I have read now a few more chapters of “Maurice”. I’m about finishing the novel in fact and I’m asking myself what will happen next and how the story will conclude. This is because I’m totally puzzled by the art of Foster.
One of the things I enjoy more when I’m reading a novel is when the evolution of the story is not predictable but still deeply coherent and believable.
Another thing I appreciate is when by reading a fiction I learn something about the real world.
“Maurice”, in my opinion, shows all this qualities.
I will not reveal anything about the story itself but I can say that this is the story of a boy becoming a mature person. That is, someone who knows who he is, what he wants and, as I suppose, will manage to get it. Maurice is a person who becomes finally able to distinguish himself from the impositions of the society. It’s a novel about individual freedom. He is very European in this way, I shall say…
Till now, I enjoyed the novel very much in spite of language difficulties.
Dear Karmelinda, I agree with you: be the book my friend, the meaning depends only on you. If you don't understand a piece, it doesn't matter, go on !
sábado, 3 de mayo de 2008
lunes, 31 de marzo de 2008
A sensible thought
I’m reading “Maurice” and I really enjoy the novel. It has been hard at the beginning to get used to Foster way of writing but after the first tree chapters I could read without needing a dictionary every ten words. I mean, I used the dictionary just to check my understanding of words I had never met before. How satisfying it is to see how much I could guess with contextual keys!
I’m surprised by the story and fascinated by the author art of telling us the insides of human being: fears, hopes, passions and sorrows.
One of my favourite passages till now is when Maurice and Clive asked each other how they fell in love:
‘But had’nt you been getting hold of me for months? Since first you saw me at Risley’s, in fact.’
‘Don’t ask me.’
(…)
‘When did you first care about me?
‘Don’t ask me’, echoed Clive.
‘oh, be a bit serious -well- what was it in me you first cared about?’
‘like really to know?’
‘yes.’
‘well, it was your beauty.’
‘my what?’
(…)
‘Clive you’re a silly little fool, and since you’ve brought it up I think you’re beautiful, the only beautiful person I’ve ever seen, I love your voice and every thing to do with you, down to your clothes or the room you are sitting in. I adore you.’
(…)
‘Those things must be said once, or we should never know they were in each other’s hearts.’
The discovery of passion, the wish for an exclusive love made of Maurice a selfish person and a true tyrant with other people and specially with his mother and sisters.
Later in the novel, because of the lost of love, he turned into a better person to his family. Maurice experienced a sorrow that makes him more sensitive.
Clive is an enigmatic character. He is a philosopher as it is shown by this sentence concluding their conversation: ‘Those things must be said once, or we should never know they were in each other’s hearts.’
This is, in my view, a sensible thought. I remember the sorrow of a friend of mine whose wife literary flew away after ten years of happiness. He told me: ‘so, she never loved me and all this has been a total lie’. At that moment, he couldn’t understand that feelings may change with time and he was deeply hurt by the idea that she probably had been lying during so many years. I told him that in fact she had loved him (she also was a friend of mine, and I was pretty sure of that!) although it was over. He felt a relief even if he still had to face the fact that her love for him was over.
What about you, dear classmates ? Have you already started to read the novel "MAurice" ? What feelings do you have ?
See you tomorrow !
I’m surprised by the story and fascinated by the author art of telling us the insides of human being: fears, hopes, passions and sorrows.
One of my favourite passages till now is when Maurice and Clive asked each other how they fell in love:
‘But had’nt you been getting hold of me for months? Since first you saw me at Risley’s, in fact.’
‘Don’t ask me.’
(…)
‘When did you first care about me?
‘Don’t ask me’, echoed Clive.
‘oh, be a bit serious -well- what was it in me you first cared about?’
‘like really to know?’
‘yes.’
‘well, it was your beauty.’
‘my what?’
(…)
‘Clive you’re a silly little fool, and since you’ve brought it up I think you’re beautiful, the only beautiful person I’ve ever seen, I love your voice and every thing to do with you, down to your clothes or the room you are sitting in. I adore you.’
