RMST studies - blog post 1

I think that this class will always be memorable when I look back on my undergrad years. Romance studies pushed me to read novels that I would've never come across otherwise. As a psychology major, I am always reading textbooks where I have to take notes along the way and be sure that I remember each detail for the next exam... However, this class allowed me to sit back and truly enjoy reading. Although the reading was heavy, it never felt much like a chore - in contrast, it felt much more relaxing. Honestly, I kinda wish there were maybe a few more books assigned or that there could be a part 2 to this class in the summer.  The grading system used in this class was definitely another bonus. Although the website at first and the whole contract system feels intimidating at the start, it didn't take long to get comfortable with it (but maybe add a quick video to the website at the beginning of the semester going through all the little details). Something about reading to simply g...

What an interesting read! Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Although it did take quite some time to get through, I was always excited to see what came next. I will admit, I found it difficult at some points to follow the specific characters with their names as well as locations because there was a fair bit of jumping around. However, I found that as I continued to read, I began to make more sense of everything. The different aspects began to fit together and add to one another.  Dreams: Firstly, as the title points to, dreams and ‘dreamers’. This was a huge theme in this novel. Each character seemed to have a different experience with dreams and attributed different meanings to them. A couple of quotes referring to dreaming that stood out to me were  “Dreams are always echos of something” p. (105) and  “Dreaming is rehearsing reality from the comfort of our own beds” p. (108).  This topic is fascinating to me.  Relationships: Daniel our narrator was one that ...

I was initially very intrigued by this story. I was excited that it was under the category or ‘horror’ as this is not really a genre we've read yet in this class.  The scene in the first section of the book where the soldiers are taking over the university reminded me a lot of memories from lockdown drills in school and more specifically what to do if you happen to be stuck in a stall at the time of entry of whoever (danger). I think the author did an excellent job of illustrating that scene and the position she held to avoid being seen.  After that, the story began to head in the direction of explaining short stories and memories she had accumulated over her life. There were many! Some of the time I would get a little lost in the details of these stories, but for the most part they were very entertaining. It is safe to say that her life was interesting and deviated a fair bit from any sort of norm. She came off as a free spirit. Auxillio did not seem to have any sort of oblig...

My thoughts on the Trench coat… Although I was definitely feeling lost a lot of the time reading this novel, I did enjoy it. I think I quickly understood that the point of this story was not to fully understand every little conversation that was being exchanged, or what these characters were up to. Rather, it was to understand that these conversations had to be secret and discrete, given the country and time they were living in.  This story was unfolding in a time where the government seemed to have a lot of control of its citizens. For example, gas was limited to 30 litres a month (and could sometimes be bribed with a tip, sometimes not and if you had extra money, of course). There was also extreme censorship on information released to the people, and if something abnormal popped up there was a question in regards to “how did that slip past the censor?”.  One quote that stood out to me as well and was a bit disturbing to read was “I'll be tall, healthy, clean and neat, withou...

This week I read W, or the memory of a childhood. This novel was different from others we had read in previous weeks, and unlike anything I had really read before. When I was starting this novel, the double story writing style was confusing at times. The fact that it was differentiated by font did help for sure.I was struggling to find the correlation between the two stories and felt like I was jumping from one book to another each time it switched over. Also, it often felt like we were given a lot of additional background details that perhaps helped visualize something like a picture, but the descriptions seemed to drag on longer than necessary.  It was definitely easier for me to engage in the story based on the child growing up during the time of war and the complexity of his life. He lost his parents at a young age, and bounced around different living arrangements a lot of the time. From what he recalls, and the memories that he does have, it seemed like a very rough time to gr...

  The time of doves blog post This week I chose to read the time of the doves. When I first began to read this novel, it was definitely a bit more difficult for me to engage myself. I found it more challenging and less of a page turner in comparison to Agostino or Bonjour Tristesse. Thankfully it was ‘reading’ week, because it ended up taking me the whole week on/off with splitting up the text. But overall, I found the storyline to be a bit more depressing for sure, which could partially explain why it took me longer than normal.  What stood out the most to me was the relationship between the characters Quimet and Natalia. It was definitely frustrating to read their relationship and to see the type of power he held over her. From the start, he was following his own agenda and would not be considerate for the time she spent waiting for him, his schedule and orders,. Not only that, but he was disrespectful towards his mother which in turn makes sense in regards to his aggressive...

