Concluding Post – Week 13

April 9th, 2024

Here we are, the end of the road (or the course). This course has truly changed my approach to literature. It has helped me grow as a reader, and express my thoughts and opinions freely. I have been re-reading all of my blog posts throughout the term in order to take a look at the progression of my posts. I noticed that I went from producing generic, and kind of boring blog posts, to more engaging and opinionated ones by the end of the term. I think this was mainly due to the fact that in university, and academia we are expected to produce written work following specific standards and structures, using appropriate language, and providing unbiased facts. However, this course kind of defies that notion, it allowed me to break out of my shell and be able to think more creatively about novels. I have started approaching literary works with a more personal approach. All the books we’ve read through the term I have felt as if I was reading the for pleasure rather than to fulfill an academic requirement. Since we were not graded on the quality of our analysis, but rather encouraged to provide our most sincere thoughts and work. Hence, this engaging course structure has made me reconnect with reading in a way that I was not initially expecting. I found myself enjoying parts and aspects of even the most difficult reads of the term, and discovered a new appreciation for books and authors that I hadn’t heard of before.

I would like to also mention that some of my favourite books of the term were the Shrouded Woman, and the Hour of the Star. I found the to be thought-provoking, and they challenged me in unexpected ways. The complexity of the characters, along with the relatability of certain parts of the novels made me really enjoy the read. My least favourite might have been Combray by Proust, but I do believe tis has more to do with the fact that it was one of the first books of the course, and it was quite a tough read for so the uncertainty may have scared me a little. However, this sentiment was not carried throughout the term, as I found enjoyment in reading even the more difficult books later on.

Looking back at my introductory post, I had asked a question about if literature transcends languages. Although I do not have a precise answer to this, I think now that the term is ending I have come to the conclusion that literary works do transcend language to an extent. We have read translations of books that cross the barriers of time and place. From all across the century, and all around the world, I have found aspects to appreciate in all of the novels we have read. Despite them being translations, I think the main emotions, and ideas that the authors tried to convey in the original books were successfully conveyed through the translations as well. I am sure there have been concepts and ideas that were lost in translation, but for the most part we, as readers, have felt the impacts that the authors were aiming to create despite the translation.

Overall, I genuinely appreciated the structure of this course, and really enjoyed reading the novels and writing weekly blog posts. It was a fun way to interact with the content, and made me feel less pressurized to provide what I think is correct, but rather provide my raw thoughts and opinions.