discarded alomost. This brings me to the position of women in The Feast of the Goat and the novel's more detailed, and certainly more graphic, accounts of violence against women.
Of course, what immediately jumps out at us with this novel is that it starts with Urania's arrival in the Dominican Republic and is essentially written from her point of view. This book, then, is not merely about Trujillo and his fall, but perhaps, even more so, about Urania and her personal journey to rid herself of the trauma of her rape, or rather, to make it more bearable because she will never be rid of it. The Urania plot really takes off in the second part of the book and, although we are told what happened to her at the end of the novel, there are hints throughout the book (ex. Trujillo remembering the girl at Mahagony House...you just get the sense that that girl is Urania). The part where she describes the events at 'the party' is very intense and difficult to read and, of course, explains why she behaves the way she does to her father and her family.
The power that men have over women in this book is also seen in the accounts of the rapes and violence committed against young girls by Ramfis & co.
There are women in this book who do hold some power, or who are not necessarily mere sex objects. I am thinking of Minerva Mirabal and my friend Lupe. The former is severly punished (arrested, tortured and eventually killed) for her 'transgressions' while the latter's male posturing makes her look ridiculous despite the reports that she has a lot of blood on her hands. Nevertheless, both these cases show, to some extent at least, that women cannot have power unless they behave like men.
Finally, the power of the dictator in this novel is accentuated by constant references to Trujillo's gaze. Other than his name, I would hazzard a guess that the word "gaze" appears most often with regard to the dictator. This is, in part, what intimidates people and gets them to do what he wants. I couldn't help but recall the issue of panopticism here. It is as if everyone in this novel is a prisoner and the guard that i s Trujillo keeps a constant watch on them. This, of course, is a common feature of dictatorships--eyes of power everywhere, with the poewer to alter beahviour--and it is present in all the books we've read.
While this book has its bits of humour, it is probably the most graphic, and therefore, the darkest, of the books we've read in this class. Just my humble opinion.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Feast of the Goat 1.0
Ok...so it's been a while longer than I expected but I'm here and ready to baa.
As I mentioned in the first blurb on this novel, I like the fact that we get different points of view.
I want to briefly note that despite not being quite as experimental or abstract as I the Supreme or even The President, this novel retains the characteristics of the modernist texts. We talked about the slippages through time and shifts in narratorial voice. The voice addressing Urania is interesting. I just read it as the voice in her head (her conscience, so to speak), not necessarily another person. Vargas Llosa also manages to use some of the strategies of Joyce or Roa Bastos without getting too abstract. For example, he lists all the enterprises losing money due to the sanctions in one long sentence: "The music of names and figures lulled the Generalissimo, who was barely listening: Atlas Commercial, Caribbean Motors, Tobacco Products S. A., Dominican Cotton Consortium...Red Iron Works, El Marino Iron Works...El Caribe newspaper" (114).
In terms of writing, power and dictators I find it interesting that Trujillo is assassinated in the first part of the novel. I think by doing this Vargas Llosa is, in a sense, further depriving Trujillo of power...and consolidating his own. The novel is about his regime, yet Trujillo is denied the importance he would have had in real life.
In terms of the humour, I found these examples funny: "You're pickled in alcohol..." (112) and the description of Lupe (the wife of Johnny Abbes) "I know she's tough, and knows how to fight, and carries a pistol and goes to whorehouses like a man..."(71)...Maybe I just find this one funny because all the women we've met previously were pretty powerless...
Finally...some fun facts about goats (I chose the points most closely related to this book):
1st brought to America by Columbus;
mature healthy male can breed 20-40 does;
both male and female goats can have beards
castrated male goat called "wether"
(from: Angela McKenzie-Jakes. "Facts About Goats." Bulletin II. Vol. I Florida A&M University. College of Engineering Sciences, Technology and Agriculture. http://www.famu.edu/goats/UserFiles/File/Facts_About_Goats.pdf)
*Sorry, residual effects of Wikipedia....
Oh and...Trujillo...vulgar, called the goat. Virginia Woolf called Ulysses vulgar and its author a "he-goat" (VW's Diary). Coincidence? I think not. Ok...ok...pushing it.
As I mentioned in the first blurb on this novel, I like the fact that we get different points of view.
I want to briefly note that despite not being quite as experimental or abstract as I the Supreme or even The President, this novel retains the characteristics of the modernist texts. We talked about the slippages through time and shifts in narratorial voice. The voice addressing Urania is interesting. I just read it as the voice in her head (her conscience, so to speak), not necessarily another person. Vargas Llosa also manages to use some of the strategies of Joyce or Roa Bastos without getting too abstract. For example, he lists all the enterprises losing money due to the sanctions in one long sentence: "The music of names and figures lulled the Generalissimo, who was barely listening: Atlas Commercial, Caribbean Motors, Tobacco Products S. A., Dominican Cotton Consortium...Red Iron Works, El Marino Iron Works...El Caribe newspaper" (114).
In terms of writing, power and dictators I find it interesting that Trujillo is assassinated in the first part of the novel. I think by doing this Vargas Llosa is, in a sense, further depriving Trujillo of power...and consolidating his own. The novel is about his regime, yet Trujillo is denied the importance he would have had in real life.
In terms of the humour, I found these examples funny: "You're pickled in alcohol..." (112) and the description of Lupe (the wife of Johnny Abbes) "I know she's tough, and knows how to fight, and carries a pistol and goes to whorehouses like a man..."(71)...Maybe I just find this one funny because all the women we've met previously were pretty powerless...
Finally...some fun facts about goats (I chose the points most closely related to this book):
1st brought to America by Columbus;
mature healthy male can breed 20-40 does;
both male and female goats can have beards
castrated male goat called "wether"
(from: Angela McKenzie-Jakes. "Facts About Goats." Bulletin II. Vol. I Florida A&M University. College of Engineering Sciences, Technology and Agriculture. http://www.famu.edu/goats/UserFiles/File/Facts_About_Goats.pdf)
*Sorry, residual effects of Wikipedia....
Oh and...Trujillo...vulgar, called the goat. Virginia Woolf called Ulysses vulgar and its author a "he-goat" (VW's Diary). Coincidence? I think not. Ok...ok...pushing it.
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