(…)
‘Those things must be said once, or we should never know they were in each other’s hearts.’
The discovery of passion, the wish for an exclusive love made of Maurice a selfish person and a true tyrant with other people and specially with his mother and sisters.
Later in the novel, because of the lost of love, he turned into a better person to his family. Maurice experienced a sorrow that makes him more sensitive.
Clive is an enigmatic character. He is a philosopher as it is shown by this sentence concluding their conversation: ‘Those things must be said once, or we should never know they were in each other’s hearts.’
This is, in my view, a sensible thought. I remember the sorrow of a friend of mine whose wife literary flew away after ten years of happiness. He told me: ‘so, she never loved me and all this has been a total lie’. At that moment, he couldn’t understand that feelings may change with time and he was deeply hurt by the idea that she probably had been lying during so many years. I told him that in fact she had loved him (she also was a friend of mine, and I was pretty sure of that!) although it was over. He felt a relief even if he still had to face the fact that her love for him was over.
What about you, dear classmates ? Have you already started to read the novel "MAurice" ? What feelings do you have ?
See you tomorrow !
viernes, 29 de febrero de 2008
one word a day
Hello everybody !
I have subscribed to the English Language Learner’s Word of the Day. If you don’t know yet what it is I tell you. It’s easy to subscribe and free (nothing has to be paid) and you will receive every day on your mail the definition of an English word with his pronunciation that you can lesson at as many times as you wish to. I find it another quite easy way to learn vocabulary. I hope my English vocabulary will increased in leaps and bounds soon (see below the meaning of "in leaps and bounds"). Here is, for example, the definition of the word ‘leap’ I received this morning. I believe the definition is helpful because it gives different uses, examples in sentences and idioms.
To subscribe to the Learner's Word of the Day you just have to visit:
mw.drhinternet.net/sm/wod/learner_signup.html
See you next week
leap
Function: noun
Plural: leaps
Meanings:
1 a [count] : a long or high jump
Examples:
1 b [count] : the distance that a person or animal jumps
Example:
2 [count] : a great and sudden change, increase, or improvement
Examples:
3 [singular] : a serious attempt to do or understand something new
Examples:
Idiom:
leap in the dark
Meaning:
A leap in the dark is something that is done without knowing anything about what the result might be.
Example:
Idiom:
leap of faith
Meaning:
A leap of faith is a decision to believe that something is true or possible even though other people may doubt it.
Examples:
Idiom:
by/in leaps and bounds
Meaning:
: very quickly and greatly
Examples:
I have subscribed to the English Language Learner’s Word of the Day. If you don’t know yet what it is I tell you. It’s easy to subscribe and free (nothing has to be paid) and you will receive every day on your mail the definition of an English word with his pronunciation that you can lesson at as many times as you wish to. I find it another quite easy way to learn vocabulary. I hope my English vocabulary will increased in leaps and bounds soon (see below the meaning of "in leaps and bounds"). Here is, for example, the definition of the word ‘leap’ I received this morning. I believe the definition is helpful because it gives different uses, examples in sentences and idioms.
To subscribe to the Learner's Word of the Day you just have to visit:
mw.drhinternet.net/sm/wod/learner_signup.html
See you next week
leap
Function: noun
Plural: leaps
Meanings:
1 a [count] : a long or high jump
Examples:
1 b [count] : the distance that a person or animal jumps
Example:
2 [count] : a great and sudden change, increase, or improvement
Examples:
3 [singular] : a serious attempt to do or understand something new
Examples:
Idiom:
leap in the dark
Meaning:
A leap in the dark is something that is done without knowing anything about what the result might be.
Example:
Idiom:
leap of faith
Meaning:
A leap of faith is a decision to believe that something is true or possible even though other people may doubt it.
