Week 4 – Twenty Love Poems

 As someone who doesn't read poetry frequently, I was thoroughly impressed by Pablo Neruda's Twenty Love Poems. The simple and easy-to-understand yet emotional and powerful words of Pablo Neruda made this a particularly delightful read. Neruda’s use of vivid imagery and metaphors stood out and made the poems even more impactful. He uses images from nature, such as the sea, sky, and forests to express his emotions of love. I particularly appreciated how the poems covered a wide range of feelings associated with love - including its highs and lows, the emotional and physical intimacy, the joys and sorrows of union and separation, and the happiness and despair that can accompany it. In the remainder of this blog post, I will discuss one of my favorite poems from the collection, Ah Vastness of Pines, as well as A Song of Despair, which I also found to be particularly powerful and moving.

I really enjoyed Ah Vastness of Pines for the beautiful usage of metaphors. Neruda artfully uses the imagery of a pine forest to convey the vastness and depth of the speaker's love, effectively demonstrating how it fills and encompasses the speaker's entire being, just as a forest fills a landscape. The line "In you the rivers sing and my soul flees in them as you desire, and you send it where you will" was particularly moving, it made me feel the intensity of the speaker's love.

Besides, A Song of Despair was perhaps the “emotionally” strongest/powerful and most moving poem of this collection. The feelings of heartbreak, hopelessness, rejection, and longing were only made more powerful by the complex use of imagery by Neruda. The description of love as this “great wound” and his heart as a “barren island” was heartbreaking. This whole collection conveys this sense of realization that love while being this magnificent and beautiful force, can be just as draining and painful if left unfulfilled.

Fun fact: since the copy I had included both the Spanish and English versions of the poem- I used the relative simplicity of the poems to brush up on some of my Spanish skills since I took Spanish in high school (although I can barely remember much).  It was a fun way to reconnect with the language.

Discussion question: Which poem did you like the most?

Week 3: The Underdogs

The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela was certainly a powerful read with its portrayal of the harsh realities of war and revolutions. As someone who knew virtually nothing about the Mexican Revolution before reading this novel, this book certainly opened up new perspectives for me.

At first, it was certainly an overwhelming read for me since I tend to be on the "overly sensitive" side (hence why I usually just stick to watching rom-coms). Regardless, narratives like these are crucial for one to learn about and understand the historical struggles and realities that many before us faced. Mariano Azuela certainly used vivid imagery to describe the actual battle, but also to describe its aftermath and psychological impacts. I found the latter to be particularly helpful as it really allowed me to connect with the characters' emotions. We also see how the revolution leads to feelings of fear and anger amongst the characters which while brings them together, also becomes the very force that leads to their destruction.

Throughout this reading, I couldn't help but think about the various instances of brutality and war that we've witnessed in the past year from Ukraine to Syria; this keeps taking me back to the quote that "war is not a thing of glory, nor a game of glory. War is a thing of death, death, and death." Underneath the "idiotic" (pardon my language) power struggles amongst certain leaders/countries/actors etc, there are families and lives being ruined. While I understand (or at least try to understand) the complexities of global politics, I always find it deeply saddening how a few years from now, the forthcoming generations would read about the atrocities that are occurring today and would discuss our inability to actually prevent such large-scale loss of lives in another literature or history class like we are today.

Besides that, one quote that really caught my attention was: "War is like love; it always finds a way of surprising you." This metaphor very well captures the idea of how, like love, war comes about unexpectedly and can change someone's life in its entirety. Both things can lead one down unexpected paths and likewise, with unexpected outcomes. This quote very well represents the way war unexpectedly affected Demetrio's life, especially given his initial reluctance towards joining the revolution. Likewise, love also came unexpectedly to Demetrio with his feelings for Camila and Elisenda; yet again, this same love led him on a journey toward his death. 

