Elves... Real or not.

Since I love fantasy/sci-fi novels I naturally relate those books to other books I read. So as we've been discussing and I've been reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, I can't help but relate it to fantasy novels I've read. Gabo's book is filled with magical realism which makes the comparisons really easy.
In class on Tuesday another student mentioned how time almost stops in Macondo and we made comparisons to the Garden of Eden. Thats when I started thinking that the people of Macondo are like the elves in Dragonlance Chronicles. In those books the elves have cut themselves off from the world and are resistant to change. They are self-sufficient, long living and time almost stops for them, since they have such long lifespans. The elves take a lot of convincing to do anything with or for the outside world and just want to be left in peace and alone; this is almost exactly how the people of Macondo are. Very interesting correlations to be sure.

Banana

Before we discussed it in class I hadn’t really thought of the economic or political aspect of Columbia in relation to the book and the characters therein. Now that I think about it, there hasn’t been any real government in the town and Jose Arcadio is the “unofficial” mayor of the town. It is just so foreign from what I am used to. In the United States there is significant infrastructure so when a town is started it isn’t “lost” for years like Macondo is. How long did it take for the Columbian government to stumble across the town? And I can’t help but wonder how much longer it would have taken if the town hadn’t started to do well economically. Speaking of economics, it is interesting that the town never seems to be in need, they are self sufficient and don’t seem to need to trade with other towns. At least not at first, but then even when they do trade it is for luxuries not for subsistence.

Reflections from an Ansalon Dweller

http://zhaman.blogspot.com/
Anthony Parker
English 303
October 9th, 2008


Reading is something that I rather enjoy, whether it is a fictional book, an article about computers, a book on history, or WWII or even, occasionally, a non-fiction biography or some such thing. When I found I was required to take some literature classes I was actually rather excited about that since I love reading. Little did I know at that time that I would be taking a “non-western” literature class which has introduced me to a rather different type of writing. Being an avid reader I consider myself to be pretty good at relating texts I read to other fiction or history books. I’ve also read a lot in my various college classes though most everything I’ve read is of western origin. Given all that I believe I was at the text-other texts stage before I start this class.

This class has been a lot of fun and a good experience and I feel it has moved me closer to the text-world stage. Like I said I haven’t read a whole lot of non-western literature, though since my wife is an art/film major I have seen a good amount of non-western art and movies. Interestingly my wife loves the movie Bride and Prejudice and had already seen it so it was rather ironic that that film was assigned. That being said the literature selection has been a bit of a stretch for me. I don’t believe I have ever read an Indian or Japanese novel, though I have read a bit about both of their histories and I’ve met and talked extensively to two native Indian ladies that were visiting to try and raise support for their orphanage. I also feel that I have had a bit more first hand experience of non-western cultures than many people since I have been to several other non-western countries and not just on a vacation, they were work/missions trips where we went to slums and squatter villages. The places I traveled were the Philippines in 1999, Panama in 2000 and Peru in 2002, 2003 and 2004. My sister is also married to a Peruvian and is fluent in Spanish. How does that relate to my interpretation of the literature I read? Well I think it has helped me to think of the World outside of the USA. I really wanted to answer that I was in-between stage two and three before this class started, but when I thought about it, although I’ve had all these experiences and I’ve read all these books I can still do what many people do. And that is just being so focused on their own life and where they live that they forget not everyone gets the opportunities that they get. In Peru I met people that would repair sections of the road in the hopes that a driver would tip them for their work. Many people don’t know the extent of other social systems either. People here think there is a big disconnect between rich and poor, but it is nothing compared to third-world countries. I think that they Indian caste system is also worth mentioning; it is so foreign to us in our free make your dreams come true society. There are so many rags to riches stories in the USA, but if you are an untouchable in India forget it. I just think that people need to remember that there are bigger problems out there and that there are other cultures and other ways to look at things.

This class has really helped broaden my literature and vocabulary horizons; I can actually use words like Intertextuality and hybridity in conversations or sentences now. For instance in my September 11th post I mention Intertextuality in relation to the book “A Wild Sheep Chase.” I also used Epistemic Violence and Subaltern in the October 3rd blog post. Contrasting that to my very first post, the most complex word is “sophisticated,” no pun intended. In the text to world reading development I feel that I have improved as well. My post on September 19th, Sheepish, brings in elements from South America by mentioning how time is perceived differently there; I also wrote about how the book “A Wild Sheep Chase” was really a mirror of our country and the cold, desensitized path that we are taking. Contrast that with my first post where I mention the clash between Darcy and the Indian culture. Sure it was good insight, but I probably could have gone more in-depth.

So how can I continue to improve and move closer to text-world? Well I want to say one thing first. In most books I read as I read them I am thinking about the content in relation to my life, but more than that too. I’m not consciously thinking but more subconsciously. For instance my favorite types of books are science/fantasy fiction; I recently finished a book by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. In that book they have many moral, ethical, honorable, political and religious issues. When I read it I was constantly relating it to my life and my decisions, but also to the United States and World as a whole. I wasn’t writing a paper, or constantly making connection, but throughout the book I was connecting it to this World even though, being a fantasy novel, it wasn’t based here. The interesting thing is I like to read that type of book to get away from serious and sometimes frustrating life, but while reading it I am making connections to my life and where I live.