This week I chose to read ‘Bonjour Tristesse’ by Sagan. I think initially what attracted me toward this read was the fact that the title was French, which I love to read. Overall, I did really enjoy this read quite a bit, but I can sympathize with others if they did not.  Cecile is a young girl who spends most of her time accompanied by her father, who is a widow. Her father finds happiness through short-lived relationships with women that never seem to last too long or be too serious. Beginning their vacation by the ocean, they are accompanied by Elsa, a young woman who is Cecile's father's Raymond's current interest. Cecile has mixed feelings about Elsa, but I sense that she knew it wouldn't last. However, not long after they are joined by Anne, an old friend of Cecile’s mom. The four of them live in the beachside house, where Elsa and Raymond share a bedroom. But that doesn't last. To keep it brief, it does not take long for Raymond’s attention to shift towards A...

I found this read very interesting. Unlike some of the other novels we read, I had a much more difficult time putting this one down. This is different for me as I typically really enjoy reading if I can somehow relate to the characters or storyline in some way. This was definitely not the case for this particular read.  As mentioned in some of the other blog posts, there was certainly a unique relationship between Agostino and his mother, at least in Agostino’s mind. It definitely made me feel a bit uncomfortable at times and could maybe be described as a bit intimate. I definitely sensed that they had a very close relationship, perhaps not with many other people around them in their lives. They seem to stick to a relatively similar day to day life. That is until a young man catches the eye of Agostino's mom. Suddenly, he is no longer alone on his daily boat excursions with his mom and has to watch this young man take his mom's attention. This is frustrating for him as he's...

I really enjoyed this read. After having read the two previous novels, this style of writing was certainly refreshing for me. I enjoyed how well it flowed from chapter to chapter and how they were relatively short. Similar to the last two texts, I found the writing to be very descriptive, but that is partially what I loved most for this novel. Each new setting and situation was described so beautifully that it was easy for me to let my mind travel into these spaces . As a lover of romantic movies and books, this reading definitely hit the spot. I particularly enjoy feeling as though I am reading someone’s personal journal entry, which this definitely felt like. I love to journal, but mine are certainly not this graceful! I really loved  how accurately a young girl's first love was displayed. The rollercoaster of emotions between a love so consuming, and a hate that is so intense. Not only that, but the power Ricardo in particular held over her, which I think is often typical in a y...

  While reading Paris Peasant, I was constantly trying to make sense of what was really going on. Prior to starting the novel, I thought that my ability to speak french and the title being “paris peasant” would provide me a leg up, but that was not the case. Although I am not sure of the original language this text was written in, it did not feel french. But, that may also be due to the advanced vocabulary… There is mention in this week's video that the incomplete thoughts create suspension, however for me, it only created frustration.   At some points, small trains of thought would progress from the narrator and I would begin to think I ‘sorta’ understand what's going on…. Then flip to the next page and I would feel completely lost again, but I think that was the point. As a psychology major where my textbooks consist of clear topics which flow nicely from page to  page, this style of writing is totally new and challenging for me. It is frustrating when reading to f...

After having read Proust’s combray, part 1, I was left feeling rather uneasy. As a whole, I found myself having to go over certain sections of this text multiple times in order to try and make sense of the paragraph that I had just read, and sometimes, never coming to a conclusion. The vocabulary used in this text could definitely be described as wordy and descriptive which for me, sometimes created incredible visuals of the environment in my head , and at other times, had me feeling confused with what I had just read. At some points throughout my read, I found myself sitting there reading, yet my mind was wondering and imagining the environments in which were being described. I would almost position myself in the book, and pretend that I was the one laying in bed or watching the light shift around my bedroom from morning to night.  While starting this text off, reading the first few pages, there were beautiful descriptions as to where the story was taking place. This time of rest ...

Hello everyone! My name is Daisy Storey, I’m a third year student in Psychology at UBC. Although it is my third year or my undergrad, it is my first year here at UBC as I recently transferred from the University of Ottawa. So far, I have truly loved living in Vancouver. The change in climate and the beautiful nature surrounding the city is most definitely what I have most enjoyed about living here. But, attending school at UBC is surely second. I've really fallen in love with the campus and my classes here, as well as my professors. Either I have gotten really lucky to date, or the professors at this university are truly awesome.  The main reason I stumbled across this class was while I searched for the literature requirement portion of my degree, however RMST stood out to me in contrast to the other classes listed. There was definitely a sort of mystery to this class that appealed to me as I have never heard of this genre of course before. I think that I was also drawn more toward...