Blog #11 - Distant Star
I really enjoyed reading this short story this week. The story started off in an environment very similar to one you would find here — a group of students joining together to study something they loved. Having the story start off very light and in a place we as students feel so comfortable made it feel relatable, but the moment it began to go downhill and students began to go missing, there was a thick line drawn between our two worlds.
Much of my boyfriend’s family lived in Chile prior to Pinochet coming into power, but they ended up leaving in the early 70s to head to Spain because of the friction that was already existing in Chile. By the time Pinochet was in power, half of his family went back to Chile, and the other half ended up in Canada. Because of this, Pinochet was a name I had heard many times, but didn’t really know much about. Even just trying to talk to my boyfriend about it now, I couldn’t get a straight answer about what happened when his family lived down there. The concept of needing to read between the lines to reach the depths seem to not only exist within this story, but for the people impacted by it as well.
As discussed in the conversation between Jon and Ryan Long, throughout the Pinochet regime the dissolution of friends and writers was very prevalent. Pinochet understood just how important community was, and how combing thinking, knowledge, and community together could destroy his fascist ideals. This makes me reflect on COVID, and how impacted people were by the loneliness and isolation they felt. We really lost out sense of community through those times, and that was with technology at our fingertips. I cannot imagine how disheartening and hopeless I would feel to have my passion, community, and freedom ripped away from me.
In terms of the question asked in lecture — I feel very torn. Is it art? I want to say no, but I’m having a hard time coming to a specific conclusion. If Wieder meant for it to be art, then is it? Is art about the intention behind it? Or is it the final piece? I don’t feel like the outcome of any crime should be placed on a high shelf and called “art”.
My question for discussion this week: Where you able to draw any parallels between the authors we have read so far and Bolaño in terms of style of writing/theme?
Thank you for sharing part of your boyfriend's history. It is complicated to talk about painful moments in family life, and part of the novel's narrative form has to do with this, with revealing what happened in the past based on clues. There is also the question of art, but what is interesting is how Bolaño does it, through a novel where we as readers have to gather the pieces of information to take a position.
ReplyDeleteHi Cadence! Thank you for sharing your boyfriend's experience. I can't imagine how difficult it must be. To answer your question, I can draw a parallel between Bolaño, and last week's book, Rigoberta Menchu. Both styles were very straightforward, as most of the other books we have read include magic realism. In other books Cartucho, and Marquez, we have many themes of violence and death, similar to this book. They highlight the stories of those hidden in history, like poets in Bolaño. There stories are not talked about in history books, but their stories and difficulties are as important.
ReplyDeleteHi Cadence! Thank you for your post this week and sharing your personal connections with the story! To answer your question, I was able to draw some parallels between this story and "The Hour of the Star", mainly in the themes of time and perspective. I talk about it a bit in my blog post, but to further elaborate I think that their are some similarities in the style of which both those stories were told, having a narrator tell the story of another person that they had some connection to from a time point that occurs after the event, giving indications that the ending is already fixed from the time at which the story is being told. While they tell two very different stories, it was interesting to note this stylistic similarity from the two books.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your post this week!
Great blogpost! Thank you for sharing some personal stories and reflections.
ReplyDelete"but the moment it began to go downhill and students began to go missing, there was a thick line drawn between our two worlds" This is such a resonating quote; reading the book? I never thought about it in connection to our own situation as students. The notion of a "thick line between our two worlds" is such an interesting one. Makes me wonder.. Will our world ever become similar as Wieder's?
- Daniel C
Sorry re-commenting because my previous one was sent anonymously.
DeleteGreat blogpost! Thank you for sharing some personal stories and reflections.
"but the moment it began to go downhill and students began to go missing, there was a thick line drawn between our two worlds" This is such a resonating quote; reading the book? I never thought about it in connection to our own situation as students. The notion of a "thick line between our two worlds" is such an interesting one. Makes me wonder.. Will our world ever become similar as Wieder's?
- Daniel C
Hi Cadence! Thanks for your post! To answer your question, the parallel that first came to mind out of the other works we have ready was The Hour of the Star. The strong presence of the narrator in both books, yet with notable lack of identity of the narrator shared with the readers, is an element that stood out to me and plays a large role in the composition of the book and flow of events.
ReplyDeleteHi Cadence, thank you fo your post. I'd say in some sense, like other authors we have read, Bolaño's writing could be characterized by a sense of fragmentation, nonlinear narrative structure, and the blurring of boundaries between reality and fantasy.
ReplyDelete