Go Ahead, Make my Day! March 30, 2007

Last Monday, I found that Dr. Ruiz-Perez’s interesting insight into Rulfo’s style sparked a series of connections to the literature we have been reading. It started with his highlighting those authors who influenced Rulfo: Azuela, Yanez, dos Passos, Faulkner, and Masters. Then as he analyzed his style, bells started going off as I heard “stream of consciousness,” the use of “myth,” “fragmentation of structure” leading to “active reading,” and how the author used analepsis and prolepsis. This very much reminded me of La Modification by Michel Butor, which we just read in 20th century French Literature. As soon as I thought that, Don pointed it out to the class and a discussion ensued about the possible connections. Here is mine.

Pedro Paramo was written in 1955, La Modification in 1956. Like Pedro Paramo, it uses stream of consciousness, myth and fragmented structure. Since they were contemporaries, it was not surprising to find that Butor was also influenced by Faulkner (which can be evidenced by some of his sentences that are two pages long!)

Butor’s connection to our class doesn’t stop there. His entire novel takes place on a train ride from Paris to Rome and includes a large amount of minutia: each time a passenger moves a window up or down, the debris under his shoe, clothing of each passenger, etc. Now what name pops into your mind? None but Flaubert!

So often in grad school, you get overwhelmed with reading, writing, teaching and other assignments, but when you make these connections that lead you to a glimpse into “the big picture”, it really makes your day! Maybe that’s what this higher education is all about.

Emptiness in Endgame and Sentimental Education March 20, 2007

  While reading Endgame, I was overwhelmed by the sense of emptiness in the characters’ lives and souls. Being an optimistic person, I was amazed at how the play moved me with compassion toward anyone who feels this emptiness. Perhaps that was one of Beckett’s goals. Whether he intended it or not, his theme of emptiness pervades the entire work.

The characters themselves manifest emptiness, or absence. Hamm is blind, and Nagg and Nell talk about their loss of sight. Hamm has also lost the use of his legs, and Clov cannot sit. At the beginning of the play, Hamm says, “the bigger a man is the fuller he is. And the emptier.” (p. 3) He tells Clov he will be “a speck in the void, in the dark, forever, like me,” and speaks of the “infinite emptiness.” (p. 36) Emptiness is conveyed through their surroundings: the room is starkly set and the outside world is only grey. The word  “zero” is used to describe what Clov sees outside and also as the temperature in Hamm’s story. Throughout the play, the characters continually mention the absence of things: painkiller, nature bicycle wheels, pap, navigators, sunshine, sound of the sea, light, Turkish Delight.  Hamm and Clov justify their co-existence by saying their is “no one else” and “no where else.”

Oddly enough, I had a similar empty feeling after reading Sentimental Education. Although the styles are totally different, I believe both authors were trying to portray a certain emptiness of their society. Flaubert used ornate description and details to make us understand that in the midst of wealth, advantage and social position,  Frederic still had a vacuous life.  The big difference was that he never seemed to realize it. So which is more pitiful?

Flaubert only paints the picture; he leaves the judgment up to the reader. Beckett puts all the angst, misery, doubt and fear right out there for us, yet, as Dr. Van Noort said, there are a million ways to interpret it. With both authors, we get the opportunity to step into the world of others and gain a new perspective on ours.