Week 2 – De La Parra’s “Mama Blanca’s Memoirs”

As someone who rarely reads literature, I had a great time reading Mama Blanca's memoirs. The variety of themes covered in this book were thought-provoking.

 
While the story is set in 20th-century Venezuela, the discussion and portrayal of women's struggles and patriarchy in the novel are themes that could apply to almost all societies at the time. The fight and want for autonomy and free expression for women was evident through quotes like “I was a woman, and I wanted to be happy, to live my life as I pleased” and “I was a woman, and I wanted to be myself."

The struggles associated with motherhood were another profound theme discussed in the novel and one that is just as relevant today as well. The struggles and compromises associated with motherhood are often neglected; we don’t always acknowledge the ongoing battle of a mother’s own needs vs her children’s needs that exists even today, although to a much less severity than in the 19th/20th century.

Another related theme that struck me quite a bit was class and privilege. The idea that while her being well-off may have brought her more material comfort, the same privilege added more constraints for her. The very fact that she was forced to marry a rich man at a young age reflected the sad reality faced by many at the time. Her social class only exacerbated the pressure associated with being a “good mother” faced by Mama Blanca. I found it deeply moving when she says in chapter 2: “I was the daughter of one of the most distinguished families in Caracas, and I was the mother of two children born in wedlock. I had to be a model, a shining example of virtue, and I had to raise my children in a way that would uphold the reputation of my family."

 
This same theme of class and privilege also helped shine a light on the existence of social hierarchies and class structures in 19th/20th century Venezuela. I found it quite interesting to read about this as growing up in India, I read about the existence of class structures in India until the British left; so, it was interesting to draw parallels between the two.

On a side note, in terms of style, I loved how we could "read" Mama Blanca's mind throughout the novel to truly understand what she was feeling, etc. Overall, I had a great time reading about Mama Blanca’s “strong” personality as someone who wasn’t afraid to share her thoughts and challenge societal norms.

Introduction

Hello everyone,


I'm Chanya Chawla and I'm in my final year of undergraduate (hoping to graduate in April!). I'm pursuing an Economics Honors with a minor in International Relations. I’m currently working on my thesis as well as I explore the relationship between monetary policy and wealth inequality. I’m also currently in the process of applying for Master's (in Economics) Programs so it’s definitely a busy (nonetheless exciting) time for me. Other than that, I’m originally from India and moved here in grade 7- certainly grateful for being able to grow up in two countries.


Needless to say, I've barely done any reading since the first year (except for the occasional poli class). I've been procrastinating on my literature requirements for the longest time so here I am doing two lit requirements this term. That said, while I'm super excited to be taking this course, I'm also just as scared (if not more). Fun fact: I hopped between 10 different literature classes before finally deciding on this one. I’m grateful for the contract-based grading system as well as the engaging and “fun” environment of this class. Talking about Hopscotch in class yesterday brought back childhood memories; we used to call it “Steppu” growing up.



While I have a few Latin American friends and love football (sorry Professor I hate to disagree but Messi is and will always be a legend), I don’t know much about Latin America. I did take Spanish in high school for a little over 2 years, but since I was simultaneously taking French/German, I remember little to nothing now; my overly ambitious attempt to learn all these languages at the same time certainly backfired lmao). Regardless, I’m very excited to be taking this class because I’m sure learning more about a new culture through literature will open up new perspectives for me.


In terms of the first lecture, I loved the emphasis on the distinction between literature and life. We’re so often focused on making parallels between literature and life, which while important and nice at times, can often take away from the literature and make it “overwhelming.” I also enjoyed the brief discussion on the theme. In all honesty, I don't know anything about Latin literature so its association with magical realism was a new finding for me. But, as discussed in the lecture, associating an entire body of diverse literature with one word doesn’t do it justice. That said, I certainly look forward to seeing the elements of magic realism in Latin American literature, all while exploring the diversity of themes and other ideas it has to offer.


Discussion Question:

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Latin America?