Anne's response to The English Patient

Yet another novel that made me want to throw it across the room at the end!! :-)  I wanted to know what happened to Hana and Caravaggio.  At least we got to know that Kip survived his flight into the river.  I would have like to see Kip and Hana make a go of it but I know now that their relationship would have never worked out - it's just the romantic in me wanting to have its way with everything!

As far as the actual structure of the novel goes, I have to say that it was confusing and frustrating at times.  As I got into the storyline, I sort of became used to the jumping around.  It kept me on my toes and I had to stay sharp while reading.  The same applies to the omission of some quotation marks when there was dialogue.  It made for an interesting aesthetic while looking at the page and it required your full attention.

The story itself was interesting.  Amnesia, love, lust, exotic settings, life, and death.  Not to mention drugs!  Morphine, again, is the vehicle used to get the story out into the open.  But is it the true story?  I would have to take the position that, even though he never says the words, the English patient is Count Almasy.  There  are enough veiled references and pieces of dialogue that convince me of the matter.  

The relationship between Almasy and Katharine Clifton was a violent, sexually-charged one.  They met in 1936 and she died in 1939.  These pre-war years that they had together were very tumultuous and foreshadowed the war years to come in Europe.  Similarily, Kip and Hana's relationship was not a simple, lovey-dovey one.  In contrast to Almasy and Katharine, I don't think Kip and Hana consumated their love, although there was sexual tension there.  Hana was initially very much taken with the colour of Kip's skin as seen on pages 123, 125, and 127.  I think it was a subconcious reaction to reading Kim with the English patient.  I don't believe that Hana saw Kip as a conquest, like a colonizer.  She really did love him but it was not meant to be . . . at that time . . . in that place . . . ever.

I really like that fact that Kip returns to India and becomes a doctor.  As a sapper, he was defusing bombs, saving lives in the process.  But he was working for the British, the white man.  After the bombs were dropped on Japan, Kip could no longer keep working for a government that represented what he was fighting against.  The British didn't drop the bombs -- "white humanity" dropped the bombs on "dark humanity" and at that moment, anyone who was white-skinned was the enemy, in Kip's eyes.  Interestingly, Hana, Caravaggio, and the English patient come into his mind at the end of the novel, particularly Hana.  I think that he came to realize that the three white people who shared the villa with him that summer were also victims and that he would only be feeding a tumour of anger if he continued to hold them responsible as well.  For him to heal and move forward, he needed to let his anger against them disappear. 

Overall, I enjoyed the novel - can't wait to see the movie!!!

Rachelle's Response to Fugitive Pieces

The novel Fugitive Pieces, by author Anne Michael's is both poetic and descriptive in style. I loved the amount of description within this novels pages. Upon reading the first section of the novel I was excited and enthused to read further. However, further is where I found an incoherent storyline, filled with faltered male characters.

The images that Fugitive Pieces created were at one moment unforgettable and then at another moment completely forgotten. I found the images of Fugitive Pieces to be unforgettable due to the immense amount of detail used to produce them. However, they became forgettable due to the incoherence in the storyline, and the switch mid-way from Jacob to Ben's narration.

For myself, I loved the characters of Athos, Jacob, and Ben. This was because they were real people, they had faults and failures, and had been strongly affected by death. As I said before they were slightly faltered, but because of this, I loved them.

Micheal's decision to switch from Jacob to Ben in the midst of her storyline created a great deal of confusion for myself. This was due to the fact that the switch was unannounced, I was readying along peacefully and then found myself confused and backtracking to figure out what had happened. This switch I would argue caused three main problems, for myself, and I am guessing for others. First of all, there was no explanation for the switch and the reader is left wondering, what happened to Jacob? The second problem was, who is this Ben character? and why is he important? Lastly, I found myself waiting for Jacob and Ben to connect with one another in the end, which obviously never happens.

Finally, Jacobs odd obsession with his sister Bella still bothers me even now. On one hand, I was waiting for them to meet up in the end, almost as though Michael's had made her so predominant in the storyline because one day they would reconnect with one another, and perhaps she did not die after all. On the other hand however, it was strange how Jacob compared his wife and then his lover, to his sister.

Change of Plans

Well folks, it's happened again - a change of plans. My apologies - this has been one of the most fluid, changeable courses that I have taught. How post-modern of us!

My staff retreat on April 8th and 9th has been cancelled. We will, therefore, have our last wrap-up class on that day. Yippee! I will bring lunch for all.

Holly's ACTUAL response to "Fugitive Pieces"

In class when we talked about "Fugitive Pieces," we discussed how it appeared to contain 2 books. I would like to argue that it was not 2 books, but rather three.

Book 1: Life with Athos
Book 2: Life after Athos
Book 3: Ben and Jakob's effect/legacy

I found that these three points in the novel as very transitional. Obvious growing up with Athos set up Jakob's future, and made him into the man he was after Athos' death. But the essence left behind by Athos was something unique and special, only obvious to Jakob. Jakob unintentionally repeated the mistakes of Athos at different points in the story. He eventually found happiness, though, while Athos chose not to remarry.

In a way, both Athos and Jakob were committed to the dead: Athos and his wife who passed away, and Jakob and his dedication to Athos and Bella. Their commitment to the departed stifles their lives; as if they are unable to breathe without the breath of those they have loved and lost.

