Pedro Paramo
The word choice was phenomenal in this work. I enjoyed the descriptions, rather than just feeling that they slowed down the book. One of my favorites was towards the beginning when the road to Comala is being described as rising and falling, which would make us think of a hilly road, then it continues by explaining that the road rises when you leave and falls when you come. It could have just been said that the town is at the bottom of the hill, but that does not give the eary feeling that you would be drawn into the town and not be able to escape it.
The blending of reality and “non-reality” is one of my favorite things about Latin American literature. I faked my way through every book report that I had to write until my junior year of high school when my teacher recomended that I read One Hundred Years of Solitude. It was the first non-children’s book that I read in entirety and enjoyed! So I have quite a warm feeling for the “realismo magico”.
In Pedro Paramo (as well as the later magical realism books), I have a hard time usinf the term “fantasy” or “illusion” for the non-reality characteristics. They are too real to the novel to be considered not real, even though it could never happen in real life.
Due to the interesting order of the narratives, I might have enjoyed more of a discussion simply comparing in what order we thought the action took place. It may be that there is only one interpretation, but I would not be surprised if other students would have different interpretations than I did. The ending, similarly was somewhat vague as to what was happening. I am thinking about using this book as my book for the final project, due to that possible flexibility in interpretation.
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I totally agree with you. I’d love to attempt to do a time-line.
The timeline is a strong tempation. But I think it would have negative results for a couple of reasons: (1) I honestly believe there are contradictions in some of the chronology, and (2) I think Rulfo, in his heavy editing of the original novel, wanted to make it more circular than linear so that the reader would concentrate more on the essence of the people and the social messages that the story/stories create.
100 años is also one of my favorites, and I agree with you about the mythical characters. At times I think they are there as the “conscience” of the supposedly “real” characters.
Good post!
There’s never “one” interpretation, so it would have been good to have a chance to do some comparing, but we did not have time unfortuantely.
Forgot to say– see classpage for announcement
Great post! I too am thinking of using Pedro Paramo for my final project. I would be intersted in meeting with you to discuss some ideas and bounce things back and forth.
-Amy
Katy, I like the images that you chose to discuss. There’s so much to work with in Pedro Paramo, and I agree with you that there must be many valid interpretations, especially if the author left no comments on the work’s meaning (I don’t know that this is true, however). I want to use Pedro Paramo for my final project too. Good job! Sally