Examples:
Idiom:
by/in leaps and bounds
Meaning:
: very quickly and greatly
Examples:
lunes, 21 de enero de 2008
an uncanny story
This is a true story but in order to protect the identities of the people who lived THESE/THOSE facts I changed the names of the persons and places.
The facts happened A few years ago, when I was studying a “post graduado” at the University of Barcelona. Half of the students were foreigners; two Germans, one French, one Italian, and five or six people from SOUTH AMERICA/ SOUTH AMERICAN countries. Two of them from Bolivia, Geraldo and Juan Pedro became my friends.
I remember it was on the 1st of January 2002 when things happened. Gerardo, Juan Pedro and I decided to go for a walk ALONG the Rambles quite late in the day. We had celebrated THE END OF YEAR 2001 with some other friends the night before and we went TO bed very late after having drunk and eaten a lot. So we thought a walk WOULD be appropriate to wake up a little and feel our stomachs a BIT better. So we left home about 8 PM (Gerardo, Juan Pedro and I were sharing a flat in Gracia, in Marià Cubí street, next to Gala Placidia square) and went walking to the Rambles de Catalunya
I didn’t know very much about my friends’ previous life in Bolivia. At that time, we were enjoying life as students and WE didn’t speak much about our respective liVES life and jobs before starting the post graduaTE WORK. Gerardo was in his early thirties like ME myself and Juan Pedro was a bit younger, about 27 or 28 years old. I knew that both of them had a GRANT from a private founds to study in Spain, and they will probably asked for another one so that they could study a Ph.D. Once our studies finished, we knew that every one WOULD turn(0) back to the competitive working life.
So that day, once on the Rambles, we crossed with very few people in comparison with another day at that same time, but we were on the first of January and most people were at home. It was really nice in fact to be able to have a walk along the Rambles without STEPPING continuously INTO PEOPLE coming from the front way. We were almost mid way going down the Rambles when we met a couple who WERE going up TOWARDS Plaça Catalunya. I had never seen them before but Gerardo did. He and the man and woman stopped briefly to say hello. It was enough time for me to look discreetly at the woman. She was about 25 years old, with a very long dark hair and BRIGHT brown eyes, quite pretty indeed even if a bit too much sophisticated to my taste as many Latin American women usUALLY ARE use to be. I can’t remember the tone of their GREETING for it had been so quick and I was absorbed inTO other(0) considerations, but I didn’t notice anything IN particular. And we continued our own way down to Cristobal Colom’s statue. A few seconds later when the couple was WERE far away from us, Gerardo said in A low and slow voice as if he was speaking to himself: “I can’t believe it, she is my girl friend in La Paz and I'VE just met her here in Barcelona with another man!” Juan Pedro and I DID NOT dare(0) I dared not say anything. What could we have said to our friend?
The facts happened A few years ago, when I was studying a “post graduado” at the University of Barcelona. Half of the students were foreigners; two Germans, one French, one Italian, and five or six people from SOUTH AMERICA/ SOUTH AMERICAN countries. Two of them from Bolivia, Geraldo and Juan Pedro became my friends.
I remember it was on the 1st of January 2002 when things happened. Gerardo, Juan Pedro and I decided to go for a walk ALONG the Rambles quite late in the day. We had celebrated THE END OF YEAR 2001 with some other friends the night before and we went TO bed very late after having drunk and eaten a lot. So we thought a walk WOULD be appropriate to wake up a little and feel our stomachs a BIT better. So we left home about 8 PM (Gerardo, Juan Pedro and I were sharing a flat in Gracia, in Marià Cubí street, next to Gala Placidia square) and went walking to the Rambles de Catalunya
I didn’t know very much about my friends’ previous life in Bolivia. At that time, we were enjoying life as students and WE didn’t speak much about our respective liVES life and jobs before starting the post graduaTE WORK. Gerardo was in his early thirties like ME myself and Juan Pedro was a bit younger, about 27 or 28 years old. I knew that both of them had a GRANT from a private founds to study in Spain, and they will probably asked for another one so that they could study a Ph.D. Once our studies finished, we knew that every one WOULD turn(0) back to the competitive working life.
