SPAN312C Blog

Garcia Marquez's novel 100 years of solitude is full of repetition, magic realism and order, with familiar themes of fate, chaos and death. Although we have only read half of the book and still have much more to go, I want to focus on the themes that stood out.  On the first page, my eye caught a quote highlighting the use of magic realism.  "Things have a life of their own [. . .]. It's simply a matter of waking up their souls." (1-2). Marquez introduces us to the theme of magic realism. I have read some books that include magic realism in their literature, and I enjoy it but get lost. I love how Marquez opened the book with this theme because it tells readers and sets them up for the journey they are about to venture into. This book seems confusing or complex because things are unrealistic, or our brains can't wrap around what is happening, especially with magic realism. I got lost many times in reading this book, especially with all the similar names. Although ...

Borges's collection of short stories were disconnected, fluid and playful. But for me, this collection took a lot of work to grasp the complete understanding. I still do not fully understand his work, but I think that is the point. Borges titled his collection,  Labyrinths , meaning 'a confusing structure' 'elaborate' 'a maze.' His title sets the tone for his collection, and I found his stories to be confusing, hard to understand and digest, just like a maze—the thrill of not knowing what will happen next because there is no clear path. Like a maze, Borge's  Labyrinths  challenges us to appreciate not knowing what is happening all the time—enjoying the tricky words and playful contradictions and finding joy in them. Personally, I am used to reading novels where the story flows and has timelines and plots, familiar characters and an end. This was a challenge to read, but I tried my best to embrace it. Borges takes us, his readers, on a literal bumpy ride ...