Midterm Flashcards
What stories has Borges written?
the book of sand, the garden of forking paths, the dead man, the library of babel, and the lottery of babylon
What stories has Garcia Margquez written?
a very old man with enormous wings, the handsomest drowned man in the world
What stories has Reyes written?
Major Aranda’s Hand
What stories has Kafka written?
A country doctor, the metamorphsis
What stories has Paz written?
My life with the wave
What are the things you need to use to check to see if a story is magical realism?
Fantastic elements
characters accept the magic
symbols and imagery
distortion of time
folklore, myth, legend
doubles, mirrors
does the ending leave the readers wondering if magical or the mundane is more truthful
What is ambiguity?
a story with a hidden meaning
What is allegory?
adds layers of meaning and enrich what is trying to be said
it is a combination of symbols working together
Who made magical realism popular?
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
What is kafkaesque?
elements of alienation, anxiety, distortion, isolation, surrealism, depression, dehumanization
What is the significance of a metaphorical labyrinth?
perplexities of interpretation; think of forking paths story
What is the importance of “other” in post-colonial literature?
It helps explains the other in a culture and someone that does not fit into the norms; such as being turned into a bug or a being a bird that can fly
What is book of sand about?
a book that has no beginning or end and there is a large distortion of time and the book controlling his life
What is garden of forking paths about?
spy, death, and the labyrinth there is a large amounts of double
What is the dead man about?
Otalora and Bandeira and how they are fighting each out to be more in charge
The library of Babel about?
an infinite library with many variations of all various stories; symbols of light
What is the lottery of babylon about?
all the decisions are decided for you and so the lottery and those people control your life for you
What is a very old man with enourmous wings about?
trapped man that they use to exploit to get money so their house can be improved and then the man flies away at the end because people become disinterested
What is the handsomest drowned man in the world about?
a man that is found in the water and everyone adores him and treats him very well and they give him a proper burial etc
What is major aranda’s hand about?
his hand that is not connected to him (right hand) that has a mind of its own and does whatever and so gets in a lot of trouble
What is a country doctor about?
a doctor that has to go treat a patient but leaves rosa at home with the groom that treats her poorly and so the doctor is in the wrong place at the wrong time and he is questioned on his ability because at the time a lot of people questioned doctors abilities; there are doubles around rosa and the patient, the doctor and the groom
What is metamorphosis about?
A man turns into a bug and he used to provide everything for his family so his family doesn’t know what to do with the transformation and so the sister is the only one that cares for him but it turns into a pain for him and he dies
What is my life with wave about?
the wave which is a women he goes to jail for and then she basically controls and torments his life and he becomes jealous of the fish within the wave that has this connection with her that he doesn’t have
