and it's strange... they're all basically the same

I wonder how many "literary classics" I have read to this day -- in English classes, mostly -- that I have failed to really consider. Even when I liked them, that liking wanted... authenticity. Until my awesome AP English class senior year, English usually happened like so: teacher explains the major themes and explains why with evidence in the form of literary devices, recurring ideas, etc. I guess the priority above all else is to build a strong foundation of literary analysis skills with repetition on the solid ground of classics, and that makes sense. But couldn't we do that while also being encouraged to find our own ideas? I say find because I think they are always there, somewhere, regardless of age or IQ or anything. It's a matter of pulling them down from out of the air and identifying them somehow and thus, a matter of encouragement and guidance from teachers. Yes, I read and thought and related with characters, but I don't think I felt that my ideas about a text were really valid and worth exploring until rather late (junior year?). Maybe it was my lack. Maybe that's why parents send their kids to private schools. Maybe most of our ideas aren't original or interesting anyway. And maybe this blog just got REAL boring! Sorry - I'm afraid literature and education rank high on jbahz' list of favorite things. (In my dreams, I'm at least an English major.)

Anyway, so all these classics that we neatly laid out and learned and did away with like algebra problem sets in our pre-self-realization years.... They were all basically the same in that they were taught to us in the same terms: archetypes & literary devices; meals are to communion as rain is to rebirth and maladies are symbolic of moral shortcomings, and so on. And it's strange because this brand of reading -- the teaching of literature where everything more or less has a definitive meaning -- might be quite the opposite of what these authors/artists wanted. Classics are classics because they are TIMELESS. It's one thing to create something popular that captures the contemporary here&now, but for people to feel that same connection years&miles away... what an accomplishment! One that should be experienced first and learned second.

Have I lost you yet? Yikes. Maybe this would be a good time to throw in a Spain photo or two. Let's see....



Ha! Why it's none other than me and Miguel de Cervantes, author of literary classic Don Quixote! Howwww appropriate. And one more. The first is in Toledo, so let's go Madrid on this one:



Nice. All right. We're almost through - I promise! So if you made it this far, you're probably at about here: "JBAHZ! JBAH. Ok, as much as I love hearing about your philosophy on teaching English in our schools, what does this have to do with anything?" Vale. Well, as I am studying abroad, I am currently enrolled in four classes, one of which deals with Spanish literary classics starring antiheroes. We are almost done with La Celestina after my professor spent at least three classes telling us how amazing and important this book is and was. It's about a clever old woman, a former prostitute and current brothel-runner and romantic rabblerouser of the young, who manipulates EVERYONE and helps boy get girl after asking the devil for help and concocting a special potion. Yeah - questionable at best. But she's kind of a big deal and people know her, yet they don't hate her for being a whore. SPOILER ALERT!!!... (...you're not gonna read this book!!!)... all the characters end up dead. We're not there yet so I don't know how - at least one is murdered. Today my professor asked, "hay brujería?" (is there witchcraft here?). If so, he said, none of them are "culpables" (guilty) - responsible for their actions. That is the word he used - guilty. He then asked, do all the deaths equal punishment? From God?

At this, my wonderful friend Cristina said what many were thinking, that she didn't think the deaths were necessarily punishments. Professor replied, but yes they are - in this religious time in Spain, that's what it would mean. He may have just been playing devil's advocate, but what if it doesn't mean punishment!? And why do they have to be guilty? While this book is way old and written in a VERY religious Spanish environment, it is also considered the best; it is also regarded as a work that influenced society (Prof. compared it to Uncle Tom's Cabin in that regard). If it's known for breaking ground, then shouldn't we break some more when analyzing it?

I don't think Celestina was sorry for anything she did (set up some sex meetups via witchcraft for money & such (n.b.d.) but she never killed anyone!). Or maybe I just really want it that way. Like, BSB levels of wanting it that way. But I don't think it has to come to some religious conclusion with a definitive message where you're either on Team A Interpretation or Team B. Sometimes there are no answers. Celestina and her prostitute posse did what they had to do (without really harming others) to get the most out of their pre-fated, low social class marked lives; and they didn't apologize for it! As they shouldn't. I can roll with that attitude - especially in fiction, babez. Yes, so, I'm excited to finish the book, read some critical essays and form my own ideas about the characters in La Celestina. Ultimately, I think it's strange how regardless of the siglo or the place or people, we are all basically the same. (Cue in-my-dreams major change #3: Anthropology!)

OUAIS! Enhorabuena if you made it to this closing paragraph, you ridiculous individual. This is where my head was for a little while on Thursday and I just had to write a book about it for my three friends who will hopefully read this blog, lol. Hopefully I can redeem myself with some music I know at least two of you like!

The title of this post is a line from a Death Cab for Cutie song, "Expo '86," that clearly guided my writing here. Without any real reason or rhyme, Thursday was a day for "Transatlanticism" ("I need you so much closer" - gorgeous), which led to listening to the album of the same name full of great songs I love to sing/harmonize with, etc.! You can play "Expo '86" below.

Until next time, ya? I'll try to actually write about Spain. Maybe. ;)



xoxo jbahz