I've devoted the majority of my English time this weekend to the biography, so unfortunately I don't have many new developments about the final paper. However, one of the sites I used for my biography is very interesting and talks about how all of his works are connected: it could prove very useful. I quoted it a lot in the bio as well... I hope we can reuse the same quotes?
About this Essay: Steven Boldy, Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Source: Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 113: Modern Latin-American Fiction Writers, First Series. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by William Luis, Vanderbilt University. The Gale Group, 1992. pp. 119-133.
Source Database: Dictionary of Literary Biography
I knew that that first story I read had some political connotation, and this source just confirmed it. I will have to research his political views more: my essay may lean towards his statements.
Is wikipedia off-limits?
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Friday, December 8, 2006
day 4
So today, well last night really, I read 2 stories in Cortazar's anthology Blow Up: "House Taken Over" and "The Night Face Up." Neither were as blatantly circular as "A Continuity of Parks," but they have potential. That meaning I can philosophize successfully about either.
House Taken Over was about this couple stuck in the worst routine I've ever heard, and that's really all you find out about them. They wake up every morning, clean the house until 11, and then sit around finding things to waste time. I mean, the woman knits entire bathrobes! One day, "they" (we never find out who "they" are) take over part of the house and the man and woman are forced to abandon all their things on that side. They are suddenly left with two more hours in their day, what used to be taken up with cleaning that side of the house. So as "they" encroaches on their space, and eventually take over the kitchen, the couple is forced to make a dramatic escape to outside.
The Night Face Up was a little more obvious in making it's point: a man gets in a motorcycle accident, has to go under for minor surgery, and winds up hallucinating and maybe even dying. As the reader goes through the character's various stages of consciousness, one starts to wonder the whole what-is-consciousness/what-is-reality question again. It is suggested in the end that the motorcycle ride was all a dream and that his reality was actually in hell or some place like it.
Seeing that I actually kind of like reading these stories, this weekend I'm probably going to end up reading all of them and choosing two that work really well together.
Julia
House Taken Over was about this couple stuck in the worst routine I've ever heard, and that's really all you find out about them. They wake up every morning, clean the house until 11, and then sit around finding things to waste time. I mean, the woman knits entire bathrobes! One day, "they" (we never find out who "they" are) take over part of the house and the man and woman are forced to abandon all their things on that side. They are suddenly left with two more hours in their day, what used to be taken up with cleaning that side of the house. So as "they" encroaches on their space, and eventually take over the kitchen, the couple is forced to make a dramatic escape to outside.
The Night Face Up was a little more obvious in making it's point: a man gets in a motorcycle accident, has to go under for minor surgery, and winds up hallucinating and maybe even dying. As the reader goes through the character's various stages of consciousness, one starts to wonder the whole what-is-consciousness/what-is-reality question again. It is suggested in the end that the motorcycle ride was all a dream and that his reality was actually in hell or some place like it.
Seeing that I actually kind of like reading these stories, this weekend I'm probably going to end up reading all of them and choosing two that work really well together.
Julia
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Day 3
What have you decided on for your project? How did you determine your author(s)? What do you need to do next?
Today wasn't as productive as I would have hoped, but I did decide on Cortazar finally. I have been skimming his collection of short stories but haven't actually sat down and read one completely. I definitely want to go in a more philosophical direction instead of something like analyzing metaphors or something: for example, how does he manipulate the thoughts of the reader.
Now I just need to pick two stories... I don't know if I want to include other authors anymore.
Julia
Today wasn't as productive as I would have hoped, but I did decide on Cortazar finally. I have been skimming his collection of short stories but haven't actually sat down and read one completely. I definitely want to go in a more philosophical direction instead of something like analyzing metaphors or something: for example, how does he manipulate the thoughts of the reader.
Now I just need to pick two stories... I don't know if I want to include other authors anymore.
Julia
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Credible Source Day!
I figured that all sources that I would find on our library resources would be somewhat credible, so I decided to take my chances with Google. Here is a really interesting interview I found with Cortazar in 1973. The author, audience, etc. all check out so I have figured it's ok! It gives a lot of his inspiration.. such as Borges, Onetti, LENIN, etc. Ha ha.
Also, I found this very interesting:
"And then I discovered that Rayuela was destined for youth and not men of my age. I never would have imagined that when I wrote it. Why? Why was it the young who found something that impressed them, that made an impact on them? I believe it's because there is no lesson in Rayuela. Young people don't like to be given lessons. Adults accept certain ones; youngsters don't. There they found their own questions..."
Rayuela is his book Hopscotch. Not only did that make me want to read it even more, but it also supports the fact that he thinks in terms of circularity.
" There are people who write as a contribution to the modification of reality. I know that modifying reality is an infinitely slow and difficult undertaking. My books do not function in that sense. A philosopher develops a philosophical system convinced that it is the truth and will modify reality because he supposes he's right. A sociologist establishes a theory. A politician also pretends to change the world. My case is much more modest. Let's say Oliveira is speaking: let's return to one of the constant themes in Rayuela. I am firmly convinced, each day more profoundly, that we are embarked on the wrong road. That is to say that humanity took the wrong path."
I'll definitely try to fit this in my essay.
http://www.centerforbookculture.org/interviews/interview_cortazar.html
Julia
Also, I found this very interesting:
"And then I discovered that Rayuela was destined for youth and not men of my age. I never would have imagined that when I wrote it. Why? Why was it the young who found something that impressed them, that made an impact on them? I believe it's because there is no lesson in Rayuela. Young people don't like to be given lessons. Adults accept certain ones; youngsters don't. There they found their own questions..."
Rayuela is his book Hopscotch. Not only did that make me want to read it even more, but it also supports the fact that he thinks in terms of circularity.
" There are people who write as a contribution to the modification of reality. I know that modifying reality is an infinitely slow and difficult undertaking. My books do not function in that sense. A philosopher develops a philosophical system convinced that it is the truth and will modify reality because he supposes he's right. A sociologist establishes a theory. A politician also pretends to change the world. My case is much more modest. Let's say Oliveira is speaking: let's return to one of the constant themes in Rayuela. I am firmly convinced, each day more profoundly, that we are embarked on the wrong road. That is to say that humanity took the wrong path."
I'll definitely try to fit this in my essay.
http://www.centerforbookculture.org/interviews/interview_cortazar.html
Julia
Monday, December 4, 2006
First Day
What are two things you investigated today? What ideas do you have about the direction you may be moving with your project?
This was our first day of research in the library. I did not manage to find anything I really wanted to do, but at least I determined I do NOT want to do poetry. After so much talk about Pablo Neruda, I found his poetry disappointing and pretty sappy. Not that I like poetry in the first place, but I was expecting more. I am considering Cortazar because I loved his stories so much earlier this year. Maybe I can find another author who used him as inspiration and then compare their circularity? That's where it's heading now..
Julia
This was our first day of research in the library. I did not manage to find anything I really wanted to do, but at least I determined I do NOT want to do poetry. After so much talk about Pablo Neruda, I found his poetry disappointing and pretty sappy. Not that I like poetry in the first place, but I was expecting more. I am considering Cortazar because I loved his stories so much earlier this year. Maybe I can find another author who used him as inspiration and then compare their circularity? That's where it's heading now..
Julia
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