The way Jakob holds onto the memory of Bella is so unique to me. I found it odd that it is her he misses the most passionately, even though he did not even realize he didn't see her body with her parents. She was an afterthought, in this respect. I wonder if maybe it was the guilt of not wanting to protect/find/know the fate of his sister immediately that caused Jakob to crave her presence so badly. The curiosity of Bella's fate was consuming.

The Writing :
I truly loved the style in which this story was written . the poetic emphasis was seen throughout the entire story, in while describing horrific events, the writing came through as stunningly beautiful. While this is not my favourite of stories, the writing is something unforgettable. the use of imagery and elegant language is unforgettable. Michaels is a truly talented writer.

as an aspiring author, Michaels stands out incredibly. The eloquence of the story even as it expressed times of turmoil and bitter sadness radiates a brilliance that is unique to Michaels. Her poetic background is what made this novel so powerful and moving.

Holly's response to"Fugitive Pieces"

In class when we talked about "Fugitive Peices," we discussed how it appeared to contain 2 books. I would like to argue that it was not 2 books, but rather three.

book 1: Life with Athos
book 2: Life after Athos
book 3: Ben and Jakob's effect/legacy

I found that these three points in the novel as very transitional. Obvious growing up with Athos set up Jakob's future, and made him into the man he was after Athos' death. but the essence left behind by Athos was something unique and special, only obvious to Jakob. Jakob unintentionally repeated the mistakes of Athos at different points in the story. He eventually found happiness, though, while Athos chose not to remarry.

In a way, both Athos and Jakob were commited to the dead: Athos and his wife who passed away, and Jakob and his dedication to Athos and Bella. their commitment to the departed stiffles their lives, as if they are unable to breathe without the breath of those they have loved and lost.

The way Jakob holds onto the memory of Bella is so unique to me. I found it odd that its her he misses the most passionately, even though he did not even realize he didn't see her body with her parents. She was an after thought, in this respect. i wonder if maybe it was the guilt of not wanting to protect/find/know the fate of his sister immediately that caused Jakob to crave her presence so badly. the curiousity of Bella's fate was consuming.

The Writing:
I truly loved the style in which this story was written . the poetic emphasis was seen throughout the entire story, in while describing horrific events, the writing came th rough as stunningly beautiful. While this is not my favorite of stories, the writing is something unforgetable. the use of imagery and elegent language is unforgetable. Michaels is a truly talented writer.

as an aspiring author, Michaels stands out incredibly. the eloquence of the story even as it expressed times of turmoil and bitter sadness radiats a brillance unique to Michaels. Her poetic background is what made this novel so powerful and moving.

Admin Issues

Last post for today - I promise! Just a reminder to everyone that there is no class next week. I will be away at a conference all week and will not be checking my email regularly. We will reconvene on Tuesday, March 25th, when we will watch the film of the EP and spend some time in our discussion comparing book and text.

There will also be no class on April 8th. Instead, I am expecting each one of you to schedule a slightly longer appointment with me to discuss your papers, topics and ideas, etc. This can be during that week, or earlier. I will be out of town Aptril 8th and 9th, however.

The process for the final papers has changed. We discussed this in class yesterday, but I have had more information about dealines and so on, and so can now formalize the dates and process. We changed the due date for the final paper to Monday, April 14th. I will mark these ASAP and return them to you on Thursday, April 17th (you can pick them up at the office). You will be given an opportunity to revise your papers after this date, based on my comments, and hand them in again on Monday, April 21st. There will be no extensions after this time, so this is an opportunity that you can avail yourselves of, or not - if I haven't received a revised draft on the Monday, I will submit the original mark from the 17th.

I hope that this works for everyone!

Transgenerational War Trauma - Children

So, here are some thoughts on that other essay topic that we discussed in class. You could start with a discussion of Fugitive Pieces and how that novel shows that war, or the effects of war, don't stop with those who have been directly involved in it. The character of Ben, in particular, reveals how the legacy of war continues on into future generations. It is especially through his recounting of childhood memories that we see this, as he is the child of Holocaust survivors. There are certain characteristics that he shares with his (or as a result of) his parents' experiences, as well as Jakob's experiences during the war. And Jakob's memories, of course, are also childhood memories. For example, usually childhood memories are tinged with nostalgia for the past. But this isn't the case with either of these characters. There are a few, isolated, memories that Jakob can resurrect that might be described as nostalgic (memories of Bella playing the paino, for instance) but there are not many. It's as if the music has stopped with her death.

But it's not just the children of Holocaust survivors that are impacted by war history. While the children of Holocaust survivors may have specific legacies, children, in general, whose parents have been damaged by the war also suffer. We see this in Matt Pearson's son, who rejects his father, runs away from home, and so on - and Matt can't really cope with his family in the ways that he perhaps should. In fact, it is interesting that, in some ways he is closer to Charlie than his own son. What is that all about? And what are the effects of this on the children? We get much of the story of Broken Ground through a young person's eyes - and it seems that the war isn't over for any of them.

One of the questions that you could ask yourself is when you think that the effects of war end, and how it constructs history through the generations. Think about the specificity of Ben's experiences - can they be generalized to Charlie and Tanner, or are they quite different? How? Can we generalize to some extent, and then we have to focus on the differences? Or - ?

You could approach this partly in terms of beginnings, middles, and endings. When does a war really begin? End?

Just some thoughts that you can feel free to use in your writing.