So that day, once on the Rambles, we crossed with very few people in comparison with another day at that same time, but we were on the first of January and most people were at home. It was really nice in fact to be able to have a walk along the Rambles without STEPPING continuously INTO PEOPLE coming from the front way. We were almost mid way going down the Rambles when we met a couple who WERE going up TOWARDS Plaça Catalunya. I had never seen them before but Gerardo did. He and the man and woman stopped briefly to say hello. It was enough time for me to look discreetly at the woman. She was about 25 years old, with a very long dark hair and BRIGHT brown eyes, quite pretty indeed even if a bit too much sophisticated to my taste as many Latin American women usUALLY ARE use to be. I can’t remember the tone of their GREETING for it had been so quick and I was absorbed inTO other(0) considerations, but I didn’t notice anything IN particular. And we continued our own way down to Cristobal Colom’s statue. A few seconds later when the couple was WERE far away from us, Gerardo said in A low and slow voice as if he was speaking to himself: “I can’t believe it, she is my girl friend in La Paz and I'VE just met her here in Barcelona with another man!” Juan Pedro and I DID NOT dare(0) I dared not say anything. What could we have said to our friend?
I am back!
Hello People,
I’m back and I will explain why I choose THESE tree animals. The first one is the way you see yourself, and I’m conscious of 1) the way I see myself: a wild, free, elegant and solitary tiger. The second one is how the other persons see yourself. I’m conscious that the other persons never see me like I see myself: I may believe I’m a tiger and the other people just see a fat, selfish, ordinary, domestic cat. And finally, the third animal representS what you actually are and according to that test, I’m neither a tiger neither a cat, I’m a dog: a sociable, protective and faithful dog to my LOVED ONES. But the fact is that if I could choose I WOULD be a tiger (Freud called that the “Super I”, and we all have one), so you may understand that my only consolation is to be a tiger in the Chinese zodiac! By the way, the qualities that cultures and individuals give to the animals have LITTLE to do with real animals. So, nothing wrong with real animals, I just love any living thing on earth and had a BEETLE as a pet when I was 5 years old. I remember how sorry I felt when he died. Anyway, people, don’t take anything I say for granted. AT one point in my life I decided that life is too serious to take it seriously (It’s not my own sentence but I adopted it as a good philosophy) and one of my favourite sport is to laugh at me but never at the others.
I’m back and I will explain why I choose THESE tree animals. The first one is the way you see yourself, and I’m conscious of 1) the way I see myself: a wild, free, elegant and solitary tiger. The second one is how the other persons see yourself. I’m conscious that the other persons never see me like I see myself: I may believe I’m a tiger and the other people just see a fat, selfish, ordinary, domestic cat. And finally, the third animal representS what you actually are and according to that test, I’m neither a tiger neither a cat, I’m a dog: a sociable, protective and faithful dog to my LOVED ONES. But the fact is that if I could choose I WOULD be a tiger (Freud called that the “Super I”, and we all have one), so you may understand that my only consolation is to be a tiger in the Chinese zodiac! By the way, the qualities that cultures and individuals give to the animals have LITTLE to do with real animals. So, nothing wrong with real animals, I just love any living thing on earth and had a BEETLE as a pet when I was 5 years old. I remember how sorry I felt when he died. Anyway, people, don’t take anything I say for granted. AT one point in my life I decided that life is too serious to take it seriously (It’s not my own sentence but I adopted it as a good philosophy) and one of my favourite sport is to laugh at me but never at the others.
lunes, 15 de octubre de 2007
MY PRESENTATION
Hello Everybody,
I’m chinesechekkers. Sorry for that name, but after trying different easier and nicer names for almost half an hour I decided to write this one above and even so I had to write it incorrectly (the correct writting is “checkers”) in order to be able to open my blog.