Back to the question of how I can move closer to text-world; I really think I am on the right track but there is definitely room for improvement. Maybe I should start looking for some fiction not written by a western author. It seems that a lot of the fiction that I would be interested in is written by western authors, but as I saw with Hauron and the Sea of Stories there is some interesting fiction books out there. Another option is going out on a limb and reading some non-western literature and actively “comparing” it to the literature that I am used to.

Epistemic Violence and Subalterns

The God of Small things is rife with examples of terms from our Spivak reading. Like Epistemic Violence and how it is in a way applied to the untouchables and how the society treats them. The perfect example of this is Velutha, at every turn he is treated like crap, just like all the untouchables are. Another Spivak term that is shown throughout the book is “subaltern.” The whole Indian culture is a subaltern to the British because they were once a British colony and it will probably take decades more before they recover or find their identity again. Even more than that you have examples of subaltern in the characters too; Velutha for instance is a subaltern to the whims of society, he has no rights it would seem.

So far this has been a rather sad book, but it does make one think about the caste system and India in general, or even post-colonialism. Often people don’t think of these things because we don’t deal with them in our everyday life.

Star Wars and Monkey Brains (details below)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is an odd movie. It is marketed as an action adventure but ends up playing out as a humorous cheesy adventure film. My question is: was the movie originally intended to be funny or was it supposed to be a serious movie? I think it is a mix; some of the scenes are just too outlandish to be taken seriously. For instance, most normal movie goers would know that people in India don’t eat food that is still living and movie around. Slightly more educated people know that the Hindu religion forbids people from killing, much less eating, monkeys. Thus that whole scene is outlandish and shouldn’t, and hopefully isn’t, taken seriously. Moving to a different train of thought, does the movie use stereotypes? Absolutely, but name me a movie or book that doesn’t. The difference is that in this movie the stereotypes are generally so outlandish that they aren’t taken seriously. There are fictional elements in the movie no doubt about it, but I think most people know when they go to see the movie that it is, in fact, a fictional movie not based on facts.

That about wraps it up… However, some interesting discussion came in towards the end of class about Star Wars and I didn’t get to say anything, so even though hardly anyone will read this I have to write something…
I would be the first to admit that the first three Star Wars (4-6) are classic, but many people say that the last three (1-3) don’t fit in the Star Wars universe. I would have to disagree most vehemently. Sure the Phantom Menace has a annoying creature that should die, and some poor acting, but it added to the Star Wars story and for those who enjoy Star Wars that is a good thing. It may have been disappointing, but look at it this way, many people had decades to hype of the next Star Wars so it is easy to become disappointed when it doesn’t live up to expectations, that doesn’t mean that it is bad though.
The Clone Wars was a bit better, some of the battle scenes were awesome and Obi-Wan is great… It became obvious in this movie that Georgey boy has a tough time with love scenes, but if one can look past that it is a pretty good film.
Last I would like to mention Revenge of the Sith… Other than a awesome name, it was a great movie. Awesome space battles, killer light saber duel and VADER!!! I really think that Lucas ended the series well.

Well that’s all for now folks. Till next time.

Sheepish

In class we were discussing the possible meanings behind various ideas and themes in the book. I found it very interesting to hear other people’s ideas on sheep and how we are all kind of like sheep, brainlessly following. The time was another interesting one for me since I have traveled to several areas in the world including Peru (South America was mentioned in class). Time goes by at the same rate there, there is still 60 seconds to the minute and 60 minutes to the hour, but they all treat time as more fluid than we in America do. To them two o’clock is sometime after two, but to use two means get there ten minutes before two o’clock. It is so interesting to think about the difference between the two.

My group had the cold topic; when we got assigned it I immediately thought of how Boku has acted rather cold throughout the book. My other group members were thinking about how it was becoming physically colder when Boku was traveling North. I’m not sure if I shared my train of thought but I felt like Murakami made Boku seem cold because that is the direction the World seems to be taking. Everyone is getting colder and more desensitized; they don’t value their family or friends like people used to. All they seem to care about is me.

I'm going crazy!!!

Intertextuality is quite evident in A Wild Sheep Chase. The whole book is a mishmash of different ideas and obscure references to other texts. It has components of a hard boiled detective novel, but includes metafiction and has a strong feeling of surrealism to it. However, the text feels random to me; all of the mixing that it does makes it feel incoherent and difficult to understand. But it is also random in how it jumps around in the story and randomly adds these strange characters and throws out just the most random stuff. For instance, what is up with the whale’s penis? Or all of a sudden asking the limo driver how many decimal places he know Pi to, or the randomness of having God’s telephone number… Given all that it still somehow works together to bring an entertaining story that has so far kept me guessing.