In the chinese calendar, I’m a tiger and I'm proud of it. Isn’t it stupid to be proud of such an imprevisible thing as to be born the year of the tiger ? As you know, the tiger’s year comes every 12 years, if I’m right, the next time will be in 2010… So you can, if you wish, think by inference of the possible candidates to be born a tiger year in our classroom!
It’s quite silly, in fact, to be proud of such an insignificant and trivial detail and specially when you know that the Chinese people haven’t the same symbolical representations of animals as we have? But anyway, it sounds more suitable to me to be born a tiger year than a rat, a snake or a pig year...
I thought about the chinese zodiac to start this presentation because of the text we read in class but also for two others more powerful reasons: first of all, because I have been tied to the chinese culture for many years and second, because I love cats. That reminds me of a kind of psychological test a buddhist friend of mine asked me some time ago. I had to answer three questions. Here comes the first one :
1- Which animal would you like to be ?
As you can imagine, I answered that I would be a tiger
The second question was:
2- If you couldn’t be that animal, which other animal would you like to be ?
I said I would be a domestic cat. Your are supposed to answer the questions without thinking too much and, at that moment, somehow surprised by this second question, the picture of my red tiger-striped pussycat passed through my mind. It’s not that bad ‘cause my cat looks very much like a wild tiger but in another scale and he ‘s running such a confortable life…without any doubt his life is far much better than the one of a wild tiger !
The third question is…wait a moment ! I’m sure you can find out the third question. Yes, that’s right ! Here is the third one :
3- If you couldn’t be that second animal which animal would you like to be ?
Then, with a “budistas del copón” kind of feeling, I anwered like someone who doesn’t want to do so : “ I would be a dog”.
Well, I suggest to my classmates to answer this same questionnary if they wish to and then to post it somewhere (on my blog ?). In few days, I will give you the keys to understand your answers.
See you everybody in class next day.
I’m chinesechekkers. Sorry for that name, but after trying different easier and nicer names for almost half an hour I decided to write this one above and even so I had to write it incorrectly (the correct writting is “checkers”) in order to be able to open my blog.
In the chinese calendar, I’m a tiger and I'm proud of it. Isn’t it stupid to be proud of such an imprevisible thing as to be born the year of the tiger ? As you know, the tiger’s year comes every 12 years, if I’m right, the next time will be in 2010… So you can, if you wish, think by inference of the possible candidates to be born a tiger year in our classroom!
It’s quite silly, in fact, to be proud of such an insignificant and trivial detail and specially when you know that the Chinese people haven’t the same symbolical representations of animals as we have? But anyway, it sounds more suitable to me to be born a tiger year than a rat, a snake or a pig year...
I thought about the chinese zodiac to start this presentation because of the text we read in class but also for two others more powerful reasons: first of all, because I have been tied to the chinese culture for many years and second, because I love cats. That reminds me of a kind of psychological test a buddhist friend of mine asked me some time ago. I had to answer three questions. Here comes the first one :
1- Which animal would you like to be ?
As you can imagine, I answered that I would be a tiger
The second question was:
2- If you couldn’t be that animal, which other animal would you like to be ?
I said I would be a domestic cat. Your are supposed to answer the questions without thinking too much and, at that moment, somehow surprised by this second question, the picture of my red tiger-striped pussycat passed through my mind. It’s not that bad ‘cause my cat looks very much like a wild tiger but in another scale and he ‘s running such a confortable life…without any doubt his life is far much better than the one of a wild tiger !
The third question is…wait a moment ! I’m sure you can find out the third question. Yes, that’s right ! Here is the third one :
3- If you couldn’t be that second animal which animal would you like to be ?
Then, with a “budistas del copón” kind of feeling, I anwered like someone who doesn’t want to do so : “ I would be a dog”.
Well, I suggest to my classmates to answer this same questionnary if they wish to and then to post it somewhere (on my blog ?). In few days, I will give you the keys to understand your answers.
See you everybody in class next day.
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